June 18th
It's the birthday of children's author and illustrator, Chris Van Allsburg (1949). Two of his books have been made into movies, Jumanji and The Polar Express. His first art medium was sculpture but began illustrating his own books when his wife, an elementary teacher at the time, showed his illustrations of his sculptures to a friend. He converted to Judaism 34 years ago when he married and said that he was still able to maintain a Jewish home even while doing The Polar Express. His illustrations are noted for showing that strange things can happen in very wonderful ways. His wife, Lisa, started a company selling Judaica based on designs she and her siblings saw in old synagogues in Europe. www.forgottenjudaica.com
It's the birthday of children's author and illustrator, Pat Hutchins (1942). She is known for her bright, bold colors and easily accessible stories for young children.
We missed the birth anniversary yesterday of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) although one web site listed his birthday as the 18th. He shares with Jimi Hendrix the distinction of reharmonizing the Star Spangled Banner except that Stravinsky got arrested for it in 1940. I don't think Jimi did at Woodstock. Stravinsky sometimes gets confused with Igor Sikorsky who paved the way for Army Rangers to jump out of helicopters and catch squirrels for dinner.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
June 17
On this date in 1991, South Africa repealed its last apartheid law, the Population Registration Act, which had been the foundation of apartheid. The system continued for several more years finally ending with the election of Nelson Mandela in1994. He had spent 27 years in prison. His release and subsequent election as president of South Africa has to count as one of the 20th century's most amazing achievements.
On this date in 1972, the Watergate Hotel experienced one of the 20th century's dumbest achievements, the break-in of the Democratic Party Headquarters.
It's the birthday of retired general, Tommy Franks (1945) who led the fight against the Taliban after 9/11.
Also, the birthday of Venus Williams (1980). You know who she is.
It's the birth anniversary of James Weldon Johnson (1871) who wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which became known as the Negro National Anthem after his brother, Rosamand, wrote the music for it five years later.
On this date in 1972, the Watergate Hotel experienced one of the 20th century's dumbest achievements, the break-in of the Democratic Party Headquarters.
It's the birthday of retired general, Tommy Franks (1945) who led the fight against the Taliban after 9/11.
Also, the birthday of Venus Williams (1980). You know who she is.
It's the birth anniversary of James Weldon Johnson (1871) who wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which became known as the Negro National Anthem after his brother, Rosamand, wrote the music for it five years later.
June 16
Today is the birthday of Idris Shah (16 June, 1924–23 November, 1996), a Sufi writer who helped educate the non-Sufi about the peaceful ways of Sufi Islam. He also published several volumes of tales about Mulla Nasrudin, the Wise Fool who helps us find inner wisdom by turning things upside down. Rumi and Hafez are the most well-known Sufis in the West. A group of Sufis migrated, either voluntarily or not, over 800 years ago from East Africa to India. They adopted many Indian customs and incorporated their art and music into their own but otherwise did not intermarry and kept many African customs. A group called Sidi Goma just finished touring the US giving concerts in parks and elsewhere. I was privileged to see them in Saint Paul recently. Beautiful.
Today is Youth Day in South Africa which commemorates a student uprising in Soweto in 1976.
Psycho premiered today in 1960. It was shown on TV several years later and thanks to a derelict babysitter I was able to see it at a tender age. Years later I happened to catch Psycho II in the theatre and was finally relieved of all fears. That last 15 minutes was hilarious.
Bloomsday today. Of course you've read the book. Thanks to Sylvia Beach for getting it published. If you're ever on the coast of Oregon (Newport) there's a great hotel called the Sylvia Beach. Today might be a big day there.
First Ladies Day in baseball, 1883. Escorted and unescorted ladies were free. I assume they mean the ticket price.
Birth anniversary of John Griffin (1920) who wrote Black Like Me which was a very influential book for me. I remember it was on the bookshelf growing up.
Most importantly it is the 19th anniversary of our wedding (1990). Note to future husbands: it's helpful to get married in a round year so you can always figure the number of years married quickly and correctly.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
June 15
Today is the birthday of actress, Helen Hunt. Remember the scene in as Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson when she's finally had enough of him and then he mentions her son which totally gets him on her bad side. Good movie. I think any of us would like to be told that we make someone else want to be a better person.
It's Native American Citizenship Day. Congress passed the resolution in 1924 recognizing the citizenship rights of Native Americans. Wow! How nice. There's a good old boy saying down South, "That's damn white of them." I wonder if Native Americans have a special day where they recognize our existence.
It's the birthday of poet Amy Clampitt, 1920. Here's a poem:
Beach Glass
by Amy Clampitt
While you walk the water’s edge,
turning over concepts
I can’t envision, the honking buoy
serves notice that at any time
the wind may change
the reef-bell clatters
its treble monotone, deaf as Cassandra
to any note but warning. The ocean,
cumbered by no business more urgent
than keeping open old accounts
that never balanced,
goes on shuffling its millenniums
of quartz, granite, and basalt.
It behaves
toward the permutations of novelty
driftwood and shipwreck, last night’s
beer cans, spilt oil, the coughed-up
residue of plastic—with random
impartiality, playing catch or tag
or touch-last like a terrier,
turning the same thing over and over,
over and over. For the ocean, nothing
is beneath consideration.
The houses
of so many mussels and periwinkles
have been abandoned here, it’s hopeless
to know which to salvage. Instead
I keep a lookout for beach glass
amber of Budweiser, chryoprase
of Almadî and Gallo, lapis
by way of (no getting around it,
I’m afraid) Phillips’
Milk of Magnesia, with now and then a rare
translucent turquoise or blurred amethyst
of no known origin.
The process
goes on forever: they came from sand,
they go back to gravel,
along with the treasuries
of Murano, the buttressed
astonishments of Chartres,
which even now are readying
for being turned over and over as gravely
and gradually as an intellect
engaged in the hazardous
redefinition of structures
no one has yet looked at.
Amy Clampitt
It's Native American Citizenship Day. Congress passed the resolution in 1924 recognizing the citizenship rights of Native Americans. Wow! How nice. There's a good old boy saying down South, "That's damn white of them." I wonder if Native Americans have a special day where they recognize our existence.
It's the birthday of poet Amy Clampitt, 1920. Here's a poem:
Beach Glass
by Amy Clampitt
While you walk the water’s edge,
turning over concepts
I can’t envision, the honking buoy
serves notice that at any time
the wind may change
the reef-bell clatters
its treble monotone, deaf as Cassandra
to any note but warning. The ocean,
cumbered by no business more urgent
than keeping open old accounts
that never balanced,
goes on shuffling its millenniums
of quartz, granite, and basalt.
It behaves
toward the permutations of novelty
driftwood and shipwreck, last night’s
beer cans, spilt oil, the coughed-up
residue of plastic—with random
impartiality, playing catch or tag
or touch-last like a terrier,
turning the same thing over and over,
over and over. For the ocean, nothing
is beneath consideration.
The houses
of so many mussels and periwinkles
have been abandoned here, it’s hopeless
to know which to salvage. Instead
I keep a lookout for beach glass
amber of Budweiser, chryoprase
of Almadî and Gallo, lapis
by way of (no getting around it,
I’m afraid) Phillips’
Milk of Magnesia, with now and then a rare
translucent turquoise or blurred amethyst
of no known origin.
The process
goes on forever: they came from sand,
they go back to gravel,
along with the treasuries
of Murano, the buttressed
astonishments of Chartres,
which even now are readying
for being turned over and over as gravely
and gradually as an intellect
engaged in the hazardous
redefinition of structures
no one has yet looked at.
Amy Clampitt
Saturday, June 13, 2009
June 14th
Since it's now the 14th, the SDE will post today's events since I'm still waiting for the RT.
It is the birth anniversary of Alois Alzheimer (1864) which is a good thing to know since his first name seems to pop up in crossword puzzles which is apparently a good thing to do to avoid getting what he described in 1907.
More importantly, it's the birth anniversary of John Bartlett (1820) whose last name, of course, was made famous by another Bartlett who constantly quotes himself in hopes of getting into the other Bartlett's book of quotations.
It's the birth anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811). If you've never read Uncle Tom's Cabin, try it. It's a powerful book. You'll see that the way Uncle Tom has come to be seen in our language is completely different from the way that he is in the book.
It is the birth anniversary of Alois Alzheimer (1864) which is a good thing to know since his first name seems to pop up in crossword puzzles which is apparently a good thing to do to avoid getting what he described in 1907.
More importantly, it's the birth anniversary of John Bartlett (1820) whose last name, of course, was made famous by another Bartlett who constantly quotes himself in hopes of getting into the other Bartlett's book of quotations.
It's the birth anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811). If you've never read Uncle Tom's Cabin, try it. It's a powerful book. You'll see that the way Uncle Tom has come to be seen in our language is completely different from the way that he is in the book.
June 13
The SDE neglected to post yesterday, the 12th of June, due to unforeseen events such as too busy. Had the SDE posted, it would have noted the anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision in Loving v Virginia (1967) which made state laws prohibiting interracial marriage illegal. Mildred Loving died last year. She made a statement in 2007 expressing her support for same-sex marriage. Her husband died in a car accident in 1975. Fascinating story. Wikipedia says a movie had been made about their life but that Mildred had said very little of it was true.
June 12, 1929 was the birthday of Anne Frank.
Since today is the 13th, we will move on to current events. Actually, it's the 14th since I'm once again waiting up for the RT (resident teenager).
Medgar Evans was assasinated this day in 1963.
It's the birth anniversary of William Butler Yeats (1865-Jan. 28, 1939)
Leda and the Swan
by W. B. Yeats
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
June 12, 1929 was the birthday of Anne Frank.
Since today is the 13th, we will move on to current events. Actually, it's the 14th since I'm once again waiting up for the RT (resident teenager).
Medgar Evans was assasinated this day in 1963.
It's the birth anniversary of William Butler Yeats (1865-Jan. 28, 1939)
Leda and the Swan
by W. B. Yeats
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
Thursday, June 11, 2009
June 11, 2009
Today is the birthday of Gene Wilder, the actor. He made his major screen debut in Bonnie and Clyde. It was Quackser Fortune has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970, and directed by Waris Hussein which is of interest for those who are members of the My Name is Hussein Society or the Hussein's for Hope or the Insane Hussein's Movie Review) that I first remember seeing him in as the lead. Strange movie but very funny. The one that made a deep impression on me was his Frisco Kid with Harrison Ford as the outlaw who helps Wilder as a bumbling rabbi get across the country so he can lead a congregation in San Francisco. Grea scene about what is really important- life or a Torah scroll.
Today is King Kamehameha I Day in Hawai'i (the apostrophe seems to have been added while I wasn't looking). It's an official holiday there but was established in 1871 by Kamehameha V.
Last year year there was news of an on-going peaceful re-occupation by the Hawaiian Kingdom Government on the grounds of the Iolani Palace. They would meet everyday and conduct business, especially on how to get back the islands. No news yet if they had sandwiches for lunch. I couldn't find out if they are still there. Amazing.
Today is the birth anniversary of Jeannette Rankin, US Representative from Montana and famous for you better know what. First woman elected to Congress, voted No on entering WWI, No on war with Japan in 1941 (and the only one to do so), voted Present on war with Germany and Italy.
Founding member of Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, co-founder of ACLU, and for some odd reason, had property in Watkinsville, GA. It's a mystery, but there is a movie about her in progress called A Single Woman. Maybe some answers. I want to know what's in Watkinsville besides it being the birthplace of the founder of the Zaxby fast food restaurant chain.
Today is the birthday of Gene Wilder, the actor. He made his major screen debut in Bonnie and Clyde. It was Quackser Fortune has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970, and directed by Waris Hussein which is of interest for those who are members of the My Name is Hussein Society or the Hussein's for Hope or the Insane Hussein's Movie Review) that I first remember seeing him in as the lead. Strange movie but very funny. The one that made a deep impression on me was his Frisco Kid with Harrison Ford as the outlaw who helps Wilder as a bumbling rabbi get across the country so he can lead a congregation in San Francisco. Grea scene about what is really important- life or a Torah scroll.
Today is King Kamehameha I Day in Hawai'i (the apostrophe seems to have been added while I wasn't looking). It's an official holiday there but was established in 1871 by Kamehameha V.
Last year year there was news of an on-going peaceful re-occupation by the Hawaiian Kingdom Government on the grounds of the Iolani Palace. They would meet everyday and conduct business, especially on how to get back the islands. No news yet if they had sandwiches for lunch. I couldn't find out if they are still there. Amazing.
Today is the birth anniversary of Jeannette Rankin, US Representative from Montana and famous for you better know what. First woman elected to Congress, voted No on entering WWI, No on war with Japan in 1941 (and the only one to do so), voted Present on war with Germany and Italy.
Founding member of Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, co-founder of ACLU, and for some odd reason, had property in Watkinsville, GA. It's a mystery, but there is a movie about her in progress called A Single Woman. Maybe some answers. I want to know what's in Watkinsville besides it being the birthplace of the founder of the Zaxby fast food restaurant chain.
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