Monday

Mar. 27, 2000

Endymion (extract)

by John Keats

Broadcast Date: MONDAY: March 27, 2000

Poem: from "Endymion," by John Keats.

Today is the anniversary of the Anchorage, ALASKA EARTHQUAKE OF 1964 the most powerful quake in the Western Hemisphere during the 20th century.

It's the birthday of T.R. PEARSON, born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (1956). He wrote the Neely Trilogy of novels: A Short History of a Small Place (1985), Off for the Sweet Hereafter (1986), and The Last of How It Was (1987), all set in the fictitious town of Neely, North Carolina. The novels feature the Throckmorton and Epperson families and the spinster Myra Pettigrew. He said, "When I first started trying to write, I felt somehow that there was a literary style, and I produced this bombastic stuff that wasn't fit for anybody to read. Then one day I sat down at my typewriter and said, 'I'll just write something I would like to read.' It turned out to be fairly plain, the absence of style, no different from the way I talk."

It's the birthday of New York Times columnist and legal expert ANTHONY LEWIS, born in New York City (1927). He's the author of a number of books, but he's best known for Gideon's Trumpet (1964), a history of the landmark Supreme Court case about prisoner James Gideon's fight for the right to legal counsel.

It's the birthday of jazz singer SARAH (Lois) VAUGHAN, born in Newark, New Jersey (1924). She was 18 when, on a dare, she entered a talent contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, sang "Body and Soul," and won. She was spotted by singer Billy Eckstine, who recommended her to bandleader Earl ('Fatha') Hines, who hired her.

It's the birthday of photographer EDWARD STEICHEN, born in Luxembourg (1879). His family immigrated to America and settled in Milwaukee. At 15 he left school to begin a 4-year apprenticeship in lithography; a year later he bought his first camera. The year he turned 21, he went to Paris, stopping off in New York to show his work to photographer Alfred Steiglitz. With Steiglitz he founded the Photo-Secession Group, dedicated to promoting photography as not just a hobby or a craft, but an art. He's best known for his collection The Family of Man: two million photos, submitted from all around the world, which he winnowed down to 503 for a New York exhibit the most famous photographic exhibit ever at the Museum of Modern Art (1955).

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

 

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