Wednesday

Aug. 14, 1996

The Mud Turtle

by Howard Nemerov

The Tortoise in Eternity

by Elinor Wylie

WEDNESDAY 8/14

Today's Reading: Two poems: "The Tortoise in Eternity" by Elinor Wylie from COLLECTED POEMS, published by Alfred A. Knopf. "The Mud Turtle" by Howard Nemerov from TRYING CONCLUSIONS, published by University of Chicago Press.

Today is Victory Day, V-J Day, the anniversary of President Truman's announcement in 1945 that Japan had surrendered to the Allies.

Cartoonist Gary Larson ("The Far Side") was born today in Tacoma, Washington, in 1950.

The play FRONT PAGE by Ben Hecht opened on this day in 1928 at the Times Square Theater in New York City.

Journalist Russell Baker (GROWING UP; POOR RUSSELL'S ALMANAC) was born today in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 1925.

It was on this day in 1935 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, establishing a system of old-age benefits.

Food authority Julia Child, author of THE FRENCH CHEF, was born on this day in Pasadena, California, in 1912.

It was on this day in 1880 that the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe, was finally completed. Work had originally begun in 1248.

British novelist, John Galsworthy (THE FORSYTHE SAGA) was born today in 1864.

Writer Ernest Lawrence Thayer, famous for his ballad "Casey at the Bat," was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1863.

It was on this day in 1842 that the eight-year U.S. war with the Seminole Indians in Florida ended. The Seminoles were moved to Oklahoma.

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

 

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