Wednesday

Jul. 24, 1996

Today

by Reed Whittemore

WEDNESDAY 7/24

Today's Reading:"Today" by Reed Whittemore from THE PAST, THE FUTURE, THE PRESENT, published by University of Arkansas Press (1990).

The Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair and Street Fair starts today in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Days of '47 Pioneer Parade in Salt Lake City takes place today, celebrating the Mormon emigrants who came to the area in 1847.

Pianist Peter Serkin was born today in New York City in 1947.

The first successful insulin treatment was carried out on a six-year-old girl at Guy's Hospital in London in 1925.

High school science teacher, John T. Scopes, was found guilty of teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925.

It's the birthday of American writer, John D. MacDonald (THE DEEP BLUE GOODBYE), born in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1916.

Educator, historian, Richard Morris was born in New York City in 1904. He said: "We no longer have men in public life of the stature of our Founding Fathers. The impact of immediacy created by TV has placed a premium not on reflection and reason, but on the glib answer and the bland statement."

Aviator Amelia Earhart was born today in Atchison, Kansas in 1898. She disappeared during a flight around the world in 1937.

It was on this day in 1824 that the HARRISBURG PENNSYLVANIAN published the first public opinion poll in the United States, showing Andrew Jackson in the lead for presidency.

French playwright, novelist Alexandre Dumas, Pere (THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO) was born in Villers-Cotterets, France in 1802.

Soldier and statesman, Simon Bolivar, for whom the country Bolivia is named, was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1783.

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