501 CHRONICLESnfrom the Coordinating Council onnLiterary Magazines, which got thenmoney from the National Endowmentnfor the Arts. The grant came when mynfledgling journal needed it most, andnwas unique in that even “for profit”npublications were eligible. I was, andnam, grateful. Still, when I look at thenlist of journals granted CCLM fundsnthis year, I get the feeling that I’m justnnot kinky enough, that the CCLMnbanked on my journal’s turning sharply,nweirdly left, was disappointed, andnhas moved on to ideologically greenernpastures.nAnd about profit: Technically mynjournal is a sole proprietorship, “fornprofit,” so I can’t apply for most grants.nI pay tax on the journal’s income,nstruggle from issue to issue, turn everyncent back into the publication, andnpay myself nothing. If I declared mynjournal a nonprofit corporation, Incould receive tax money instead ofnrelinquishing it; I would be eligible fornmore grants than I could count, andncould pay myself a handsome salary ifnthe right ones came through (a slendernpossibility: see above). The semanticsninvolved here—“profit,” “nonprofit”n—have always puzzled mc, but intelligentnfriends ask, “Why don’t you quitncarping and just do it?” Well, becausenmy journal, and my own writing, arenthe only areas of my life in which I cannbe in complete control. Incorporatingnwould mean paperwork, a board ofndirectors, yearly meetings, votingn—everything I mistrust, if I had tonoperate that way I’d quit publishing. Itnwouldn’t be fun. It wouldn’t be mine.nAll of which, every time I thinknabout it, only makes me more surenthat government art grants are thenmost misguided idea since the electricnspoon, for the simple reasons that: (a)nthey fund the wrong things; and (b)nwhat really deserves funding doesn’tndemand funding.nOh, there are all sorts of peripheralnreasons why government grants arenbad news: They discourage competitionnand self-reliance and weaken survivalninstincts among artists and rendernapathetic and cynical the general public,nwhich might support the arts voluntarilyn(i.e., pay a fair price to enjoynwhat they enjoy) if they didn’t seenswarms of Cristos wrapping their garbagenin hundreds of thousands of taxndollars every year.nBut these complaints, I suppose,npale before the sad truth in the verynnames of the grantors: the NationalnEndowment for “the Arts,” state councilsnon “the arts.” They aren’t kidding:nThat’s exactly where the money goesn—to “the arts,” not to arfists. It goes tonbring traveling troupes to town, tonrenovate old playhouses, to buy costumesnfor neighborhood Barrymores,nto fund local orchestras. Some kinds ofnmoney can go to arts administrators,nand some go to “artists in residence,”noften talented folk who spend theirnprecious creative hours with thirdgradersnbecause the schools don’t wantnto hire art teachers and the artists cannmake more than $600 for a schoolnweek. The cash, in short, goes tonperformances of various kinds, but notnto artists, the admitted elite, withoutnwhom there would be nothing to performnor look at or read. Some states donhave fellowships for artists—as doesnthe NEA, and hefty grants those aren—but a few nice chunks of money tonartists are only drops in the huge grantsnbucket.nThus, the greater part of our taxfundednarts grants is wasted, suckedninto some vacuum called “the arts,”nwhich holds vast audiences but noncreators. And what isn’t wasted—whatngoes to artists—is unnecessary. Becausenwhat our good legislators haven’tndiscerned is that an artist will createnwhether he is paid or not.nThe artistic portion of an artist’s lifenis the same—hard, joyous, above allnsolitary—whether he lives with a catnin a New York walk-up or with a wifenand four kids in a Peoria split-foyer.nWhat he does, he does because henmust. Most artists dream of making angood living from their art but don’tnmind masquerading as businesspeoplenfrom eight to five every day: They tellnthemselves it won’t be forever; theynremind themselves that the drudgery,nthe dullness, the bourgeois job givesnthem utter freedom, at night and onnweekends, behind the locked door ofntheir studio or study. If “free” money isnavailable, they’ll want some, of coursen—but if it isn’t they’ll carry on nonetheless:nbecause they can’t do otherwise;nbecause their art is their joy.nArtists can’t be starved out of theirnart—or bought into it. (Come to thinknof it, the same is probably true of thenamateur groups and professionalnnntroupes receiving most of the money.)nGiven a choice of unlimited money ornunlimited freedom, most artists wouldnchoose freedom. ccnJane Greer edits the famous PlainsnPoetry Journal.nLetter Fromnthe Lower Rightnby John Shelton ReednDr. Bob’s Unusual UniversitynBob Jones University. Isn’t that thensegregationist place down in SouthnCarolina someplace?nWell, yes and no; or, rather, no andnyes. BJU is in Greenville, South Carolina.nAnd it did lose its tax exemptionnnot long ago because its administrationn—which means the Reverend Dr. BobnJones Jr., son of the founder—forbidsninterracial dating on what it/he believesnto be biblical grounds. But ifnBob Jones is racist, in the strict sense ofnthat much-misused word, it is hardlynsegregationist: it has a number of blacknstudents, and yellow ones and probablynred ones, too. In an odd way. BobnJones is a very cosmopolitan place.nPerhaps you never heard anythingngood about it, but there are circles,nworldwide, in which it’s regarded asnnot just a reputable school, but annoutstanding one. Among those whonshare its brand of orthodoxy, it has anninternational reputation and internationalnconnections. Ian Paisley was annhonored guest last summer at a WorldnCongress of Fundamentalists, and itsnstudents come from all over for whatnit, almost uniquely, offers.nBob Jones is, first and last, an institutionndedicated to its founder’s versionnof fundamentalist ProtestantnChristianity. It offers pretty much thenusual range of postsecondary instruction,nbut within that framework. Innone recruiting ad, for instance, anyoung graduate reports that her businessndegree and the Lord’s blessingnsecured her a post with the largest banknin northeastern Alabama. Its educationnschool seems to train teachersnprimarily for fundamentalist privatenacademies (and its university pressnpublishes an extensive line of textbooksnfor such schools). BJU alson