Tuesday

Mar. 25, 1997

The Prayer of the Cat

by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold

The Prayer of the Elephant

by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold

TUESDAY 3/25

Today's Reading:"The Prayer of the Cat" and "The Prayer of the Elephant" by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold translated by Rumer Godden from PRAYERS FROM THE ARK, published by Viking Penguin (1992).

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel is supposed to have revealed to Mary that she would bear Christ nine months later.

In Netherlands today the famous Tulip Show begins in Vogelenzang, with spring flowers on display in the gardens and glass houses through the end of May.

It's the birthday of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, born in Memphis on this day in 1942.

Journalist and feminist leader Gloria Steinem was born on this day in Toledo, Ohio, 1934.

It's the birthday of novelist and short-story writer (Mary) Flannery O'Connor (A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND; EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE), born in Savannah, Georgia, 1925. She died of lupus in 1964 at the age of 39.

It's the anniversary of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist fire at a sweatshop in New York City in 1911. The fire killed 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, minutes before they were to go home. The doors of the 9th floor were locked causing many to jump to their deaths.

Film director David Lean (BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI; LAWRENCE OF ARABIA; DR ZHIVAGO; A PASSAGE TO INDIA) was born on this day in Croydon, England, 1908.

It's the birthday of the man who carved Mount Rushmore, sculptor Gutzon Borglum, born in Bear Lake, Idaho, 1867.

Conductor Arturo Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy, on this day in 1868. He made his conducting debut at the age of 19 with an Italian opera company, filling in for an ailing colleague.

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

 

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