Elsewhere in the world of starchitecture, while Renzo was busy talking about sad and disturbing things, Richard Meier must've been living it up, as he was just awarded the Gold Medal for Architecture by the American Academy of Art and Letters (which is just about the coolest award you can get, if just so someone like Meier can legitimately be able to say, "Well, as a man of arts and letters..."). Along with Meier were a whole slew of other winners, from Yo-Yo Ma and Salman Rushdie taking home Honorary Memberships to a slew of other miscellaneous people winning things like awards for light verse, musical theater, various types of art and Neil Denari, Jim Jennings, James Carpenter and Kenneth Frampton, each of whom took home a cool $7500 and four Academy Awards in Architecture (which we're guessing the whole group quickly spent on cocaine and strippers with Calvin Trillin and William T. Vollmann, who also won their share of cash and prizes).