Sunday

May 4, 1997

Riding Bike with No Hands

by Julia Kasdorf

SUNDAY 5/4

Today's Reading:"Riding Bike with No Hands" by Julia Kasdorf from SLEEPING PREACHER, published by University of Pittsburgh Press.

Today is Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Day, a day established by Israel's Knesset as a memorial to the Jewish dead of World War II.

It's the birthday of British novelist Graham Swift (THE SWEET SHOP OWNER; OUT OF THIS WORLD), born in London in 1949.

Israeli novelist Amos Oz (THE BLACK BOX; THE THIRD STATE) was born in Jerusalem on this day in 1939.

It's the birthday of actress Edda van Heemstra Hepburn- Rusten, who came to the United States after World War II and changed her name to Audrey Hepburn (ROMAN HOLIDAY; BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S). She was born near Brussels, Belgium, in 1929.

It's the birthday of Irish poet Thomas Kinsella, born in Dublin on this day in 1928.

American nutritionist and biochemist Agnes Fay Morgan, the first to note the effects of vitamin D, was born on this day in Peoria, Illinois, in 1884.

Electrical engineer and broadcasting pioneer Frank Conrad was born on this day in Pittsburgh, 1874. His interest in radiotelephony led to the establishment of the first commercial radio station.

British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who defended his friend Charles Darwin in the controversy surrounding the theory of evolution, was born on this day in Ealing, Middlesex, 1825.

"The father of public education," Horace Mann, was born on this day in Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1796. He was responsible for the state law requiring children under 12 to spend at least six months of the year in school.

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