Wednesday

Feb. 21, 1996

Back from Vacation

by John Updike

WEDNESDAY 2/21

Today's reading: "Back from Vacation" by John Updike from COLLECTED POEMS, published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent.

Black leader Malcolm X was shot dead on this day in 1965.

President Nixon landed in Peking in 1972, a historic visit which marked the thawing of U.S./China relations.

It's the birthday of writer and poet W.H. Auden born in 1907.

Jazz singer and pianist Nina Simone was born on this day in 1934.

Alice Freeman Palmer, president of Wellesley College at age 27, was born in 1855.

It's the birthday of The New Yorker magazine which first appeared in 1925.

Film critic and writer Pauline Kael was born in 1919.

It's the birthday of French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy.

After 37 years of construction the Washington Monument was dedicated in 1885.

German bacteriologist August von Wassermann was born in 1866.

It's the birthday of film director Sam Peckinpah

famous for his westerns.

Spanish musician Andres Segovia was born on this day.

French-born author Anais Nin was born on this day.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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