Tuesday
Jun. 8, 1999
Night Journey
Poems: "Night Journey," by Theodore Roethke, from The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke (Doubleday).
It's the birthday of mystery writer Sara Paretsky, born in Ames, Iowa (1947). She earned a Ph.D. in history (1977), but during the month preceding her oral exams she read 24 mysteries which, she said, should have given her a clue about what her real interests were. Her detective books Deadlock (1984), Blood Shot (1988), and Tunnel Vision (1994) all feature detective Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski, known as V.I. Warshawski, or "Vic,"a Cubs fan who is good with a Smith & Wesson and adept at karate.
Today is the birthday of Andrew Weil, born in Philadelphia (1942), the author of Spontaneous Healing (1995) and other alternative health books.
Today is the birthday of actor Robert Preston, born in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts (1918), best known for playing Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson's musical comedy The Music Man.
It's the birthday of biophysicist Francis Crick, born in Northampton, England (1916). With James Watson and Maurice Wilkins he made one of the most important discoveries of 20th-century biology, determining the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA.
Today is the birthday of "the father of science fiction," John W. Campbell, born in Newark, New Jersey (1910). His first published story, "When the Atoms Failed" (1930), contained one of the earliest versions of a computer to appear in fiction.
It's the birthday of American architect Frank Llloyd Wright, born in Richland Center, Wisconsin (1869).
It's the birthday of novelist Charles Reade, born in Ipsden, Oxfordshire, England (1814), whose best known historical romance was The Cloister and the Hearth (1861), and whose motto was "Make 'em laugh; make 'em cry; make 'em wait."
On this day in 1790, the first book to be submitted for an American copyright, The Philadelphia Spelling Book, was registered in Philadelphia.
Today is the birthday of engineer Robert Stevenson, born in Glasgow (1772), the grandfather of novelist Robert Louis Stevenson and a great man in his own right, renowned for the many lighthouses he designed.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®