June 21: Mark Mellman ’78 Says Don’t Judge 2024 By the 2022 Midterms

R. Isabela Morales *19, editor and project manager of the Princeton & Slavery Project, wrote a book, Happy Dreams of Liberty, about the children of a slave owner who managed to leave them money, and what their story says about intergenerational wealth. — Oxford University Press Blog
 
Louis Bayard ’85’s new novel, Jackie & Me, tells an imagined story of Lem Billings ’39, a real-life friend of John. F. Kennedy who befriended the future first lady. — The New York Times (Read PAW’s 2017 story about Billings here.)

Anna Katz *13, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles, is organizing an exhibit of Judy Baca’s work — “rich and vividly colorful depictions of history and social struggle” that long have been overlooked. — The New York Times
 
Ret. Gen. David Petraeus *85 *87 said he’d bet on the Ukranians in the war against Russia, as they bring in “staggering” quantities of weapons and ammunition. — CNN
 
Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth ’03 wrote “return to sender” on his Harvard master’s diploma, saying, “Every single department has a critical theory department.” Someone said, “Go grab that Princeton diploma,” and Hegseth said, “No, not yet.” — Fox News
 
New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81 will provide commentary on a new documentary about biographer Robert Caro ’57 and former New Yorker editor Robert Gottleib titled, “Turn Every Page.” — Yahoo!
 
President Joe Biden has nominated Radha Iyengar Plumb *06 to become deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment at the U.S. Department of Defense. She currently serves as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense. — American Kahani
 
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds ’93, the showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the upcoming Disney+ series “Washington Black,” spoke about filming in Nova Scotia and connecting with its Black community. — CBS
 
Author Suleika Jaouad ’10 is painting as an emotional outlet as she battles with leukemia for a second time. — Survivor Net

“History makes clear that 2022 will tell us nothing about the outcome of the next presidential election.”

— Democratic pollster Mark Mellman ’78, analyzing the history of midterm and presidential re-elections and warning that the 2022 midterms won’t be a reliable predictor of how the 2024 presidential election will play out. — The Hill

Eddie S. Glaude *97, chair of Princeton’s Department of African American Studies, is launching a six-part podcast titled “History is US” that will cover “American history and the country’s troubled legacy on race.” — Axios
 
At the Tony Awards, theater producer Jordan Roth ’97 “gave new meaning to fashion peacocking in an iridescent ensemble with laser-cut feathered detailing.” — Vogue
 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed four people, including Dr. David Diamond ’90, a physician at Florida Radiation Oncology, to the state’s Board of Medicine. — FLgov.com
 
Harvard historian Caroline Elkins ’91 said Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee coincided with crises highlighting “gaps between fact and fiction, lived realities and imperial myth making.” — The New York Times
 
Architecture critic Rowan Moore praised the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London designed by Robert Venturi ’47 *50 and Denise Scott Brown, and worried a planned revamp threatens “its quirky splendor.” — The Guardian

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