Tomorrow's Wall Street Journal

James writes:

Simply put: check out tomorrow's Journal . I've written an article for the "Masterpiece" column on the nature dioramas the American Museum of Natural History. As someone who spent his childhood gazing at these displays, I probably had more fun putting this piece together than any essay I've written in a while.

I'll have more about the topic once the article appears tomorrow--including my interview with Stephen Christopher Quinn, the diorama guy at the museum and the author of a great new book on the subject called Windows in Nature.

Elegance at the 92nd Street Y

Dara writes:

Last night James and I attended an excellent reading hosted by the Unterberg Poetry Center at Manhattan's venerable 92nd Street Y. The occasion: a tribute to past Center directors Grace Schulman, Karl Kirchwey, and David Yezzi, all poets themselves.

I always enjoy David Yezzi's work, but I am not an impartial judge as I am friendly with David through his work at The New Criterion. David read a few newer poems that benefited from a Larkian disenchantment and wry humor. David read these in a laconic, everyday voice that really allowed the poems' true meanings to be revealed. Mr. Kirchwey's work was a delight: erudite without ever being precious or smug. He displays a sense of humor but is never ironic. He has a great command of rhyme, and language interests him intensely. He said he is now obsessed with translating Verlaine; from what I can tell he also knows Greek and Latin, among other tongues. I bought his new book, The Happiness of this World, and will look forward to reading it.

Many poetry world luminaries, such as Marie Ponsot, Veejay Seshadri, and Alice Quinn attended the reading. A lovely spread followed, including "Hostess" desserts: coconut snowballs and chocolate cupcakes. To my surprise, the Y even made cookies with the readers' names printed on them. The cookies were presented as little gifts on trays. As a woman and I admired them, she noted, "And I thought the Y was having money troubles!"

The one off-note of the evening was the reading by Grace Schulman. I am not familiar with her poetry, though I do own the Marianne Moore book she edited. Never liked Moore's antics. Sorry. But I came with an open mind to appreciate Schulman. Unfortunately, her voice croaked and cracked and made it very hard to absorb her poems, which did nothing for me. Yes, I have applied for the Discovery/"The Nation" young poets' prize that she oversees and I haven't won, but I am an adult and do not bear her a grudge. Many of my fellow, non-poet listeners agreed with my assessment of her performance.

'Like the good guys winning a shoot out'

James writes:

Sorry if I'm riding a little high today. Over at the Social Affairs Unit blog, published out of London, Christie Davies has written a stellar review of The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent, the anthology I edited with Stefan Beck.

The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent is the inspiring story of a conservative student journal that took on the oppressive left-liberal administration at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, an American Ivy League University founded in 1769, and won. It is a very American story, rather like the good guys winning a shoot out in a western. It couldn't happen in supine Britain because we lack America's free institutions, confidence in private initiative and willingness to fight. Once upon a time we had all these good qualities but now we are hollowed out.

You can catch the entire review here. Christie well captures the spirit of the newspaper. It's a quirky publication. Dara and I just spent the weekend in Hanover, New Hampshire and had dinner with the Review's 40 or so undergraduate editors and staffers--plus a certain Jeffrey Hart. I am pleased to report that the newspaper is thriving. (You can check out the Review's website here). Love it or hate it, the newspaper remains strong after over 25 years. You've got to respect that. (And I think it's even earned Dara's respect.)

One of the surprises of the evening came out of a conversation I had with Professor Hart, Dartmouth's most famous conservative academic. It's well known to readers of this weblog that Hart has fallen out with the Bush administration and the evangelical wing of the conservative movement. If you haven't done so already, you can read my profile of Hart from the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.

Anyway, the big surprise of the evening came out of Hart's comments on the presidential primaries. Who would Hart be supporting in 2008, I wondered? McCain (whom he backed in 2000)? Giuliani, perhaps? No, the answer is Obama, followed by Edwards. In fact, Hart says he will support any Democrat candidate who has the ability to unseat a Republican. That also goes for the Senate and House. Even if (birthday boy) Abraham Lincoln were running, Hart says, he's voting Democrat until Republicans dissociate themselves from their evangelical base.

Strong words from a one-time speechwriter for Nixon and Reagan.