Thursday

Jul. 4, 1996

Topography

by Sharon Olds

THURSDAY 7/4

Today's Reading: "Topography" by Sharon Olds from THE GOLD CELL, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

It's Independence Day, the 220th anniversary of the Continental Congress' adoption of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson.

It's the birthday of playwright, screenwriter Neil Simon ("Barefoot in the Park"; "The Odd Couple"), born in Bronx, New York in 1927.

Literary critic and educator Lionel Trilling was born today in New York City in 1905.

It's the birthday of actress, singer Gertrude Lawrence for whom Noel Coward wrote PRIVATE LIVES, born in London in 1898.

Wellesley College Professor Katherine Lee Bate's poem, "America the Beautiful," was first published on this day in 1895.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was born on this day in Minsk, Russia in 1885; his discoveries included Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Rudolph Valentino, and Clark Gable.

Cartoonist Rube Goldberg was born today in San Francisco in 1883.

Walt Whitman published, with his own money, the first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS in 1855.

It was on this day in 1845 that Henry David Thoreau began living in the cabin he built on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts.

It's the birthday of composer Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna"; "Camptown Races") born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania in 1826.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (THE SCARLET LETTER; THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES) was born on this day in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804.


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

 

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