Posts Tagged ‘O. Henry’
“The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night”*…
Look, these days, I’ll take my cheering wherever I can get it. And this weekend, Ella Dickson put a smile on my face with her thread of book rocks, each one painstakingly painted to look like a novel. They are quite impressive, especially considering the uneven canvas. In 2018, Dickson, who is a math teacher at Beaumont School in St Albans, did a similar project with children’s books, but this summer, she’s used her isolation to whip up a crop of “some grown up books” to hide when libraries reopen. Because grown ups need wonder and discovery too!…
Via Emily Temple: “A math teacher has painted 45 book rocks to hide in her local library (when it reopens).”
* Isabel Allende
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As we extol Easter eggs, we might recall that it was on this date in 1901 that William Sydney Porter was released (on good behavior) after serving three years in the Ohio Penitentiary for bank fraud and embezzlement; a licensed pharmacist, he had worked in the prison’s infirmary. But on his release, he turned to what had been a pastime, writing. Over the next several years he wrote 381 short stories under the pen name by which we know him, “O. Henry,” including a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine.
His wit, characterization, and plot twists– as evidenced in stories like “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Ransom of Red Chief”– were adored by his readers but often panned by critics… though academic opinion has since come around: O. Henry is now considered by many to be America’s answer to Guy de Maupassant.
The Telltale Icebox…
From San Antonio-based photographer, Mark Menjivar, an arrestingly-insightful series of portraits: “You Are What You Eat“…
Midwife/Middle School Science Teacher | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household (including dog) | First week after deciding to eat all local produce
Carpenter/Photographer | San Antonio, TX | 3-Person Household | 12 Point Buck shot on family property.
Bar Tender | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Goes to sleep at 8AM and wakes up at 4PM daily.
More at “You Are What You Eat.”
[TotH to GMSV]
As we make room for batteries in the vegetable drawer, we might recall that it was on this date in 1901 that William Sidney Porter was released from a federal prison after doing time for embezzling money from a Texas bank. Porter had supplemented his income as a bank clerk with writing; and during his stay as federal prisoner 30664 at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, he published fourteen stories under various pseudonyms. The pen name that stuck was “O. Henry,” which first appeared over the story “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking” in the December 1899 issue of McClure’s Magazine. On gaining his freedom, Porter moved to New York to be closer to his publishers– and the career of “O. Henry” took off.
Circus Antiquus…
George W. Hall, Jr. (1868)
The circus is a magical place, packed with performers of astounding feats and possessed of a language of its own.
Thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society, readers can browse a remarkable gallery of circus folk from years past— like the young snake handler above.
As we resist the urge to run away and join up, we might stay tuned, as it was on this date in 1951 that the first long-running soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, premiered on CBS. The show, which ran for just over 35 years (though on NBC in its last five years), focused on Joanne, a housewife played for the entire run by Mary Stuart, in a midwestern town called “Henderson”; its first head writer was Agnes Nixon, the Grande Dame of Daytime Television, who went on to create and write such stalwarts as One Life to Live and All My Children (the former of which was later written by the remarkable Michael Malone, whose efforts won him an Emmy to go with his Edgar, O. Henry, and Writers Guild awards).
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