the ivory tower

Yesterday I met with one of my favorite people in the world. She's one of those grassroots people--stays connected with persons and places we don't like to be bothered with. She befriends the homeless and kids we consider to be thugs and criminals. And she said something to me: "We love you, we just don't like the academia." She was referring to the arrogance that comes from the ivory tower. It's a little ironic, though...because I find myself reacting against that ivory tower phenomenon in my classes, often getting over-emotional about how arrogant we can become. i often get angry about the inherent power dynamics within academia's relationship to the rest of the world. I get angry at the Western world's enlightenment thinking and the way it condescends latin America, forcing it to become its project,  guinea pig and subject. However, its all relative right? 

Because in relation to the college I attend, I am the grassroots person, defending the ideas and experiences of those outside of academia. But in relation to those outside academia, I represent the ivory tower...and I am blind to my own propensity to intellectualize the world around me--their world. It's a class issue, no? 

This woman went on to say, "We become the very thing we hate, Annery." She said, "In the same way that you get angry about the ways men may treat you unfairly or condescendingly, its the same thing when you bring academia in here--the same feeling." 

So its interesting....that we can live in one space; yet, worlds apart. And border-crossers who often are in yet another world--trying to reconcile all the worlds they dwell in, and never fully in one or the other. So....the question for me is: Can I keep this up? Dwelling in two (or more) worlds without fully engaging either?