With simple words, a unique voice, passion and humility and good humor he offered a message of hope and honor that transcended politics and race, and more than any one person led a reconciliation between black and white that has brought real promise to end more than a century of institutionalized hate and degradation. Hone Tuwhare was Maori, an extraordinary human being, a heroic figure.  Read more 

There once was a Bush boi from Texas
Who was wont to place all of his betses
On men who were fools
Or worse, who were ghouls
It’s clear he wasn’t one of the Mensas

Jake

Dan Bartlett was all over the tube this morning, to defend the Bush administration against that newly renegade courtier, Bob Woodward, and you won’t be surprised to learn that Bartlett said almost the same thing, using identical language, at each stop.  Read more 

Courtesy of NPR

**see Xan’s post below:

From this morning’s NPR’s Weekend Edition - Saturday:

Donald Hall was named the United States’ 14th poet laureate Wednesday, but he’s not the only game in town. Later this month, James Monroe High School in the Bronx will honor its first ever poet laureate, Tiffany Otero.

The laureateship was made possible by alumni Peter Levitt, who graduated from James Monroe in 1964 and wants to encourage kids in his old neighborhood.

You need to listen to Tiffany read her own poems and you need to read her poetry online at NPR.

Why need?

She speaks volumes about public education, the democratic nature of talent, and the value of arts education.

Below the fold you’ll find a little marvel, as yet untitled.  Read more 

Did you know that the Oxford University Press (USA) has a blog? I didn’t either until, by a circuitous path involving a professor of Civil War history who also writes for it, I ran across this discussion of our nation’s new Poet Laureate. I am the last person on earth qualified to discuss poetry (being convinced that the art, in English at least, peaked with Robert Service and Rudyard Kipling) but this guy looks good. Keep in mind that the title is awarded by the Library of Congress and not the current administration. Here’s a sample:

The Impossible Marriage  Read more