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Bloomsday 2012 – pubs, and copyright. Yes!
James Joyce fans, and other literati fans: Happy Bloomsday, June 16. It was on that fictional June 16, 1904, that the fictional Leopold Bloom worked so hard to find his way home in Dublin, lured by...
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Silent Spring’s 50th anniversary: Birds sing, air is cleaner, water is cleaner
Fifty years ago today New Yorker published the first of four parts of Rachel Carson‘s epic research book, Silent Spring. Cover of New Yorker Magazine, June 16, 1962 — the issue which carried the first...
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John Muir: The saving of 100 million acres begins with a first word on paper
John Muir’s place in American history endures constant assault. Not only did businessmen and politicians of his own day find Muir’s policies anathema to their hopes of profiting from the destruction...
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Quote of the moment: Hemingway, writers need “shock-proof, [excrement] detector”
Ernest Hemingway with his cat, Cristobal, at his home, Finca Vigia, San Francisco de Paula, Cuba. Date unknown (circa 1955?) Photo from Ernest Hemingway Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential...
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Pixar’s 22 rules for a good story (how do they fit your organization?)
From The Pixar Touch, a set of rules for writing a good story to translate to the screen. Good rules to keep in mind for composition of stories in English, no? Good rules of writing to keep in mind...
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August 13, 1923: Hemingway’s first book
Cover to Hemingway’s Three Stories and Ten Poems, published August 13, 1923 – Wikipedia image, from University of Delaware Do you subscribe to Today in Literature? Perhaps you should. Today we learn:...
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Still quote of the moment, one more time: Martin Niemöller, “. . . I did not...
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they...
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“The War Prayer” of Mark Twain (encore post)
(Updating dead links, especially from the late and lamented (here at least) VodPod, I found myself back in 2008, with this post on Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.” Fortunately, I found the film migrated...
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Poems for an American election day
Do you get the newsletter from the Academy of American Poets? “The Avenue in the Rain,” oil on canvas, by the American painter Childe Hassam. 42 in. x 22.25 in. Courtesy of The White House Collection,...
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Two Alcotts, and the Concord transcendentalists – November 29
April is the cruelest month, and November the most disagreeable. Students of literature might recognize something in that sentence. Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888), American...
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Ready for November 30? Humidor set? Liquor stocked?
November 30 is the birthday of Mark Twain (or Samuel Clemens), and of Winston Spencer Churchill. A good study of American history could be achieved merely in studying the chronicle of the lives of...
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Birthday of Twain and Churchill: Happy Whiskey and Cigar Day 2012!
Mark Twain aboard a ship, somewhere. Place and photographer unknown (at least to MFB). Young Samuel Clemens apprenticed to be a Mississippi river boat pilot, and held a fascination for water-going...
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Twain aboard ship – 1896 photo, 1897 etching
One of my favorite images of Mark Twain I found several years ago. It’s a photograph of Twain, with a genuine smile of some contentment, seated in a deck chair on a ship, feet on the rail, gazing out...
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Rachel Carson biography, On a Farther Shore, one of best books of 2012
Kirkus Reviews listed as one of 2012′s top 25 books William Souder’s biography of Rachel Carson, On a Farther Shore. William Souder, author of On a Farther Shore. Minnesota Public Radio image Rachel...
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Typewriter of the moment: Mark Twain’s Hammond
Still hoping to find a photo of Samuel Clemens at work on a typewriter. But until then, this one will have to do: A Hammond typewriter that once belonged to Samuel Clemens, or Mark Twain. Photographed...
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Quote of the moment: Ebenezer Scrooge, and darkness is cheap (still, in 2012)
Ebenezer Scrooge, up a dark staircase; “Darkness was cheap, and Scrooge liked it.” Illustration by Roberto Innocenti, via HornRimmedMagpie Quote of the moment (an encore post for the season, with a bit...
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Query: Who wrote this first? Two novels that change a 14 year-old’s life,...
Lord of the Rings features a time when evil almost wins. Atlas Shrugged celebrates such dystopia. I first heard this within the past couple of years. As with too many really good lines that get passed...
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Phillis Wheatley: Poem for Presidents Day (2013)
What is a good flag flying occasion without some inspiring poetry? Get your flag up (if it’s not up already), and read some poetry from a remarkable woman, in this encore post. From the Poem-a-Day...
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So-called conservatives out of their minds — still, but moreso: 3 reasons not...
You can’t make up this kind of crazy. This guy’s been Tweeting this to everyone he can find on Twitter: The Left's plan now is for government hatcheries to replace marriage. Aldous Huxley ~ Brave New...
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‘Twas the 18th of April in ’75 . . . (Paul Revere’s Ride, 243rd anniversary)
The annual reminder: Paul Revere — tonight’s the anniversary of his famous ride. Paul Revere, 1768, by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) John Copley painted all the bigwigs of revolutionary Boston,...
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