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       A YEAR AGO TODAY

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Photograph by Bob Gentry 8/5/99

A Thought for Today

We can always use reminders on how to better treat each other.

 

DAY IN, DAY OUT
   
Historical [not necessarily hysterical] happenings of past October 21st's.

Having survived being kicked out of Venice for bestiality (we don't make these things up) Pietro Aretino, a.k.a. The Courtesan died on this day in 1556. Today in 1805 the Franco-Spanish fleet is defeated at Trafalgar by Lord Nelson & in 1872 German Emperor arbitrates a territorial dispute between Canada and the United States, awarding the San Juan Islands on the northwest to the U.S. 1879: There shall be light. Thomas Edison turns it on and in 1907 "The Merry Widow" lights up the stage in New York City.

For you bird watchers the annual Bob O'Link festival was established this day in 1910 in Clinton Township, Michigan.

In 1950 the occupation of Tibet by Chinese troops begins. Since he was only born two months ago, Richard Gere has yet to take up the cause. 1961: But will they ever recoup the recording costs? Bob Dylan records his first album; the total price of the one-day recording session is $400. In 1969 death takes Jack Kerouac at age 47. He slips away in a St. Petersburg hospital from abdominal bleeding caused by drinking.

                      
   - First published 10/21/98

It was just after a Flight Plan like this that I received a note from a lady that said something like "Hey, Rod, If I wanted to know about history I'd go back to school, how about something more personal?"

The weekend's in sight, hope you make it through today easily and that tonight you sleep warm.

                                                 - RM 10/21/99.

notable birthdays Elvin Bishop o Georgia Brown o Samuel Taylor Coleridge
o Carrie Fisher o Whitey Ford o Helen Reveles o Valenzuela Fujita o Dizzy Gilespie o Peter Graves o Katsushuba Hokusai o Michael Landon o Manfred Mann o Alfred Nobel o Brian Piccolo o Joyce Randolph o Bill Russell ( baseball ) o Ted Shawn o Sir George Solti o Georg Ernst Stahl o Edmund Waller
Rod's random thoughts To see the sunsets truest color we need only to look into a stranger's or a good friend's eye.

Autumn blinks and there is sunshine.

Some pages in my diary are blotted or unused. Those must have been the happiest times, for who can jot down happiness when it is happening.

All people have lessons they can give us, even in rejection.

FOUR AFTERTHOUGHTS

Afterthought, One

Now the memory blurs.
You didn't feed it.
Not to worry,
not to worry.
I'll keep filling up
the holes until they're whole.

Afterthought, Two

Come then strangers
and those of you I know,
form as one.
I fear you've done so
anyway and already.

And if your name
be litany or lie
I'll love you all the same
if you'll come close enough
to let me.

Afterthought, Three

Maybe all the promises
don't come true
but whoever said they did ?

The day came, didn't it?
Give me a little more time
give us a little while longer.

Look, there are sparrows
              on the lawn.

Afterthought, Four

I'm tired
you'll have to wage
            the revolution
by yourself.

Try not to make
too much noise,
the cat's asleep.

                             -  from "Celebrations of the Heart," 1975

© 1975, 1984, 1988, 1999 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
Birthday research by Wade Alexander o Poetry from the collection of Jay Hagan
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