So I Sing This Song of Love: For Julia. Julia Child gets a Presidential Medal of Freedom. And not even any mention that she was a spook (well, a desk-set spook, anyway) during World War Two at the OSS. One of my favorite stories about Julia involves how, when her father caught her smoking as a teenager, he offered her a large sum of money, payable on her 18th birthday -- if she gave up the habit. She quit smoking, collected the money at 18, and promptly took up smoking again.

As an incurable hack in the kitchen, Julia's always been my gal. She refuses to cater to the fancy-pantsers (Cassoulet is, in her book, "French Baked Beans") and was never a just-so TV chef ("here's one I prepared ahead of time"), so you got to see her drop the roast, destroy the souffle, and repair the cake. She's human, thank god.

Sidenote: Also on the list of medal winners are Jacques Barzun and James Q. Wilson. One good thing about Republican presidencies -- recognition of scholars who face down the prevailing winds of academic nonsense.