Today's Reading:"An Upward Look" by James Merrill from A SCATTERING OF SALTS, published by Alfred A. Knopf.
Today is Martinmas, the Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours, born around 316.
Today is also Armistice Day, now called Veteran's Day, celebrating the anniversary of the armistice between Allied and Central Powers.
It's the anniversary today of the 1940 Great Armistice Day Blizzard in Minnesota that killed 59 people, many of them deer hunters.
Kate Smith first sang "God Bless America" during her regular radio broadcast in 1938.
It's the birthday of Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, in Mexico City, 1928.
Comedian Jonathan Winters was born on this date in Dayton, Ohio, 1925.
It's the birthday of novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE), born today in Indianapolis, Indiana, 1922.
Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (HOUSE OF THE DEAD; CRIME AND PUNISHMENT; THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV), was born on this day in Moscow, 1821.
Today's Reading:"Waly, Waly," also known as "The Water is Wide" by an anonymous author. (waly = woefully)
The San Francisco-Oakland Bridge opened on this day in 1936, the longest bridge in country at that time.
Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist party on this day in 1927 and Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the USSR.
It's the birthday of the founder of READER'S DIGEST, DeWitt Wallace, born in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1889. He kept a card file about the high points of magazine articles he read which became the idea behind the magazine.
The anesthetic chloroform was first demonstrated today in 1847 at the University of Edinburgh.
It's the birthday of sculptor Auguste Rodin, famous for THE THINKER and THE KISS. He was born in Paris, 1840.
It's the birthday of the founder of the Baha'I' Faith, Baha'U'llah, in Nur, Persia, 1817.
Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on this day in Johnstown, New York, 1815.
Today's Reading:"Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman from LEAVES OF GRASS.
Today is the anniversary of the 1982 dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It was on this day in 1956 that the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional.
It's the birthday of novelist George V. Higgins, born in Brockton, Massachusetts, 1939.
Today in 1927 the world's first underwater tunnel for motorized traffic opened under the Hudson River, the 1.8 mile Holland Tunnel.
The first full session of the League of Nations began today in Geneva, 1920.
It's the birthday of historian and educator C. Vann Woodward, born in Vanndale, Arkansas, 1908.
Pianist Bennie Moten was born today in Kansas City, 1894.
Writer Robert Louis Stevenson was born today in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1850. He spent one month writing his book TREASURE ISLAND.
St. Augustine of Hippo, author of CONFESSIONS, was born in Tugaste, Rome, on this day in 354.
Today's Reading:"Time for Serenity, Anyone?" by William Stafford from EVEN IN QUIET PLACES, published by Confluence Press.
It's the anniversary of the bombing of Coventry (London) in 1940, one of the worst bombing raids of the Blitz.
Journalist Harrison Salisbury (THE 900 DAYS: THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD) was born today in Minneapolis, 1908. He launched the OP-Ed page at the Times in 1970.
It's the birthday of Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (PIPPI LONGSTOCKING; THE BROTHERS LIONHEART), born in Vimmerby, Sweden, 1907.
Silent-film star Louise Brooks (PANDORA'S BOX) was born on this day in Cherryvale, Kansas, 1906.
Composer Aaron Copland (APPALACHIAN SPRING; RODEO) was born today in Brooklyn, New York, 1900. He said, "For me it was not necessary to have an experience in order to compose about it. I preferred to imagine being on a horse without actually getting on one."
It's the birthday of chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland, 1863, developer of the first commercially viable plastic.
Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who said the Western frontier shaped the American character, was born in Portage, Wisconsin, 1861.
Herman Melville's book, MOBY DICK, was published in New York on this day in 1851.
It's the birthday of French Impressionist painter Claude (Oscar) Monet, born in Paris, 1840.
The world's first streetcar began running on this day in New York City in 1832.
The inventor of the steamboat, Robert Fulton, was born today in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1765.
Today's Reading:"The Fish" by Marianne Moore from THE COMPLETE POEMS OF MARIANNE MOORE, published by Faber and Faber.
It's the birthday today of the German army officer who tried but failed to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Claus Graf von Stauffenber, born in Jettingen, Germany, 1907.
Publisher Hamish Hamilton was born on this day in Indianapolis in 1900, but grew up with relatives in Scotland.
It's the birthday of artist Georgia O'Keefe, born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, 1887.
Poet and baseball fan Marianne Moore was born in St. Louis on this day in 1881.
Newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams (FPA) was born in Chicago on this day in 1881.
Atlanta burned on this day in 1864 as General Sherman and his army set out for Savannah on their March to the Sea.
Zebulon Pike discovered Pike's Peak on this day in 1806 while searching for the source of the Mississippi River.
Today's Reading:"Some Glory in Their Birth, Some in Their Skill" by William Shakespeare.
The Monterey County Hot Air Affair is being held this weekend in Marina, California with 40 balloonists in competition.
A reenactment of the Revolutionary War siege of Fort Mifflin takes place today in Philadelphia.
The SOUND OF MUSIC premiered today in 1959 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in New York City.
It's the birthday today of journalist Elizabeth Drew, born Cincinnati in 1935.
Novelist Betty Pesetsky (CONFESSIONS OF A BAD GIRL; DIGS AND MIDNIGHT SWEETS) was born in Milwaukee in 1932.
It's the birthday of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (THINGS FALL APART) born in Ogidi, Nigeria, 1930.
The first volume of Marcel Proust's novel, REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST, was published in Paris on this day in 1913.
The German composer Paul Hindemith (MATHIS DER MALER) was born on this day near Frankfurt in 1895.
It's the birthday of playwright and journalist George S. Kaufman (OF THEE I SING; YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU; THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER) born in Pittsburgh, 1889.
Arthur Krock, political writer for THE NEW YORK TIMES from 1932 to 1966, was born on this day in Glasgow, Kentucky, 1886.
It's the birthday of writer Louis Honore Frechette, known for patriotic poems in French, born in Quebec, 1839.
It was on this day that Britain blockaded Long Island Sound in 1813, during the War of 1812, closing all major American routes to the sea.
Today's Reading:"The Circle on the Grass" by Jane Kenyon from OTHERWISE, published by Graywolf Press (1996).
It's the birthday of film director Martin Scorsese (TAXI DRIVER; RAGING BULL), born in Flushing, New York, 1942.
Writer and historian Shelby Foote, author of THE CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE and narrator of the PBS Civil War series, was born on this day in Greenville, Mississippi, 1916.
Grace Abbott, who led reform efforts to crack down on unfair child labor practices in this country, was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, 1878.
It's the anniversary of the 1734 libel case that set a standard for freedom of the press in the American colonies. Printer and journalist John Peter Zenger was arrested and charged with libel for criticizing the governor in his newspaper. Zenger won his case in court.
American religious martyr Anne Hutchinson was born in Alford, England, in 1591.
