Matthew Arnold, the English cultural critic, once defined culture as “knowing the best that has been said and thought in the world.”

Somehow Snooki of “Jersey Shore” seems to fall short of this definition, yet I am sure that more people in the U.S. know of her escapades than of Paul Cezanne’s paintings.

The term “high art” is often met with bored expressions and obvious sighs when spoken among the “common man.” I know my occasional, isolated exposures to art museums or ballets that injected a shot of high culture into my otherwise very normal life did not irreversibly change me.

The seemingly consistent dichotomy between “high art” and the masses throughout history has even led some individuals to take action to reconcile the chasm.

You might say that Jessica Farling is another one of these individuals. The art history senior is the founder of the newly revived OU student organization called The Art Museum Ambassadors. Part of the focus she envisions for the organization is to encourage students of all disciplines at OU to become involved with the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, contrasted with the former student advisory board that consisted of mainly art school students.

Even though I’m not an art student, I am excited about the museum’s Wanderlust exhibit, now on display. This photography exhibit chronicles the role “American highways and interstates have played in the migratory desires of the American people.”

Hoping to bridge the often seemingly insurmountable chasm between “high art” and the common man (aka everyone who is not an art student), the Art Museum Ambassadors will move forward with the goal to enhance the OU student body by providing it with the opportunity to engage in something higher than themselves, and higher than the poof on Snooki’s hair.