APRIL 2024 MAGAZINE

The young poet corresponds with the master writer Rainer Maria Rilke to get advice; he wants Rilke to comment upon his work.  Instead of critiquing the young poet’s work, Rilke dodges his request. Write what you know, he tells the young poet.

Acclaimed professor of law and author Kermit Roosevelt III calls for a reexamination of America’s past and our myths in his provocative and illuminating recent book The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story (University of Chicago Press).

There is an iconic photo of Owen DeLong, my dear friend Jane’s ex- late-husband, that encapsulated the era – Owen, in the fullness of his young adulthood, suspended in midair, part-way between a diving board and the water, with a long-stemmed rose in his teeth and no safety net. That was all of us  -  beautiful, indestructible, frozen in time, wild with anticipation of the next amazing adventure.