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Tuesday, January 18, 2005
MORE REFUTATION OF THE
NEA'S INSISTENCE THAT SERIOUS READING MAKES YOU A BETTER PERSON [see UD, 7/12/04] From a commemoration of Marjorie Williams [see UD, 1/17/05]: "In 1990 she captured the vanity and the grasping that would ultimately undo Bush the First's budget director Richard Darman in [a] 10,000-word profile for the Washington Post Magazine. Apparently stunned into stupefaction by the Williams gaze, Darman takes Marjorie to his home overlooking the Potomac where it's his idea to lead her on a narrated tour (the wife and kids aren't there) at jog-speed. First the priceless view of the river, then quickly through the living room and up the stairs as he repels questions about the family photos and into his bedroom, outfitted with a pair of four-poster twin beds. Marjorie notes aloud that he's reading T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets," and he amends sharply, 'Re-reading.'" |