Tuesday
Dec. 14, 1999
Planning the Fantasy Wedding
Poem: "Planning the Fantasy Wedding" by Denise Duhamel from Kinky, published by Orchises Press.
At 10:00 PM on December 14, 1799, GEORGE WASHINGTON died at his Mt. Vernon home. His last words reportedly were: "I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last long." He was 67 years old.
The Norwegian explorer ROALD AMUNDSEN became the first man to reach the South Pole, on December 14, 1911.
It's the birthday in 1919, San Francisco, of SHIRLEY JACKSON, author of the short story "The Lottery," and the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the tale of two sisters who are ostracized by their community for allegedly murdering the rest of their family.
It's the birthday in Essex, England, 1936, of TERRY5 HARKNETT, famous for his sheer productivity, and motto: "One new book every two months." Using the pseudonyms George Gilman, Joseph Hedges, Thomas Stone, and William Terry, he's turned out nearly 200 books now, most of them Westerns.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®