Jan. 17

Event: Coming Up

Feb. 1 Washington  Birthday Celebration for Langston Hughes,   Langston Hughes was a prolific writer of poems, plays, novels, columns, essays and short stories that portrayed and celebrated the lives of African Americans. The 110th birthday of the illustrious Hughes (1902-1967) will be honored at the Library of Congress with a reading of his work by Washington, D.C. Whittall Pavilion on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick and Evie Shockley, who will also discuss Hughes’ influence on their own poetry. Items from the Library’s collection on Langston Hughes will be on display.   http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-002.html

Born:

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 04/17/1790) American statesman, philosopher, scientist, printer, writer, http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/ George Lord Lyttelton, (1709 – 08/22/1773) English historian and poet http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17667/17667-h/17667-h.htm http://www.archive.org/stream/poeticalworksofg00lyttrich/poeticalworksofg00lyttrich_djvu.txt Victor Alfieri, 1749-Oct 8,1803  Italian poet, http://subverseaphrodesia.com/alfieri.aspx Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810), 'Father of the American novel' (American novelist and editor http://www.gutenberg.org/files/792/792-h/792-h.htm Anne Brontë aka Acton Bell (1820 – 05/28/1849) English writer  http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/29.html http://www.online-literature.com/brontea/ http://kirjasto.sci.fi/abronte.htm Lewis Addison Grant 1828 -1918 Brevet Major General (Union volunteers) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5844 Anton Chekhov (1860 – 07/15/1904)Russian playwright and short-story writer http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/ http://kirjasto.sci.fi/tsehov.htm Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863 – 08/07/1938) Russian actor, director, method http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/stanislavsky_c.html David Lloyd George  (1863 – 03/26/1945)   British PM (36) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRgeorge.htm Mack Sennett (1880 – 11/05/1960) US filmmaker http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784407/ http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsstu/sennettbio.html Sir Compton Mackenzie (1883 – 11/30/1972) English writer  http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jmackenzie.htm J. A. Hollo [Juho Aukusti Hollo] (1885 - 1967) Finn Educator, translator, Ph.D., professor http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jahollo.htm Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (1886 – 05/21/1926) English writer http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10308791 http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/brookej/firbank/chap1.htm Boris Marshalov (1898 – 10/15/1967) Russian writer http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0551252/ Robert M. Hutchins (1899 – 05/17/1977) US educator http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/hutchins_robert_autobiography.html Al Capone  (1899 – 01/27/1947)   US entrepreneur  http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/al-capone http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/capone.html Nevil Shute [Norway] (1899-1960) British-born Australian novelist http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nshute.htm Irving Brecher (1914 – 11/17/2008) US screenwrite  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0106505/ William Stafford (1914-1993) US poet   Just Thinking   Got up on a cool morning. Leaned out a window. No cloud, no wind. Air that flowers held for awhile. Some dove somewhere. Been on probation most of my life. And the rest of my life been condemned. So these moments count for a lot--peace, you know. Let the bucket of memory down into the well, bring it up. Cool, cool minutes. No one stirring, no plans. Just being there. This is what the whole thing is about.   http://www.poemhunter.com/william-stafford/poems/ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-e-stafford   Betty White  (1922 – )   US actor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924508/ Eartha Kitt  (1927 – 12/25/2008)  US singer, actor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0457755/ James Earl Jones    (/1931 – )    US actor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000469/ Lawrence Douglas Wilder   (1931 – )    US governor (VA) http://www.nndb.com/people/844/000055679/ Muhammad Ali   (1942 – )   US boxer http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=000180&cat=boxer Jan Guillou (1944) Swedish journalist and writer http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jguillou.htm Andy Kaufman   (1949 – 05/16/1984)    US comic, actor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001412/ Steve Earle (1955 – ) US singer, songwriter http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-earle-p4154

Jim Carrey  (1962 – )  Canadian comic, actor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000120/

Passed:

January 17

John Ray (11/29/1627 –/1705) English naturalist

http://www.strangescience.net/ray.htm

Rutherford B. Hayes  (10/04/1822 –1893)  US President

http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/rbhayes.html

George Bancroft (10/03/1800 –1891) US historian, statesman

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5892

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26750/26750-h/26750-h.htm

Sir Francis Galton  (02/16/1822 –1911)  English scientist

http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/galton.shtml
Ernest Benn (06/25/1875 –1954) English publisher

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jbenn.htm
T. H. White (05/29/1906 –1964) English writer

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/t-h-white/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925493/bio

Arthur Yvor Winters (17 October 1900 –1968) American) Beat Poet and literary critic.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/yvor-winters

http://www.poemhunter.com/yvor-winters/

Betty Smith (12/15/1896 –1972) US writer

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10522249

Barbara Jordan  (02/21/1936 –1996)  US Senator and Representative (TX)

http://www.nndb.com/people/690/000046552/
Charles Henry Madge 1912- 96 Eng poet writer/sociologist

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarycharles-madge-1324861.html

Clyde William Tombaugh 1907-97 discoverer (Pluto)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clyde-William-Tombaugh/141071399253130

Gregory Corso (03/26/1930 –2001) US writer

Birthplace Revisited

		I stand in the dark light in the dark street and look up at my window, I was born there. The lights are on; other people are moving about. I am with raincoat; cigarette in mouth, hat over eye, hand on gat. I cross the street and enter the building. The garbage cans haven't stopped smelling. I walk up the first flight; Dirty Ears aims a knife at me… I pump him full of lost watches.

http://www.poemhunter.com/gregory-corso/poems/

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gregory-corso

Erich Segal (06/16/1937 –2010) US writer

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/erich-segal/

Sites:

http://www.nhaudubon.org/

http://coololdstuff.com/index.html

http://www.tootsie.com/rec_pepcrunch.php

http://www.prettygoodgoods.org     

http://www.exeterarea.org/

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/

Bonus Poem:

Song

The Spring will come when the year turns,
As if no Winter had been,
But what shall I do with a locked heart
That lets no new year in?

The birds will go when the Fall goes,
The leaves will fade in the field,
But what shall I do with an old love
Will neither die nor yield?

Oh! youth will turn as the world turns,
And dim grow laughter and pain,
But how shall I hide from an old dream
I never may dream again?

                                                                                          by Margaret Widdemer

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/margaret_widdemer/poems