Lookback: on getting a presidential commission framed

From 2005:

I went to my framer yesterday afternoon and picked up the presidential commission for my appointment to the National Council on the Arts. It is a splendidly old-fashioned document, about twice the size of a college diploma, printed in copperplate script on thick cream paper by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It is, of course, a fill-in-the-blank form, starting with a space on top for the current president’s name, with the blanks filled in by a calligrapher….

Read the whole thing here.