Wednesday

Oct. 23, 1996

Cinema and Ballad of the Great Depression

by Donald Justice

WEDNESDAY 10/23

Today's Reading:"Cinema and Ballad of the Great Depression" by Donald Justice from THE SUNSET MAKER, published by Atheneum (1987).

This is the traditional date for the swallows to depart from the Mission of San Juan Capistrano in California and make their way to Mexico.

Hungary declared its independence from Soviet influence on this day in 1989 after a week-long Parliamentary purge of Stalinists in the government.

THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER was published to great acclaim on this day in 1978.

Microbiologist Selman A. Waksman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1952 for discovering the tuberculosis-fighting antibiotic streptomycin, which he extracted from soil cultures.

It was on this day in 1950 that T. S. Eliot, aged 62, told TIME magazine: "The years between 50 and 70 are hardest. You are always being asked to do things and yet are not decrepit enough to turn them down."

It's the birthday of writer Michael Crichton, who wrote THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN while attending medical school at Harvard in order to help pay his expenses. He was born in Chicago in 1942.

The first national radio network broadcast in the United States took place on this day in 1924, with a speech by President Coolidge.

Composer and writer Ned Rorem (THE PARIS DIARY) was born on this day in Richmond, Indiana, 1923.

It's the birthday of writer, editor Emily Kimbrough (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN), born in Muncie, Indiana, 1899.

Engineer, chemist William D. Coolidge, who developed a form of tungsten that could be used as filaments in incandescent light bulbs, was born on this day in Hudson, Massachusetts, 1873.

The first National Women's Rights Convention was held on this day in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

English poet Robert Bridges was born in Walmer, Kent, on this day in 1844.

The "father of canning," Nicolas-Francois Appert, was born on this day in Chalons-Sur-Marne, France, 1752.

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

 

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