Sunday

Jul. 6, 1997

When Someone Dies Young

by Robert Becker

SUNDAY 7/6

Today's Reading:"When Someone Dies Young" by Robin Becker from ALL-AMERICAN GIRL, published by University of Pittsburgh Press (1996).

Operation Overcast began on this day in 1945 as the end of World War II approached; a plan to move German and Austrian scientists and equipment out of German territory and to the United States.

It's the birthday today of the Dalia Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, born in Takser, Tibet, in 1935.

Lyric soprano Dorothy Kirsten was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on this day in 1910; she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1945 and performed there for the next 30 years.

Louis Pasteur gave the first successful anti-rabies inoculation on this day in 1885 to a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog.

It's the birthday of the creator of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, born in South Kensington, London, on this day in 1861.

It was on this day in 1535 that politician, diplomat and author Sir Thomas More was executed at the Tower of London. He was found guilty of treason for refusing to swear allegiance to King Henry VIII as head of the church.

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