To the Editor:

Nearly 20 years ago, at age 30, when I left my job as an academic in the Northeast to move near my family in Miami, I scoured the newspapers for events where I might meet like-minded folks.

One evening I called a poet friend, who was then living on South Beach, to suggest that we try a new club in the Design District. “I think we’ll find intellectuals there,” I told her.

“You mean people who wear glasses?” she joked.

Luckily, the joke was on us: The friends we made that night were the first we would come to know in Miami’s vast, vibrant and rich, culturally diverse community of intellectuals, artists and activists.

I highly recommend that on her next visit to South Florida, Pamela Druckerman enjoy a few deep thoughts at any of the many lectures, forums, salons and symposiums presented by Miami institutions such as ArtCenter/South Florida; Catalyst Miami; Miami Light Project; O, Miami; O Cinema; the Rhythm Foundation; Libreri Mapou. ...She will find that the list goes on and on.

CELESTE FRASER DELGADO
Miami, Aug. 10, 2014

The writer is an associate professor at Barry University and a longtime arts critic in Miami.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/opinion/the-cry-goes-up-from-miami-dont-tread-on-us.html?_r=1