[Kate Benedict]

Appearing around the same time as People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue, Dana Gioia graces the cover of Commonweal!

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/

Check the URL out now before the new issue replaces it. I haven't gotten hold of the magazine yet but will go hunting for it.

[epigone]

Since Dana was named to head the NEA, I've seen quite a few admiring profiles of the man but nothing about what he has done (or plans to do) at the NEA. Perhaps just keeping the NEA out of the news is a sign of success, but does anybody have any intelligence about how the man who explaned why poetry matters is working to make the arts matter in this country?

Maybe the new article goes into all that. I wasn't able to follow the link to the actual article.

epigone

[David Mason]

Actually, Dana has pulled off several significant victories for the arts. He has a national Shakespeare program in full swing, bringing major acting companies to communities across the country. He has a jazz program that is getting good press. And he has managed to talk congress into increasing the federal budget for the arts. As a center-liberal fellow myself, I'm interested to note that arts funding reached its lowest level under the Clinton administration and has generally increased under Republicans. Now if they could just fix every other policy they have, I might be inclined to join a political party. But this begins to sound like something for another category of comment.

[Paul Lake]

I just read the article and thought it was the best profile of Dana I've ever read--it really captures something of his personality and character.

[Kate Benedict]

I finally found the article too. It's quite good and, incidentally, features a few quotes from our own Tim Murphy, who expresses gratitude to Dana for intercessing on his behalf with the Lord.

Commonweal is a Roman Catholic publication and so the piece devotes some ink to Dana's Catholic background and his interest in good religious verse and art. He says he was a reluctant candidate for the post of NEA chairman and that his schedule is now so hectic he can't devote much time to his own writing. The Muse will have to wait, as I'm sure she is.

He is described as "boyish" again, which could be tiresome, though it's better than being all furrow-faced and Audenesque.