Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Some of My Favorite Stuff--Crosswords, Irving, & Dr. Seuss
Birthday of publisher Max Schuster, born in Kalusz, Austria (1897). With his business partner, Richard L. Simon, he started a publishing house. The first venture was a collection of crossword puzzles in a book, the first time crossword puzzles were published outside of newspapers. It sold.5 million...
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Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Poets Galore!
Birthday of poet Robert Hass, born in San Francisco, CA (1941), author of several collections of poetry, including Human Wishes (1989) and Sun Under Wood (1996). He served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997. Hass said, "Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a...
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Monday, February 28, 2005
DNA Breakthrough, Coffee Fuels Writer, and Unusual Child Rearing
On this day in 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule, a key to understanding how all organisms pass genetic information to their offspring. Watson was 23 at the time; Crick was older, but hadn't finished his PhD. They worked in a lab in Cambridge, England,...
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Cody, Marlow, Hugo, Shaw, Longfellow & Steinbeck - Wow
What a weekend! Here's the info: Saturday, Feb. 26 Birthday of William Frederick Cody, popularl known as Buffalo Bill, born in LeClair, IA (1846). Cody left home to seek his fortune when he was 13, and by 1860 was a rider for the Pony Express. He went on to become an Army scout and buffalo hunter....
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Friday, February 25, 2005
Renoir, Sister Wendy, Plath, and Williams
Birthday of painter Pierre (Auguste) Renoir, born in Limoges, France (1841). Along with Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley, Renoir created the style of painting known as Impressionism. Severely disabled by arthritis starting in 1902, Renoir continued to paint. By 1913 he was completely crippled, but he...
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Grimm Tales, Realist Fiction, and Oink!
Birthday of Wilhelm Karl Grimm, born in Hanau, Germany (1786), who, along with his brother Jakob, is famous for collecting and translating children's stories and folktales put together in Children's and Household Tales (1812). It came to be known as Grimm's Fairy Tales. The tales include "Little Red...
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Wuggly Ump, Figs from Thistles, George Washington, Prey & Pepys
Sorry, I skipped a couple of days. Here's the catch-up. Tuesday, Feb. 22 Birthday of poet Gerald Stern, born in Pittsburgh, PA (1925), the author of many collections of poetry, including The Pineys (1971), Leaving Another Kingdom (1990), Bread Without Sugar (1992), and Odd Mercy (1995). Birthday of...
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Monday, February 21, 2005
Bombeck, Novelists, and Poets
Birthday of columnist and humorist Erma Bombeck, born in Dayton, OH (1927), a stay-at-home mother when she started a humor column at a small Ohio paper and wrote about the adventures of the average housewife. She became one of the most popular humor columnists in America; by the late 1970s appearing...
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The Weekend: Exec. Order 9066, Authors & Prizes
Saturday, February 19 Birthday of novelist Amy Tan, born in Oakland, CA (1952). Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989), followed a trip with to China at age 35 with her mother to learn about her heritage. Other novels include The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), and...
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Friday, February 18, 2005
Nobel, Pulitzer, and Sex
Birthday of novelist Toni Morrison, born Chloe Anthony Wofford, in Lorain, OH (1931). She won the Nobel Prize for Literature (1993). Her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was about a black teenage girl who longs to have blue eyes and is obsessed with white standards. Beloved, won the Pulitzer...
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