Monday

Jan. 17, 2000

Broadcast Date: MONDAY: January 17, 2000

Poem: "Brown and Solemn" by Charles Bukowski from What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire published by Black Sparrow Press.

Today, the third Monday in January, is observed across America as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in honor of the civil rights leader and winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. King's actual birthday was January 15, 1929—he was born in Atlanta.

It's the birthday of English-born Australian writer Nevil Shute, born in Middlesex, England (1899), who wrote A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957)—a bleak picture of the aftermath of nuclear war.

It's the birthday of poet and novelist, Anne Brontë, born in Yorkshire (1820), the younger sister of Charlotte and Emily. In 1847 she published her first novel, Agnes Grey, under the pen name Acton Bell. Two years later she died of tuberculosis, the year after her father and Emily died.

It's the birthday of printer, author, inventor, and statesman Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston (1706)—one of 17 children of a candle-maker. He learned to read at age 4, and although he had just two years of formal schooling, he loved books. He moved to Philadelphia where he founded his own newspaper, The New England Courant, when he was 16. He wrote and sold essays; he published his hodgepodge of advice called Poor Richard's Almanac (written under the pen name Richard Saunders); and he invented such diverse practical devices as the Franklin woodstove, bifocals, and the lightning rod. Also very civic-minded, he established the first community fire departments and public libraries. When he died in Philadelphia at 84, he left behind countless literary works on religious, philosophical, scientific, political, and economic subjects. The epitaph he prepared for himself now appears on his grave: The Body of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Printer Like a Covering of an old Book Its contents torn out And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms; But the work shall not be lost, It will (as he believ'd) appear once more In a New and more beautiful Edition Corrected and amended By the Author.

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

 

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