Saturday

Dec. 20, 1997

Personal Address

by Pat Schneider

SATURDAY 12/20

Today's Reading: "Personal Address" by Pat Schneider from LONG WAY HOME, published by Amherst Writers' and Artists Press.

On this day in 1985, President Reagan signed a law establishing an American Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry.

Writer Hortense Calisher (FALSE ENTRY; QUEENIE; AGE) was born on this day in New York City, 1911.

It's the birthday of American philosopher and author Sidney Hook, born in New York City, 1902.

Actress Irene Dunn (MY FAVORITE WIFE; LOVE AFFAIR), was born on this day in Louisville, Kentucky, 1898.

It's the birthday of Branch Rickey, who devised baseball's "farm system" for training and brought the first black players into the major leagues. He was born in Stockdale, Ohio, 1881.

On this day in 1871 Mark Twain said, comparing himself to George Washington: "I have a higher and greater standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I CAN lie but I won't."

The Irish nationalist heroine who helped found Sinn Fein, Maud Gonne, was born in Dublin on this day in 1866.

It's the birthday of "the father of colloid chemistry," Thomas Graham, born in Glasgow, Scotland, 1805.

In 1803 on this day, the Louisiana Purchase was completed, with more than a million square miles turned over to the United States by France, for a price of about $20 a square mile.

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
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