Indeed, that’s probably the reason I guess I always gravitated towards lectures, appearances, and film festivals, even when I was young. Just to get that taste of history and culture that America used to represent. Even when I was in high school, I went to see a Bob Hope event, a Harry James concert. Went to see an old guy in a nursing home who was with Pershing’s group when he went after Pancho Villa. And in college, would see lectures and appearances of Jacques Cousteau, Burt Lancaster, and Cary Grant. Of course, by the same token, I’d drive around and just talk to ordinary old-timers at feed-stores or hardware stores, about their experiences in WW1, the Depression, etc.
I would have like to have had those experiences myself. People must have a grasp of the past to understand how terribly screwed up we are now. Modern folk have no idea what "Normal" feels like.