On this day in 1933, Cormac McCarthy was born. The great American novelist moved around a lot, and served in the Air Force for four years. After returning to the University of Tennessee in 1957, he was awarded an Ingram-Merrill Award for …
Category: birthdays
Les Misérables: A Tale of Victor Hugo
In honor of what would be Victor Hugo’s 214th birthday (wow), enjoy a tribute to his most famous and longest-lived work, Les Misérables. Let’s start by defining what “les misérables” means. The literal translation is “the miserable ones,” but there remains the distinct possibility …
Happy Birthday, Shakespeare! 4 Ways to Celebrate the Bard
Today is the anniversary of the Bard’s birth. Check out ways to commemorate the day below, complete with cakes, quizzes, quotes and more. 1. Bake a Shakespeare-inspired birthday cake Introducing… Cakespeare! To celebrate Shakespeare’s b-day, the Victoria and Albert Museum …
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The Old Men and the Sea: 150 Hemingway Look-Alikes Descend on the Florida Keys
If you happened to be in Key West, Florida during the third week of July, you may have found yourself caught in a sudden and strange upsurge in the local population of white-bearded men sporting cable-knit fishermen’s turtlenecks. You may …
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Ten Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Fourth of July
There are lots of things we expect on the Fourth: fireworks, friends, family. There are things we love (sparklers, Roman candles, cold beer) and things we despise (sauerkraut, ambrosia, Lee Greenwood… all right, haters… this was from a friend. Direct …
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Big Brother, Where Art Thou?
Oh yes, there you are, with your party hat on. What with the recent NSA scandal, George Orwell’s dystopian caution that “Big Brother is watching you” has never seemed so relevant. In fact, sales of 1984 skyrocketed just after news …
Happy 87th Birthday, Harper Lee!
Last night, I found my sixteen-year-old daughter in bed a full hour early. In her hands was Harper Lee‘s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. “I want to see what is happening with Scout. I’m worried about her,” she explained. My …
Happy Birthday Bukowski
There are so many quotes I could draw from that would be emblematic of the character of Charles Bukowski, the larger-than-life poet, novelist, alcoholic, and “grim prophet of love.” But today, on the day he would have turned 92, I …