~ congratulations to former president bill clinton on his ability to include both george orwell and gabriel garcía márquez in his list of 21 favorite books. this serves as a mediocre antidote to the dismal news of the award to stephen king of the ‘medal for distinguished contribution to american letters’ from the national book foundation and the embarrassment of having elementary school librarian from texas serve as the u.s. representative to unesco, despite the work of folks like john dos passos and michael henry adams, respectively.

public response: