Monday

Mar. 11, 1996

The Cat

by William Matthews

MONDAY 3/11

Today's reading: "The Cat" by William Matthews from SELECTED POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS, published by Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

In 1811 Ned Ludd led a group of workers who destroyed factory machines because they feared mechanization, thus the term "luddite" is now used to describe people who oppose automation.

Today is the anniversary of the legendary blizzard of 1888.

It's the birthday of actress Dorothy Gish, born in 1898.

Lawrence Welk was born on this day in Strasburg, North Dakota in 1903.

British author Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was born in Cambridge in 1952.

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

 

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  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
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  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
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  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
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  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
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