The Writer's Almanac from Saturday, February 24, 2001

The Writer's Almanac from Saturday, February 24, 2001

 "Spring," by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

ORIGINAL TEXT - 2001

ORIGINAL AUDIO - 2001

On this day in 1942, The Voice of America went on the air for the first time, in response to the need for reliable news broadcasting in war-torn Europe. On the first broadcast the announcer proclaimed, "Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time we will bring you news of the war. The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."

It's the birthday of poet and writer August Derleth, born in Sauk City, Wisconsin (1909). He wrote many books about his home town, which he called "Sac Prairie" in his fiction.

It's the birthday of educator and writer Mary Ellen Chase, born in Blue Hill, Maine (1887). Most of her novels deal with the seafaring life of the inhabitants of rural Maine. Chase taught literature at Smith College for almost thirty years.

It's the birthday of "The Flying Dutchman," baseball great Honus Wagner (John Peter Wagner), born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania (1874). Wagner was a sensational hitter, a brilliant base runner, a flawless fielder, and an outstanding shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting one hundred one home runs between 1897 and 1917. One of the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (1936), many people still consider him to be baseball's greatest player. There are only about fifty original prints of his baseball card still in existence. In July of 2000, a mint-condition card sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for 1.1 million dollars.

It's the birthday of novelist and critic George Augustus Moore, born in Ballyglass, Ireland (1852). He studied painting in Paris, then turned to writing. His first work of fiction, A Modern Lover (1883), was banned from libraries. This fueled his lifelong battle against censorship and prudery.

"A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it."

It's the birthday of educator and entomologist John Henry Comstock, born in Janesville, Wisconsin (1849). He was a professor at Cornell University, where he wrote important books about insects.

It's the birthday of Wilhelm Karl Grimm, born in Hanau, Germany (1786), one of the Grimm brothers who collected German folk tales, including "Hansel and Gretel," "Cinderella," "Rumpelstiltskin," and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The Grimms bowdlerized them, removing some of the violence, such as the end of "Snow White" where the wicked queen was originally forced to don red hot slippers and dance until she dies. They also edited out sexual activity, such as the premarital activities of Rapunzel and the prince who climbs up into her tower.

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

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Audiobook of Boom Town in mp3 format, read by Garrison Keillor himself with music composed and performed by Richard Dworsky. 

With Boom Town, Garrison Keillor returns to his hometown of Lake Wobegon, which is in the midst of a rising economic tide driven by millennial entrepreneurs. “I go back home mainly for funerals, which these days are for people my age, 79, which gets my attention, an obituary with my number in it,” he writes, as he sits at the bedside of Arlene Bunsen dying with humor and grace, and recalls a teenage love affair with Marlys Gunderson and observes the millennial culture, a stark contrast to the Lutheran farm town of the radio monologues. He spends the summer in the old Gunderson lake cabin, reliving the past, postponing his return to New York and his wife Giselle.