Category: The Dish

Adam Kirsch revisits W. H. Auden’s poetic address to the Harvard Commencement of 1946. The poem Auden delivered that day, “Under Which Lyre,” reminds us, in Kirsch’s words,

that all the official apparatus of the university is extraneous to its highest purpose, which is to cultivate freedom and inwardness. It is a message that still needs to be heard today, when the expense of higher education forces so many students to look at it as an investment, rather than an adventure.

I love the ending:

    Thou shalt not do as the dean pleases,
    Thou shalt not write thy doctor’s thesis
            On education,
    Thou shalt not worship projects nor
    Shalt thou or thine bow down before
            Administration.

    Thou shalt not answer questionnaires
    Or quizzes upon World-Affairs,
            Nor with compliance
    Take any test. Thou shalt not sit
    With statisticians nor commit
            A social science.

Amen.

It’s happening as the term "green" is re-branded as well:

This shift isn’t occurring because corporate America’s heart suddenly started bleeding green. “Just five or six years ago, the term ‘green building’ evoked visions of tie-dyed, granola-munching denizens walking around barefoot on straw mats as wind chimes tinkled near open windows,” Harvard Business Review ribbed in June 2006. “Today, the term suggests lower overhead costs, greater employee productivity, less absenteeism, and stronger employee attraction and retention.”

And every increase in the price of gas helps nudge this revolution along. Look on the bright side.

Their sexiness is now allegedly disturbing the sleep patterns of Muslim men:

“We always [hear about] the abuse of children and wives in households, which is easily perceived by the eye, but the emotional abuse of men cannot be seen,” Nik Abdul Aziz said. “Our prayers become unfocused and our sleep is often disturbed.”

By women being attractive? I rest unmolested nightly.

Photographer Troy Paiva has documented what he calls "Lost America": night photography of the American West. here’s what he wrote about the photo above:

One of the abandoned houses on the hill above Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, CA. About 20 houses sat untouched and forgotten for 30 years in one of the most valuable real estate markets in the world. The entire neighborhood was torn down as part of the redevelopment of the base in 2006, even the trees and streets were removed. Night, 100VS chrome film, 4 minutes, f5.6, full moon, green and red-gelled strobe-flash.

A Flickr gallery of Hunters Point can be viewed here.

Is Larry Craig gay? Last night, Senator Clinton said that release of White House papers detailing her past record – especially her Cheney-like refusal to allow any public daylight into her healthcare task force – was subject solely to bureaucratic delays. Her former co-president, Bill Clinton, also recently said that he wanted total transparency with respect to these papers. Mike Isikoff finds – surprise! – that these statements are only "true" in the sense that anything the Clintons say is "true." Money quote:

[W]hile publicly saying he wants to ease restrictions on his records, Clinton has given the Archives private instructions to tightly control the disclosure of chunks of his archive. Among the document categories Clinton asked the Archives to "consider for withholding" in a November 2002 letter: "confidential communications" involving foreign-policy issues, "sensitive policy, personal or political" matters and "legal issues and advice" including all matters involving investigations by Congress, the Justice Department and independent counsels (a category that would cover, among other matters, Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky and the pardons of Marc Rich and others). Another restriction: "communications directly between the President and First Lady, and their families, unless routine in nature."

Archives officials say Clinton is within his legal rights. But other Archives records NEWSWEEK reviewed show Clinton’s directives, while similar, also go beyond restrictions placed by predecessors Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, neither of whom put any controls over the papers of their wives.

You can download Bill Clinton’s letter here. You want to turn the page on Cheney’s and Bush’s secrecy and unchecked executive power? Don’t vote the Clintons back into the White House.

Somehow, this seems to be about so much more than it is:

(Hat tip: John.)

A reader writes:

As a defense of the Fundie Atheists you described yesterday, you have to understand where they are coming from. I went to a school where each day began with the innocuous statement "let us pause for a moment of silence" over the loudspeaker. The only reason that this statement was read was that courts had already barred the school from saying "let us pause for a moment of prayer." Students interpreted the statement the way the legislature intended it – as a way to have a moment of group prayer without calling it prayer.

I’ve learned to have a thicker skin as an adult atheist, and things like "under God" in the pledge, God Bless America during every baseball game or the moment of silence in schools don’t even register with me. But a nonreligious parent who has a kid singled out in a room of bowed heads each morning? I can see why he would take action. It wasn’t fun for me throughout school and I can imagine it’s not fun for his daughter now. I have mutual respect for any religious expression that people want to undertake, but singling out kids with a mandated, school-endorsed moment of prayer isn’t part of that.

Look: I’m a defender of the rights of atheists. And I’m passionate about secularism. But I don’t think these public displays of milque-toast religiosity are that big a deal. I grew up in a country with an established church and as part of my government-funded education, I attended Anglican morning services on a daily basis. I handled it. In fact, I’m sure it helped my Catholicism to endure. And I’m not a little grateful that it introduced me to the Book Of Common Prayer. A little coexistence with the majority is not going to kill anyone. Chill.

Remember that? A reader writes:

Darlingest! I’m counting on you to mention how it didn’t exist, was pervasive for a moment, and then disappeared. She even laughs in response to polling.

He said "Assad," it turns out, as Philip Klein reports, not "Osama." It still seems to me to be a bit cracked of Giuliani to accuse his opponents of wanting to invite dictators to their inaugural balls, when they have merely stated they are prepared to negotiate with them. (Has Giuliani ever negotiated anything?) But at least he wasn’t accusing them of inviting a mass-murderer of Americans to their parties. It was an AP error. Happy to correct the record.

Belly-dancers perform for the Utah Federation of Republican Women. I’m really not making this up:

Barking exotic-sounding nonsense at her drummer, Yasamina demonstrates an undulation, a difficult move even for a practised dancer. A few women follow stiffly along; most remain frozen.

“All right,” she sighs, nearly losing her accent, “Who ees ay sexy Rrepooblicahn?” The women exchange sideways glances, then mumble in unison: “Mitt Romney.” …

What is belly dancing doing in Utah, where the Mormon church bars “moves that are suggestive of sexual behavior,” where many people don “armor of God,” an undergarment they are not allowed to take off, where I am one of the few Arabs anyone has ever seen? Though its origins in the state are unclear, its appeal is strong. For a Latter-day Saint, belly dancing can be a form of rebellion. For non-lds women, it’s a way to make friends in a place where community outside of the church can be difficult to find.

Is this a great campaign, or what?