Dana Gioia Writes About The Arts in The Wall St Journal

"Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasure--humor, thrills, emotional titillation or even the odd delight of being vicariously terrified. Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world--equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being--simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories or songs or images. Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers." (The Wall Street Journal, 7-19-07)

Mr. Gioialeft, is the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. This is an excerpt from a June 17 commencement address at Standord University.