Wednesday
Oct. 18, 2000
Another Poem From Li Po
Mildew & Henry David Thoreau
Poems: "Mildew & Henry David Thoreau" and "Another Poem From Li Po," by Mike O'Connor, from The Basin (Life in a Chinese Province), used by permission of the author.
It's Alaska Day, the anniversary of Alaska's transfer from Russia to the U.S. in 1867. On Castle Hill, in Sitka, the Russian flag was hauled down, and the stars and stripes were run up the flag pole.
It's the Feast Day of St. Luke, the patron saint of doctors and artists.
It's the birthday of novelist Terry McMillan born in Port Huron, Michigan, 1951, author of Waiting to Exhale (1992), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996) and other books about contemporary African American women.
It's the birthday of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, born in Brooklyn (1950), winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for The Heidi Chronicles.
It's the birthday of playwright and poet Ntozake Shange, born Paulette Williams in Trenton, New Jersey (1948), who wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1974).
It's the birthday of singer-songwriter Chuck Berry born Charles Edward Anderson in St. Louis, Missouri (1926). He broke into the charts in 1955 with "Maybellene," then followed it with "Roll Over, Beethoven," and "Johnny B. Goode".
On this day in 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation - the BBC - was established, as "an independent British broadcaster able to educate, inform, and entertain the whole nation, free from political interference and commercial pressure."
It's the birthday of American journalist and author A.J. Liebling, born in New York City (1904), writer for The New Yorker for 28 years. Expelled from Dartmouth College, he worked for several newspapers, later using his experiences as the subject for his column, The Wayward Press. Liebling did some of his best work on the subject of boxing, publishing The Sweet Science in 1956.
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."
"I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anyone who can write better."
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®