It was big news and I missed it because I was playing music three night in a row, the last two with an all-girl band. I swear to God.
While I was busy jamming, Ruth Lilly, the 87 year old granddaughter of the founder of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, arranged to give $100 million to Poetry magazine, which had rejected several of her poems. Here's the story in the New York Times. It's a big deal, and wonderful news. There are no strings attached, apparently because she's happy with the way Poetry has administered her two previous gifts, the 2 annual $15,000 Ruth Lilly Fellowships and the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Prize. Besides, it helps with the estate taxes--another reason not to end them.
It turns out, though, that one provision of the Homeland Security bill just rammed through Congress protects Eli Lilly, among other companies, from lawsuits concerning vaccine additives like Lilly's thimerosal, which may be implicated in the recent rise in the incidence of autism. The Times has that story, too, including the interesting facts that White House budget director Mitch Daniels used to be with Eli Lilly, and that the current CEO, Sidney Taurel, has a seat on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
What does this mean for Poetry? I've seen a few people claim the magazine should not accept this "tainted" money. They're nuts. Ruth Lilly's fortune certainly has its origins in the company, but she doesn't have anything to do with running it now, if indeed she ever had. Neither does she advise the Congress or the President. And have these conscientious folks refused to use computers with Chinese-made components in protest over working conditions in the Chinese computer industry? Well, they're posting to mailing lists. And so am I.
8:29:51 PM 
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