Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen was born #OTD in 1879.
He went on his first expedition in 1902–1904, known as The Danish Literary Expedition, with Jørgen Brønlund, Harald Moltke and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, to examine Inuit culture and traditions. Rasmussen is best known for leading the Thule Expeditions, a series of seven major expeditions between 1912 and 1933.
"Colour! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.... Color which, like music, is a matter of vibrations, reaches what is most general and therefore most indefinable in nature: its inner power."
The writings of a savage
French painter and sculptor Paul Gauguin was born #OTD in 1848.
Tonight, in Seattle, the book tour continues ... I'll be at Town Hall Seattle with the luminous and brilliant Lindy West, talking about how to recognize psyops and maybe even defuse them -- using stories! Tickets available here: https://townhallseattle.org/event/annalee-newitz-with-lindy-west/
Florentine physician, philosopher and botanist Andrea Cesalpino was born #OTD in 1524.
"De Plantis Libri XVI" (1583), is one of the earliest systematic treatises on plants. This book laid the groundwork for modern botanical classification. He organized plants based on their fruits and seeds rather than their medicinal properties, which was the common practice at the time. This method was a precursor to the binomial nomenclature system later developed by Carl Linnaeus.
What's next in America's book ban battle? The book ban ban. Minnesota's Gov. Tim Walz has signed into law a measure prohibiting the removal of “a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.” The law allows books to be challenged, but mandates that trained and licensed librarians be part of the review. Minnesota's librarians and educators told CNN they welcome legal criteria for how to address book challenges, since some are worried about losing their jobs if they order books that prove controversial.
"'It’s a girl,' the nurse said, softly. My mother smiled big, then nodded in silence. That was the first sentence of a book that describes my undoing. That was the first story someone else told for me."
American writer William Sydney Porter died #OTD in 1910.
O. Henry's stories are known for their memorable characters, vivid descriptions, and especially their surprise endings. Some of his most famous stories include "The Gift of the Magi," "The Ransom of Red Chief," "The Last Leaf," and "The Cop and the Anthem."
"What can any individual do? Of that, every individual can judge. There is one thing that every individual can do, — they can see to it that they feel right."
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.
Venetian scholar Elena Cornaro Piscopia was born #OTD in 1646.
She was the first woman in the world to receive a doctoral degree. On June 25, 1678, Elena became the first woman to be awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Her doctoral examination was held in the cathedral of Padua to accommodate the large audience, including prominent scholars and nobles. The next female doctorate was granted by the University of Bologna in 1732 to Laura Bassi.
Just beginning to reading a new danmei series, “Golden Terrace” 🌸 which was recommended to me by @geraineon. After a quick break reading some Japanese manga, I’m ready for the more complex world of these novels. Masha, the tiny black kitty, is ready for sofa time 😺📚
I am a Nebula Award finalist, and the Nebula conference is this week. My book, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN, is nominated for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for younger fiction (young adult in this case). So what's the book about? I've got you covered: https://jendiagammon.com/2024/03/18/about-the-inn-at-the-amethyst-lantern/
"Artists are people who are not at all interested in the facts—only in the truth. You get the facts from outside. The truth you get from inside." –Ursula K. Le Guin
If you ever wanted a version of Dionysus in Wisconsin that was short, set in 2010, and replaced most of the magic with discussions of philosophy, I've got a new short story out! It's free and full of whimsy (and existentialism). It's a slow burn, friends-to-lovers, dealing with depression, café AU version of DIW. You can find it on my website in both epub and pdf formats: http://ehlupton.com/extras/
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
In June 1914.
James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories depicting the Irish middle classes in and around Dublin during the early 20th century, is published in London.
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first for biography (for Julia Ward Howe), Jean Jules Jusserand the first for history with With Americans of Past and Present Days, and Herbert B. Swope the first for journalism for his work for the New York World.
At the #library, I picked up the debut novel by Tommy Orange, an #Oakland-based Native writer.
I couldn’t put it down for 100 pages. It’s like it was written for me: Oakland streets, bikes, Radiohead, MF Doom, the Coliseum, BART, ethnic food, family stuff.