Mash-Up!

Tonight, I was going to continue something I started earlier today in debate with a close friend: a rant I started regarding the "institutionalization" of the arts through the creation of a Secretary of the Arts (or Culture Czar) position in Washington. For those who don't know, Quincy Jones has suggested he'll ask ("beg" even) for a Secretary of the Arts position during his next talk with Obama. In support of Jones, Jaime Austria, a bass player with the New York City Opera, started an online petition (which, at the time of this post, has received well over 207,000 signatures).

Rather than rant, I'll just ask this question:

If the U.S. government appointed a Secretary of the Arts (and let's hope Obama would be as wise in making this appointment as he was in the appointment of, for example, a Nobel Physicist as Energy Secretary), would, at the end of Obama's presidency, the "mash-up" still be the most popular go-to form for artistic expression?

Inauguration Day

From Richard Monasterky's article "America Elects a Professor in Chief" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

The 2008 presidential election has broken so many political barriers that historians may overlook one unusual fact: When Barack Obama takes the oath of office in January alongside his running mate, Joe Biden, it will be the first time that the president, the vice president, and both of their spouses have worked in higher education.

Taken together, the Obamas and the Bidens have amassed decades of experience at colleges and universities. Mr. Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 until 2004. His wife, Michelle, has worked in the administration at the same university. For the past 17 years, Mr. Biden has taught constitutional law at Widener University School of Law. His wife, Jill, teaches English at Delaware Technical and Community College's Stanton-Wilmington campus.

The world of academia and Obama's presidency further intersect at Post_Moot: Two Miami University of Ohio English professors have put together a blog they describe as "A Radically Inclusive Online Anthology of Responses to the Inauguration of the President-Elect Barack Obama." The blog invites anyone to post responses, pictures, comments, etc. on the inauguration of our 44th president. Check it out here.

And Happy Inauguration Day!

Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country

McSweeney's, the publishing company founded by Dave Eggers (the author of the excellent, an actually appropriately named A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), and 826 National, a national, non-profit organization that promotes and teaches literacy skills to youth, have teamed up to publish a collection of letters, words of wisdom, and advice for President-elect Obama.

From the McSweeney's store:

A few days after the election of Barack Obama, kids around the country were asked to provide advice and guidance to their new president. In this collection, arriving at inauguration time, there's loads of advice for the president, often hilarious, sometimes heartfelt and occasionally downright practical. Students from all over the country reach out to the 44th president, speaking to the issues closest to their hearts, relating their life stories, and asking for help. Topics include the economy, education, war, global warming, race relations in America and immigration. The book also includes letters about snow cones, puppies, microwavable burritos, dinosaur projects, multiplication and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, reportedly haunting a White House bedroom.

Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country includes such advice as:
"If I were president, I would help all nations, even Hawaii."
— Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

"I really hope you put America back together. No pressure though."
— Sheenie Shannon Yip, age 13, Seattle

"1. Fly to the White House in a helicopter. 2. Walk in. 3. Wipe feet. 4. Walk to the Oval Office. 5. Sit down in a chair. 6. Put hand sanitizer on hands. 7. Enjoy moment. 8. Get up. 9. Get in car. 10. Go to the dog pound."
— Chandler Browne, age 12, Chicago

And, while it wasn't advice, exactly, we thought this was worth sharing:
"You are just like a big me." — Avante Price, age 7, Seattle

Cute, huh?

For more hilarious and touching excerpts from McSweeney's, click here.

To purchase Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama (ed. Jory John) directly from 826 National, click here.

A shoe at your head is worth two at the Bush?

Okay. Corny title. But this has been cracking me up all day: Yesterday, an Iraqi journalist threw both of his shoes at lame-duck Bush's head during his final presidential visit.

From The New York Times:

President Bush made a valedictory visit on Sunday to Iraq, the country that will largely define his legacy, but the trip will more likely be remembered for the unscripted moment when an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at Mr. Bush’s head and denounced him on live television as a “dog” who had delivered death and sorrow here from nearly six years of war.

Read the full story here.

Or check it out below. Who knew Dubya had such quick reflexes?



So, how long before tossing a shoe at Bush's head turns into a banner advertisement for insurance quotes or debt consolidation?

Typing Without a Clue

I just read this excellent New York Times article by guest columnist Timothy Egan. Here it is in full:

Typing Without a Clue
By TIMOTHY EGAN
Published: December 6, 2008

The unlicensed pipe fitter known as Joe the Plumber is out with a book this month, just as the last seconds on his 15 minutes are slipping away. I have a question for Joe: Do you want me to fix your leaky toilet?

I didn’t think so. And I don’t want you writing books. Not when too many good novelists remain unpublished. Not when too many extraordinary histories remain unread. Not when too many riveting memoirs are kicked back at authors after 10 years of toil. Not when voices in Iran, North Korea or China struggle to get past a censor’s gate.

Joe, a k a Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was no good as a citizen, having failed to pay his full share of taxes, no good as a plumber, not being fully credentialed, and not even any good as a faux American icon. Who could forget poor John McCain at his most befuddled, calling out for his working-class surrogate on a day when Joe stiffed him.

With a résumé full of failure, he now thinks he can join the profession of Mark Twain, George Orwell and Joan Didion.

Next up may be Sarah Palin, who is said to be worth nearly $7 million if she can place her thoughts between covers. Publishers: with all the grim news of layoffs and staff cuts at the venerable houses of American letters, can we set some ground rules for these hard times? Anyone who abuses the English language on such a regular basis should not be paid to put words in print.

Here’s Palin’s response, after Matt Lauer asked her when she knew the election was lost:

“I had great faith that, you know, perhaps when that voter entered that voting booth and closed that curtain that what would kick in for them was, perhaps, a bold step that would have to be taken in casting a vote for us, but having to put a lot of faith in that commitment we tried to articulate that we were the true change agent that would progress this nation.”

I have no idea what she said in that thicket of words.

Most of the writers I know work every day, in obscurity and close to poverty, trying to say one thing well and true. Day in, day out, they labor to find their voice, to learn their trade, to understand nuance and pace. And then, facing a sea of rejections, they hear about something like Barbara Bush’s dog getting a book deal.

Writing is hard, even for the best wordsmiths. Ernest Hemingway said the most frightening thing he ever encountered was “a blank sheet of paper.” And Winston Churchill called the act of writing a book “a horrible, exhaustive struggle, like a long bout of painful illness.”

When I heard J.T.P. had a book, I thought of that Chris Farley skit from “Saturday Night Live.” He’s a motivational counselor, trying to keep some slacker youths from living in a van down by the river, just like him. One kid tells him he wants to write.

“La-di-frickin’-da!” Farley says. “We got ourselves a writer here!”

If Joe really wants to write, he should keep his day job and spend his evenings reading Rick Reilly’s sports columns, Peggy Noonan’s speeches, or Jess Walter’s fiction. He should open Dostoevsky or Norman Maclean — for osmosis, if nothing else. He should study Frank McCourt on teaching or Annie Dillard on writing.

The idea that someone who stumbled into a sound bite can be published, and charge $24.95 for said words, makes so many real writers think the world is unfair.

Our next president is a writer, which may do something to elevate standards in the book industry. The last time a true writer occupied the White House was a hundred years ago, with Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote 13 books before his 40th birthday.

Barack Obama’s first book, the memoir of a mixed-race man, is terrific. Outside of a few speeches, he will probably not write anything memorable until he’s out office, but I look forward to that presidential memoir.

For the others — you friends of celebrities penning cookbooks, you train wrecks just out of rehab, you politicians with an agent but no talent — stop soaking up precious advance money.

I know: publishers say they print garbage so that real literature, which seldom makes any money, can find its way into print. True, to a point. But some of them print garbage so they can buy more garbage.

There was a time when I wanted to be like Sting, the singer, belting out, “Roxanne ...” I guess that’s why we have karaoke, for fantasy night. If only there was such a thing for failed plumbers, politicians or celebrities who think they can write.

Amen, brother.