[Ned Balbo]

Attacking her work was unnecessary. For all I know, she may well have been as shocked as anyone that she was chosen. The fault lies with the governor's disrespect for the arts & indifference to poetry. PS Well put, Janice!

[Roger Slater]

I'm not sure the position should be regarded as a reward, since it does have a public function (education, promoting poetry, etc.), and the skills for fulfilling that function may not belong to the poets who should most be honored for their poetry. Energy, speaking ability, organizational ability and fund-raising ability, are (arguably) equally important. I would think a charismatic educator who happens to be a reasonably committed poet might be better for the job than some boring dweebish lox who happens to have written six or seven immortal poems. The government is not in the business of handing out awards. The Constitution even forbids the United States from granting any "title of nobility." Though "poet laureate" isn't literally such a title of nobility, to me it seems to come awfully close unless we regard the role as one of educator rather than simply an honor conferred on someone for their past achievement.

[Rick Mullin]

Michael Juster--I got as far as your first comment (did you make others? You needn't have), and I wholeheartedly concur. Philip Levine, right?

RM

(all right, Levine got an MFA, but still...)

[Wintaka]

IMHO, Chris Vitiello's opinion piece was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever read. I may need curare to uncringe.

[Allen Tice]

It'a about as needless as it can be, and manages to insult and smarmishly condescend at the same time. Don't bother to search-engine it. Of course, it takes all kinds to make a world: go ahead, enjoy.

[W.F. Lantry]

Interesting details about the pre-existing process the Governor swerved around:

"The traditional nomination process allowed any and all North Carolinians to suggest poets they thought deserved to be our state’s “ambassador” of poetry and the written word. Those poets were told they had been nominated, and, if they accepted the nomination, were asked to provide work samples, lists of publications and awards, references and recommendations, a statement of what they would hope to accomplish as laureate: in other words, to create a public record of the reasons they should be the poet laureate.

The Arts Council then brought together North Carolinians—poets, professors, editors, journalists, even (once, at least) an executive director—representing as much of the state’s population as possible to discuss and decide which of these nominees the council should recommend to the governor, who—no offense to poets or poetry—presumably has more pressing matters at hand, and probably, sadly, is not as up-to-date on contemporary poetry as he or she should be."

http://www.ncwriters.org/whitecross/...poet-laureate/

[Wintaka]

Thanks for the giggle, Bill. I especially loved the punch line:

"Choosing to ignore this process means [the duly elected Governor is] choosing to ignore the people of the state [none of whom cast a vote for anyone on the Arts Council]."

-o-

[Julie Steiner]

I liked the statement, especially the expressions of support for Macon. I'd even say it was classy, but that might be perceived as elitist.

I look forward to the day when people who harp on about the evils of intellectual and cultural elitism start applying non-elitism to athletic endeavors, too. It's not fair that the teams I support often lose, just because they're not as talented and/or hard-working as the teams they face. So undemocratic. Let's stop celebrating excellence and just determine the winner by coin toss.

Colin, I do see your point, and I know you're not proposing that arts councils should be elected...but if they were, can you imagine the smear ads?

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Julie Stoner

It's not fair that the teams I support often lose,

As a life long fan of the Chargers and Padres, I couldn't agree more!

Best,

Bill

[Allen Tice]

The circumstances are not comparable, but, just for a moment, imagine
"Grandma Moses" or Henri Rousseau functioning as head of our National Endowment for the Humanities.

Would you or I take a wait and see atitude? Would we?