I heard a great interview on the Mars Hill Audio Journal with David Smith on his book, Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy, which deals with the subject he writes about here. Is the National Endowment for the Arts for the purpose of granting artists a bit of freedom or livelihood to create new art or is it to promote community involvement in the arts? According to Mr. Smith, Lyndon Johnson and the congress who voted for the NEA’s creation didn’t really know what they were doing or how contentious artists are.

Poet Donald Hall asked sculptor Henry Moore about the secret of life. Here’s his answer, posted for your comment: “The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is—it must be something you cannot possibly do!”

Early morning on June 4, 1989, the Chinese government murdered many of its citizens because they cried out too loudly for democracy. In 2009, the current U.S. administration cared more for Chinese action on environmental issues than accountability on human rights.

“If the United States really wants to keep its status as a stronger power, they cannot just make friends with the Chinese government but also make friends with the Chinese people,” said a Tiananmen Square leader this week.

Here’s the tunic now:

Looks kind of like Mr. Spock’s shirt, doesn’t it? (That is, if Mr. Spock had gained about 300 lbs.)

It will look less logical (I hope) once I add the trim around the neck piece. That’s a job that’s beyond my skill to do with the machine. I’ll be sitting with needle and thread tonight, so the thing will be ready for the weekend.

Tomorrow I drive down to Story City, Iowa for their Scandinavian Days festival. It’s a small Viking encampment; no fighting will be done. But Story City is the town where my angelic grandmother was born, and also (interestingly) where the grandfather of my publisher, Jerry Nordskog, was born a few years earlier.

Clearly all this was fated from before the foundations of the earth.

So don’t blame me that I won’t be able to post anything tomorrow.

Then do not follow this link to an article on warning labels and their intent to save us from ourselves.

Actor David Carradine, best known for the “Kung Fu” TV series and the “Kill Bill” movies, has been found dead in a hotel room in Bangkok, apparently by his own hand.

How in the name of Helge Ingstad did it get to be the beginning of June already?

It feels like it was winter a couple weeks ago.

Actually, that’s not far from correct. It’s been a hard-fought spring.

Deborah asked for pictures of my tunic project.

Encouraging me is the first mistake. Continue reading Tiptoe through the tunics →

Terry Teachout gives us four points where modern-day musicals need great improvement. Gratuitous glitz is only one of them: “When a show disappears beneath its production values, you can bet that there wasn’t much to it in the first place.” (via Books, Inq.)

In support of Canada’s seal hunters and the Inuit community, Canada’s Governor General Michaelle Jean gutted a seal and ate a slice of its heart. She said in a ceremony on Monday that the Inuit’s seal hunting was not inhumane.

That just has a wholesome warmth about it, doesn’t it?