Saturday

Sep. 19, 1998

How to Take a Walk

by Leo Dangel

SATURDAY 9/19

Today's Reading: "How to Take a Walk" and "After Forty Years of Marriage, She Tries a New Recipe for Hamburger Hot Dish" by Leo Dangel from OLD MAN BRUNNER COUNTRY, published by Spoon River Poetry Press.

The voice of the working class, the teller of the city's tales, MIKE ROYKO, was born in Chicago today in 1932. Born to Ukranian immigrants who ran a saloon, he grew up in a tough Polish neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side. He started writing for Chicago newspapers in 1959 and won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary that stuck up for the little guys.

American pathologist ELIZABETH STERN was born today in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, 1915. She became one of the first specialists in cytopathology, the study of diseased cells. A professor of epidemiology at UCLA, she published the first case report linking a specific virus to a specific cancer in 1963, in her study of birth control pills and cervical cancer. She later showed that a normal cell goes through 250 distinct stages before reaching advanced cervical cancer, which helped lead to earlier detection techniques to help save women's lives.

It's the birthday of English novelist SIR WILLIAM GOLDING, born in Cornwall in 1911. As a teacher, he once allowed a class of boys complete freedom in a debate, only to see them fall into chaos. A master of strange situations and ironic twists, his first novel was his best known, Lord of the Flies, about schoolboys isolated on a coral island who very quickly fall into barbarism. It was published after receiving 21 rejections.

The FIRST HOT AIR BALLOON was sent aloft in Versailles, France, in 1783 with animal passengers including a sheep, rooster, and a duck.

The first BATTLE OF SARATOGA was fought today in 1777 south of New York, technically a victory for the British, but the French were so impressed by the colonists who fought that they decided to join the war on the American side.

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

 

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