Yes, life is bigger than commerce. But your comment makes me wonder, "then, whose art should we value?" It's not that the US doesn't value art— highbrow or low

Yes, life is bigger than commerce. But your comment makes me wonder, "then, whose art should we value?" It's not that the US doesn't value art— highbrow or low brow, we have some of the finest museums of visual arts and the biggest of big-hair country music. We (more than) adequately finance both. Our resources, time, attention, and interest are finite, so how do you propose we choose whom to pay for their art? By MFA degree? School ranking? Random lottery? Honestly, I'm sympathetic to the author, not least because I think there's some irony in the piece. She recalls mournfully the time she revealed on social media that she was at the edge of homelessness if she could not raise money. If that was painful for her, the impetus behind this essay is not as self-indulgent as it appears. She did not relish publishing this, rather, she did it because Slate paid her for it, and she's still trying to make her ambitions work. She may or may not yet succeed, but there's something admirable—and, one fears, perhaps pitiable—in her dedication.