Week In Review: Fourth of July edition (June 27 - July 4)

(Ed. Note: An earlier version of this post had a long meditation on Connor Diemand-Yauman and the popular reality TV show, The Amazing Race, which was a tad long for your weekly round-up. This rambling will be re-formatted and included in a new forthcoming post later today. Fun!)Top of the agenda: This past weekend your uncle Sam got you drunk and made the sky explode with falling light.  When it was over he handed you a sparkle-stick and it was like the same thing (the sky-falling, not the uncle-drunking) but smaller.  It was pretty, too, but all of a sudden you felt empty and unsure.  You coughed and held the sparkler down away from your face.  What was the point of it all, the trails of light fading to tails of smoke?  What was the use?  And why was everybody around you dressed the same, matching reds and whites and blues?  Seriously ugly color combo, but still – they all looked so happy.  What did those people know that you didn’t?   Your uncle Sam said you just needed another drink.  Fine, you replied, but make sure it’s a real beer and not that awful low-carb stuff. He came back with the goods and you chugged it.  Then you doubled over and booted. And then someone wrote a poem about it.

The star in myHand is falling

All the uniforms know what's no use

May I bow to Necessity notTo her hirelings.

• Congratulations, you’ve just read something by W.S. Merwin ‘48, America’s next poet laureate (and, in case you haven’t get gotten hip to what the ’48 means ‘round these here parts – welcome freshmen! – a Princeton graduate from the Class of 1948).  According to the New York Times, Merwin, whose appointment was announced last week, is “an undisputed master” and enjoys composing his poems on paper napkins.

In my home state of Delaware there’s a man who sits in the Wilmington McDonalds and draws Mickey Mouse cartoons on napkin after napkin with a Sharpie.  He’s nice, albeit unlikely to ever hold a ceremonial post in the Obama administration.  I miss Delaware and I miss McDonalds.  Delaware I knew I’d have to leave behind once I went off to college, but McDonalds I figured would always be there.  Guess not. Thanks a lot, Princeton Borough.

• Though maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on the ol' Borough.  They’re not doing too well right now, financially speaking, and according to an article in BusinessWeek there’s once again rumblings that the University isn’t pulling its weight, despite Princeton giving the Township more than $10 million last year in voluntary contributions. Yeah, but that’s less than Harvard and Yale gave to their cities in the same period, the Township says, and way less than what the Princeton would have to give if it wasn’t tax-exempt – and plus, doesn’t the University have, like, billions?

Speaking of perceived wealth-flaunting, CDY was spotted on Alexander Road getting into a shiny newish Mercedes, which IvyGate interpreted as a sign that maybe he didn’t do so bad on The Amazing Race after all.  Maybe he even won?  Not to be all BLOGWARS!!!, but I’m not so sure about that.First of all, he won’t get a single penny of prize money until after the show airs.  Second, even if he did win, he’s looking at an ultimate payout of about $250,000 after taxes – 1 million divided by two (split among teammates), then halved again after CDY’s uncle Sam gets his cut.And what if Team Nassoon places not first, but merely well?  The prize structure is kept pretty hush-hush, but in 2005 a former contestant said that the second-place team received only $25,000 (and that’s per team, not per individual), third place $10,000, and so on.  In the past couple of years the Race has had to cut back on its budget, so it’s unlikely that runner-up winnings have crept up much.  Finally, let’s not forget that CDY still has that Korean TV job lined up after summer’s done – would he really buy a new car just to leave it behind come September?Then again, he could just be leasing.

• Speaking of television, Politics Professor Robbie George was on the Glenn Beck Show this week for a panel discussion on the state of religion in America.  Read the transcript here.

• And while we’re on the subject of Princeton Professors in the news media, Peter Singer, in a rare bit of non-contrarianism, agrees with everyone else that cheating in World Cup is totally lame (he uses the word “unethical,” but same diff).  See the article in the Guardian here.

• Also totally lame?  Supreme Court confirmation hearings.  Elena Kagan ‘81 has said that they’re a "vapid and hollow charade," but that didn’t stop her from trying to liven up her own confirmation proceedings with a bit of New York attitude.  Turns out she’s actually a pretty funny lady.  See the video here.

And that’s enough for today. Take care.Photo courtesy SRivera, FlickrUpdate: Princeton Township is not Princeton Borough, as an earlier post suggested. Changes were made to reflect that fact.