Tuesday

Jul. 15, 1997

Insomnia

by Dana Gioia

TUESDAY 7/15

Today's Reading:"Insomnia" by Dana Gioia from DAILY HOROSCOPE, published by Graywolf Press (1986).

Today is St. Swithin's Day, honoring Swithin, the Bishop of Winchester, England.

It was on this day in 1960 that Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

A new record for an ar ound-the-world-flight was set on this day in 1938 when Howard Hughes and four crewmen arrived back in Brooklyn three days, 19 hours and 17 minutes after departing in a twin-engine Lockheed. They cut the previous record in half.

It's the birthday of British novelist Iris Murdoch, known for her macabre and comic novels including A SEVERED HEAD, THE BLACK PRINCE, and THE MESSAGE TO THE PLANET, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1919.

It's the birthday of Scottish writer and naturalist Gavin Maxwell (RING OF BRIGHT WATER), born in Elrig, Scotland, on this day in 1914.

English novelist Hammond Innes, was born on this day in Horsham, Sussex, in 1913.

Songwriter Dorothy Fields ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "On the Sunny Side of the Street") was born on this day in Allenhurst, New Jersey, in 1904.

Outlaw Billy the Kid was shot to death on this day in 1881 by Sheriff Pat Garrett in New Mexico as he was trying to escape from jail.

The first U.S. citizen to become a saint, Frances Xavier Cabrini, was born on this day in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, in 1850.

Historian and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch (T HE AGE OF FABLE), was born on this day in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1796.

Clement Clarke Moore, professor of Oriental and Greek literature and the author of A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS, was born in New York City on this day in 1779.

Dutch master painter, etcher and draftsman Rembrandt van Rijn, was born in Leiden, Holland, on this day in 1606.

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

 

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