From TAP, over the past year, the Bush administration has moved left on foreign policy; and while it's great that young people are so excited about the Democratic candidate this year, progressives need to focus on encouraging young activists to do non-Obama-centric work. Meet Obama's Fixer: Valerie Jarrett handled outreach to the black community and to Hillary Clinton supporters; what constituency will she court next? Francis Fukuyama has an epiphany or two (and more and more). From Sirens, an article on the truth about orgasms; and are sugar daddies our modern-day Prince Charmings? Book blurbs are a tangled mass of friendships, rivalries, favors traded and debts repaid, not always in good faith. More on How Fiction Works by James Wood. Heinrich Heine was a great poet — yes, but a marvelous prose writer too. Franz Kafka, party animal: Life wasn't really such a trial for the supposedly tortured artist (and more). The state of the nayshun: Stupidity is the most respectable life-stance available in New Millennium America. Daniel Born on learning how to learn. Once you stop complaining and start getting back to work, it becomes clear that the barbarianization of all things affords some interesting opportunities. The suburbs have been hit hard by the housing crisis, but reports of their death are exaggerated. A review of Is Milton Better than Shakespeare? by Nigel Smith.
