Saturday, December 8, 2007

Weighing the Freedman Presidency

After the Dartmouth trustees interviewed James O. Freedman and chose him as the successor to John David McLaughlin as president of Dartmouth, trustee John Steel told me that I would really like this man. Apparently he had impressed the Board of Trustees. So I was surprised, to put it mildly, by his actual performance as president.

Bass, the Moderate

What may have satisfied the conscience of one reform-minded Republican does not necessarily translate into a pattern the party must follow to survive any more than a rejection of corruption translates into a rejection of partisanship.

TDR Interview: John McCain

JM: I think your generation is more patriotic and more willing to serve a cause greater than yourselves than my generation was. When I’m around young Americans, I am always impressed by their patriotism, their love of country, and their willingness to volunteer to serve it. So I have great confidence in the future of America because I have great confidence in the present young generation.

TDR Interview: Diane Purkiss

American poetry is now the best lyric poetry in the English speaking world. The late 20th century has seen a stupendous flowering, from the 1960s on (from the New York School on), of great poetry; I would rather read John Ashbery than any British Isles poet, except Geoffrey Hill. He’s the only poet standing on par with the guys still publishing in America.

More Lemon Sessions

When I got to his office, Seymour, who was bullet-headed and physically imposing, reared up to his full height in his chair and roared, “WOULD YOU SAY YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FATHER IS GOOD?”

A Scholar of Hanging Out

Since Crady comes from frat-free Grinnell College, he doesn’t have any actual policy decisions behind him to either recommend or disqualify him from the start. Unlike Dean Pelton, he doesn’t come to Dartmouth with the reputation of a ‘frat-buster.’ Crady’s dissertation probably arose from a healthy curiosity in a subject of which he had no experience.

Gordon Haff's The Last Word

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
—Mahatma Gandhi

Mixology: The Warmer

Prepare a pot of hot chocolate.
Add peppermint schnapps to taste.

Serve in a handled glass.