Thursday

Oct. 24, 1996

Autumn

by John Clare

THURSDAY 10/24

Today's Reading:"Autumn" by John Clare.

The Edgar Allan Poe Festival begins today at Mount Hope Estate in Manheim, Pennsylvania.

Today is United Nations Day, commemorating the founding of the United Nations and effective date of the U. N. Charter on this day in 1945.

The Fair Labor Standards Act went in to effect on this day in 1940, establishing the 40-hour work week.

Women's nylon hosiery first went on sale in Wilmington, Delaware, on this day in 1939, one year after Du Pont had announced it had patented nylon.

It's the birthday today of poet, playwright and novelist Adrian Mitchell, born in London in 1932.

American composer George Crumb, awarded the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for "Echoes of Time and the River," was born on this day in Charleston, West Virginia, 1929.

Bulgarian writer Yordan Radichkov was born on this day in Kalimanitsa, Bulgaria, 1929.

It's the anniversary of Black Thursday in 1929, when several weeks of falling stock prices prompted investors to panic, selling more than 13 million shares of stock.

Today is the birthday of poet Denise Levertov, born in Ilford, England, 1923.

Blues singer and harmonica player Sonny Terry was born on this day in Greensboro, Georgia, 1911.

It's the birthday of playwright Moss Hart, who teamed up with George Kaufman to create many hits including ONCE IN A LIFETIME, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. He was born in New York City in 1904.

It's the birthday of women's rights activist Belva Ann Lockwood, the first woman attorney to practice before the Supreme Court in 1879. She was born in Royalton, New York, in 1830.

Writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale ("Mary Had a Little Lamb") was born on this day in Newport, New Hampshire, 1788.

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

 

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  • “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
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  • “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
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  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
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  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
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