Monday

Apr. 8, 1996

Ponce de Leon: A Morning Walk

by Al Young

MONDAY 4/8

Today's Reading: "Ponce de Leon: A Morning Walk" by Al Young from THE SONG TURNING BACK INTO ITSELF, published by Holt Rinehart & Winston

Today is Easter Monday in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Canada.

The White House Easter Egg Roll takes place today on the south lawn.

It's the birthday of Buddha , born in southern Nepal in the 6th century BC

Violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini was born today in Venice, 1692.

Doctor and nutritionist Grace Arabell Goldsmith was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on this day in 1904.

The 17th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1913, requiring members of the Senate to be elected by popular vote rather than the state's legislature.

It's the birthday of jazz vocalist Carmen McRae, born in New York City in 1920.

Novelist Barbara Kingsolver was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1955.

Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run of his career in 1974.

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

 

«

»

  • “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
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “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
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show