The news coverage of the World Economic Forum at Davos was overshadowed with stories of power, money, celebrity and conjecture. There is another face to this gathering. There is what I will call the Compassionate Heart of the World Economic Forum at Davos. The World Economic Forum describes itself an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world...

Author's Note: On February 21st the Des Moines Register announced that a bill proposing to force the sale of Jackson Pollock's "Mural," in the collection of the University of Iowa's Art Museum, had died. This blog, about the controversy generated by the bill, and also about the cultural forces surrounding it, was composed while the bill was still under consideration. It is hopefully sti...