Comments on Hallelujah

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/13/uselections2008.usa

Great Gurdian story to ease your pain

if I ever ge ridiculously wealthy ill fund some motherfucking arts. particularly musical theatre.

Amen, brother.

Was he worse than Lynn Cheney?

I think the article is unfair to Gioia. He did an outstanding job given the political culture he had to work with. Due to clever misrepresentation by right-wing know-nothings, the NEA had been branded in the mind of most of the public as a far-left entity which gave tons of money to untalented America-haters. Grossly inaccurate, but that was the perception. Gioia has "rebranded" the NEA as more mainstream. I hope it can be more adventurous in an Obama administration with a large Democratic majority in Congress; nevertheless I suggest that funding for truly cutting-edge, politically tinged work will mainly have to come from foundations and individual donors. In my charitable giving, I make it a point to support theatres & art centers which present challenging work which is unlikely to attract sustained government or corporate funding - please consider doing likewise.

I look forward to seeing Gioia's poetry again.