Well-Bred & Well-Brewed

The date is August 21st, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. 

Today is the birthday of Count Basie, African American bandleader, musician, and composer.

Count Basie, born William James Basie in 1904, was tutored by his mother on piano as a child. When his talent surpassed his mother, much like Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s story, his mother scraped money together to send him to private lessons. 

Never a big fan of school, Basie often picked up odd jobs at the local theater in exchange for free admission to shows. It was there where he was exposed to improv. Silent movies were accompanied by live music, often just a pianist.  Sometimes there was music written specifically for a film, but often, it was left up to the player or band to create a soundtrack on the spot. 

As a youngin’ Basie enjoyed playing the drums more than piano. But, Sonny Greer, a fellow musician in the area, outshone Basie as a drummer, and Basie returned to piano, where he could compete for work more successfully. 

After an incubation period in the jazz scene of Harlem in the 1920s, Basie moved to Kansas City. There he formed “Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm,” a precursor to the Count Basie Orchestra. A passion for beat, Count Basie and his Barons were known for their percussion and were asked to do recordings while touring through Chicago. 

Over his 60-year career, Count Basie successfully navigated musical trends: from jazz to jumping to swing. He drew crowds consistently, performing and leading into his 70s, until his death of pancreatic cancer at age 79.

Count Basie is in the Blues Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 1974, and is widely considered Jazz Royalty. 

And today is the birthday of Menashe Kadishman, Israeli artist. 

Kadishman, born in British controlled Palestine in 1932, is remembered for his sculptures and colorful paintings of sheep. 

His obsession with sheep began when he was stationed as a soldier in Northern Israel, where he also worked part-time as a sheep herder. 

Before that Kadishman had already studied sculpture (and art more broadly) at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv as a teen. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he traveled to London to attend St Martin’s School of Art and Slade School. 

Kadishman enjoyed a long career, becoming a notable personality in the Tel Aviv cultural community. His sculptures were notable for their apparent gravity-defying construction. Kadishman would use clear glass to support metal structures to achieve the effect. His art has been featured in cities around the world, including Tokyo, New York City, Venice, Toronto, London, Berlin, San Jose in Costa Rica, and of course Tel Aviv. 

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allen Poe

It was many and many a year ago, 

In a kingdom by the sea, 

That a maiden there lived whom you may know 

By the name of ANNABEL LEE; 

And this maiden she lived with no other thought 

Than to love and be loved by me. 

I was a child and she was a child, 

In this kingdom by the sea; 

But we loved with a love that was more than love-

I and my Annabel Lee; 

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven 

Coveted her and me. 

And this was the reason that, long ago, 

In this kingdom by the sea, 

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 

My beautiful Annabel Lee; 

So that her highborn kinsman came 

And bore her away from me, 

To shut her up in a sepulchre 

In this kingdom by the sea. 

The angels, not half so happy in heaven, 

Went envying her and me- 

Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know, 

In this kingdom by the sea) 

That the wind came out of the cloud by night, 

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 

But our love it was stronger by far than the love 

Of those who were older than we- 

Of many far wiser than we- 

And neither the angels in heaven above, 

Nor the demons down under the sea, 

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. 

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side 

Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, 

In the sepulchre there by the sea, 

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 20th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. 

On this day in 1897, Sir Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria to humans. As such today is also known as World Mosquito Day. 

Sir Ronald Ross had studied all stages of development of the malaria parasite. He therefore was able to recognize the parasite in the gut bacteria of mosquitoes and in their saliva glands. There were already theories that malaria was caused by swamp-like conditions - conditions that are also conducive to high populations of mosquitoes. Ross and colleagues concluded that malaria was spread among humans by infected mosquitoes. 

World Mosquito Day is commemorated by spreading awareness of how fend off mosquitoes. In addition to using screens, bed nets, and hat nets, using fans are a good deterrent as mosquitoes can’t fly well in even the slightest breeze. The average mosquito weighs about 2.5 milligrams - compare that to a single Cheerio, which weighs about 83 milligrams or an 8.5”x11” piece of paper which weighs 4500 milligrams.

And on this day in 1991 Estonia declared its independence from Soviet control. 

It had been a long battle for freedom, but miraculously there was no bloodshed in the process. The Estonian people were able to rally together around a desire for democracy and protection of their homeland. 

Four years prior, in 1987, the Soviet Union was about to undertake a massive mining project in Estonia to harvest Phosphorus. Word got out that the project would have detrimental effects on the environment and surrounding communities, launching the start of the Phosphorite War, a public environmental campaign. 

A few years later Estonian citizens participated in the Baltic Chain, a peaceful demonstration of protest against Soviet rule and a show of solidarity with Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic Chain was nearly 420 miles long and about two million people strong. Participants joined hands across the three Baltic nations, connecting three capitals. 

The Soviet government finally acknowledged Estonia’s independence about a month later. Estonia was welcomed into the United Nations and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004. Estonia’s location on the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland means citizens and tourists can enjoy sweeping coastline vistas, deep fjords, and over 150 nature reserves.

The Duel

Eugene Field

The gingham dog and the calico cat

Side by side on the table sat;

'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)

Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!

      The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate

      Appeared to know as sure as fate

There was going to be a terrible spat.

            (I wasn't there; I simply state

            What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "Bow-wow-wow!"

And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!"

The air was littered, an hour or so,

With bits of gingham and calico,

      While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place

      Up with its hands before its face,

For it always dreaded a family row!

            (Now mind: I'm only telling you

            What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,

And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"

But the gingham dog and the calico cat

Wallowed this way and tumbled that,

      Employing every tooth and claw

      In the awfullest way you ever saw—

And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!

            (Don't fancy I exaggerate—

            I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning, where the two had sat

They found no trace of dog or cat;

And some folks think unto this day

That burglars stole that pair away!

      But the truth about the cat and pup

      Is this: they ate each other up!

Now what do you really think of that!

            (The old Dutch clock it told me so,

            And that is how I came to know.)

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 19th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Portland, OR. 

Today is the birthday of Ogden Nash, American humorist and poet. 

Born in 1902, Ogden Nash reports having always enjoyed rhyming. He was known for unconventional rhymes such as rhymes that relied on the mispronunciation of words or rhymes that used two words. 

Nash moved to New York City a few years after dropping out of Harvard and worked writing car ads for a time.  While in New York City, Nash felt gutsy enough to submit some of his rhymes to The New Yorker. The editor of The New Yorker was so pleased with Nash’s rhyming submissions he wrote to him and asked for more. Nash then worked for The New Yorker for a short while before publishing his first collection of poems. 

Ogden Nash went on to have a career as a guest on radio and comedy shows and also toured the nation giving lectures and speeches at colleges. He wrote light verse all his career, publishing a number of collections and continuing to appear in the leading periodicals of the day like Life magazine. 

Despite many silly and clever verses, Nash did happen to get serious for a brief interview in the Prescott Evening Courier in 1958. He said, “This is our world and we are locked in it. And we have to learn to survive together, whether we love or admire each other or not. We must adjust to each other.” 

At heart, Nash may have hoped that even if we don’t all agree with each other, at least, perhaps, we could all share a laugh. Ogden Nash passed away in 1971 at the age of 68.  

Today is the birthday of Coco Chanel, French designer. 

Chanel was born into the opposite of wealth in 1883. Her father was a peddler which meant the young family was constantly on the move from town to town. Their lodgings were generally subpar. It’s doubtful Chanel attended school as a child.

When Chanel was 11, her mother died of tuberculosis and her father sent her and her sisters to live at a convent. Perhaps embarrassed that her father essentially abandoned her, Chanel would later claim that she was raised by two spinster aunts. The convent was Chanel’s first chance to receive a formal education and where she learned to sew. 

After trying and failing to become a singer at clubs, Chanel survived and indeed thrived at being the mistress to several wealthy men. While entangled in one affair she began designing hats - the start of her career as a designer. 

From hats she would move on to open her own boutique in a fashionable and moneyed Street, selling clothing, accessories, and perfume. 

A chance encounter in 1920, saw Chanel and Igor Stravinsky as friends. Stravinsky and his family had fled Russia during the revolution and Chanel graciously offered them rooms at one of her residences until they could find a place of their own. Chanel would go on to make a generous donation that led to a performance of one of Stravinsky's ballets at a popular opera house in Paris. She also became passionate about design costumes for the Ballets Russes and maintained a working relationship with ballet choreographer Sergei Diaghilev for nearly 15 years. 

We don't enough time to cover Coco's whole life - so here are a few recent-ish biographies on the fashion designer and icon: 

• Chanel: An Intimate Life – Lisa Chaney 
• Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life – Justine Picardie 
• The Secret of Chanel No. 5 – Tilar J. Mazzeo 

More About People

Ogden Nash

When people aren't asking questions 

They're making suggestions 

And when they're not doing one of those 

They're either looking over your shoulder or stepping on your toes 

And then as if that weren't enough to annoy you 

They employ you. 

Anybody at leisure 

Incurs everybody's displeasure. 

It seems to be very irking 

To people at work to see other people not working, 

So they tell you that work is wonderful medicine, 

Just look at Firestone and Ford and Edison, 

And they lecture you till they're out of breath or something 

And then if you don't succumb they starve you to death or something. 

All of which results in a nasty quirk: 

That if you don't want to work 

you have to work to earn enough money 

so that you won't have to work.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 16th, Friday, and today I’m traveling from Rochester, NY to Portland OR in the USA.

Today is the birthday of Wallace Thurman, African American editor and writer. 

Wallace Thurman was a member of the Harlem Renaissance in New York during the late 1920s. He edited several small newspapers and had relationships with writers and artists such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Aaron Douglas, and Gwendolyn Bennett. 

He believed that the struggle of African Americans - the good and the bad - should be acknowledged and explored. As two scholars put it, Thurman felt that “the black writer need not pander to the aesthetic preferences of the black middle class, nor should he or she write for an easy and patronizing white approval.” (Get the book here: The Collected Writings of Wallace Thurman: A Harlem Renaissance Reader)

Thurman was darker skinned than many of his peers and was keenly aware of how he was treated differently because of it. He was thus interested in intra-racial prejudice, or colorism. His thoughts and feeling on the subject are best captured in his 1929 novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life. 

Today is the birthday of Dame Mary Gilmore, Australian journalist and poet. 

After working as a teacher early on in her career, Mary Gilmore left the profession around 1890 at the age of 25. Teaching in primarily rural and mining communities in Australia left her with socialist sympathies and a notebook of early poems. 

She would move to Sydney and join a group of socialist writers writing for change. They were called the “Bulletin school” after The Bulletin, a popular Australian periodical publish much of the writers’ work. 

At the age of 30, Mary moved to Paraguay to join a couple hundred social idealists in “New Australia” a communal settlement started a few years earlier. While there she married William Gilmore and gave birth to a son.

In 1900 the community was struggling and disbanded without much ado. Having lived in a communal settlement, Mary Gilmore and her husband moved to Buenos Aires for several months to work and save for passage back to Australia. They made it back in 1902 and set up on a farm. 

Gilmore continued to write for newspapers and periodicals upon her return and published her first collection of poetry in 1910. She remained concerned with workers’ reform, child welfare, and justice for the indigenous people of Australia. 

In 1937 Mary Gilmore was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire for her literary contributions. At her death, she was awarded a full state funeral, uncommon for writers. Her likeness is featured on the back of the current Australia ten-note. 

Her most famous poem was written during WWII. It is titled “No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest” and is our poem today. 

No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest

Dame Mary Gilmore

Sons of the mountains of Scotland,

Welshmen of coomb and defile,

Breed of the moors of England,

Children of Erin's green isle,

We stand four square to the tempest,

Whatever the battering hail-

No foe shall gather our harvest,

Or sit on our stockyard rail.

Our women shall walk in honour,

Our children shall know no chain,

This land, that is ours forever,

The invader shall strike at in vain.

Anzac!...Tobruk!...and Kokoda!...

Could ever the old blood fail?

No foe shall gather our harvest,

Or sit on our stockyard rail.

So hail-fellow-met we muster,

And hail-fellow-met fall in,

Wherever the guns may thunder,

Or the rocketing air-mail spin!

Born of the soil and the whirlwind,

Though death itself be the gale-

No foe shall gather our harvest

Or sit on our stockyard rail.

We are the sons of Australia,

of the men who fashioned the land;

We are the sons of the women

Who walked with them hand in hand;

And we swear by the dead who bore us,

By the heroes who blazed the trail,

No foe shall gather our harvest,

Or sit on our stockyard rail.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely weekend. 

The date is August 15th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Samuel Coleridge Taylor, African-English composer. 

His Creole father, Dr. Daniel Taylor was visiting London to complete a course of study. While there his father became involved with a London woman named Alice Hare. When Dr. Taylor’s program had ended he returned to Sierra Leone, leaving behind Alice. Dr. Taylor never knew that Alice had become pregnant and it’s possible even Alice didn't know until he was gone.  Alice did not attempt to contact Dr. Taylor to tell him the news and gave birth to a boy in 1875. Alice named their son Samuel Coleridge Taylor, after the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

Samuel Coleridge Taylor appears to have grown up in a large loving family. Alice and newborn Sam moved in with Alice’s father and his family.  Little Sam was surrounded by doting aunts and grandparents, many of whom were musically inclined. His grandfather was a decent violinist and taught Samuel how to play. 

Coleridge Taylor quickly surpasses his grandfather in music ability and his grandfather, quite proudly, paid for Taylor to have private violin lessons. 

When he turned 15, the extended family rallied around Coleridge Taylor and helped him get into the Royal College of Music. Perhaps the charge was led by his grandfather? 

Coleridge Taylor then had a successful career as a professional violinist and conductor for a few years and began to compose his own music, which is where he thrived. 

By 1896, aged 21, Coleridge Taylor had the beginnings of a respectable reputation as a composer. During his career, he gained enough notoriety to be received by President Theodore Roosevelt while on tour in America in 1904. He also met with W.E.B DuBois and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar while in the States and was a representative at the First Pan-African Conference in 1900. 

Samuel Coleridge Taylor greatest work was his collection The Song of Hiawatha, based on the work of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (You can get a taste of it here.)

Coleridge Taylor passed away unexpectedly at the age of 37 in 1912 of pneumonia. His wife, an accomplished musician in her own right, and his two children Hiawatha and Gwendolyn Avril survived him. Both of his children would go on to have successful careers in music.

Coleridge Taylor was not compensated very well despite the popularity of his music. Upon his death his family learned they were not going to receive any royalties for his work. When word got out, King George V bestowed an annual £100 pension to Mrs. Coleridge Taylor. 

Taking heed of the unfairness shown to Coleridge Taylor, composers and musicians banded together to form the Performing Rights Society to vie for protection of their intellectual property.  

Excerpt from The Song of Hiawatha - “Introduction”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

…Ye who love a nation's legends,

Love the ballads of a people,

That like voices from afar off

Call to us to pause and listen,

Speak in tones so plain and childlike,

Scarcely can the ear distinguish

Whether they are sung or spoken;--

Listen to this Indian Legend,

To this Song of Hiawatha!

  Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,

Who have faith in God and Nature,

Who believe that in all ages

Every human heart is human,

That in even [foreign] bosoms

There are longings, yearnings, strivings

…

Listen to this simple story,

To this Song of Hiawatha!

  Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles

Through the green lanes of the country,

…

Pause by some neglected graveyard,

For a while to muse, and ponder

On a half-effaced inscription,

Written with little skill of song-craft,

Homely phrases, but each letter

Full of hope and yet of heart-break,

Full of all the tender pathos

Of the Here and the Hereafter;--

Stay and read this rude inscription,

Read this Song of Hiawatha!

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 14th, Wednesday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Stephen Poplawski, Polish-American inventor of the blender. 

Poplawski was born in Poland in 1885 and immigrated to the United States with his family at nine years old. Little is available on his early years, but by 1918 at the age of 33 he had gained enough skills and knowledge to start his own tool company. 

The following year Poplawski was asked to design a mixing machine for soda fountains, popular sugar-centric diners. His hometown of Racine, WI was famous for being the home of Horlick Malted Milk, aka a milkshake, and they needed a mixer that could combine more thoroughly the ingredients of milk and ice cream. 

In 1922 Poplawski patented his mixing machine. It featured a mounted spinning blade that would be encased by a cup. The first design was for commercial use in soda fountains. Poplawski tinkered further with the “mixer” so that it could liquify fruits and vegetables. In 1940 Poplawski patented a new version of the blender, specifically for household use. Poplawski sold his own business to the John Oster Manufacturing Company who released the “Osterizer” not long after the sale, bringing blenders to the masses. 

[You can read about birthday writer Ernest Thayer at our website wellbredandwellbrewed.com. This is an abbreviated version of the poem.]

Casey at the Bat

Ernest Thayer

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:

The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,

And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,

A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

…

They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that—

We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,

And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;

So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,

For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,

And Blake, the much despisèd, tore the cover off the ball;

And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,

There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;

It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,

For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

…

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;

Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;

Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,

Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,

And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.

Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped—

"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,

Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;

...

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;

He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;

He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;

But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"

But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.

They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,

And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

…

And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,

And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,

But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 13th, Tuesday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Don Ho, Hawaiian-American musician. Don was born in Hawaii and joined the Air Force in 1954 at age 23, just a few years after marrying his high school sweetheart. 

Don and his wife Melva moved to California per Don’s job in the Air Force. While there, he picked up an electronic keyboard to accompany his voice. (He had already done a bit of singing as a young man at his Mom’s bar in Hawaii.) 

Not many years later Don Ho left the Air Force and returned to Hawaii to take care of his ailing mother and her bar, Honey’s. Soon, Don found himself performing as the headliner for the bar. As his popularity as an entertainer spread, Don was asked to headline at another bar, Duke’s. Duke’s was a popular spot for celebrities and executives on vacation and Don would be ‘discovered’ by a music agent there. 

Don Ho signed with Reprise Records and would go on to have a successful career over multiple decades. He was able to capitalize on the wave of tourists from America to the newest state in the union (Hawaii). He became a pop icon and, in addition to his own short-lived variety show, Don Ho made appearances on TV shows such as I Dream of Jeannie, The Brady Bunch, Batman, and Charlie's Angels.

Despite a persona as an “easygoing romantic rogue,” Don Ho remained married to his high school sweetheart Melva until her death in 1990. Don Ho passed away in 2007.

(Today is also the birthday of Giovanni Agnelli, Sr., Italian co-founder of Fiat. For more on him visit our official website.)

And today is the birthday of Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter. 

Born on the plains of America in 1860, Annie had a hard life. Annie’s father died when she was just six. A few years later, destitute and desperate, her mother “rented” nine-year-old Annie as a servant to a well-to-do but cruel family. The arrangement lasted a grueling two years. 

When Annie returned home she began to trap and hunt. At first, it was simply a means of survival: her hunting put food on the table. But then, as her talent developed, Annie used it to bring in money. She would sell whatever the family couldn’t eat, first, to local shops, then found a vendor who would sell her catches to hotels and restaurants in the large towns and cities of Ohio. With the income, Annie was able to feed her siblings and even helped her mother pay off the mortgage on their home. 

Annie’s career as an entertainer started when she entered into a shooting contest with two traveling frontiersmen. Frank Butler placed a bet that he could shoot better than any local marksman. A resident Hotelier took him up on that bet and presented five-foot, fifteen-year-old Annie Oakley as his competition. Oakley won, impressing Butler who began to court her. The two married a year later. 

Throughout her successful and well-paid career, Annie and her husband donated to charity. Annie was adamant that women should learn to use guns as a means to protect themselves from preadators, particularly given the lawlessness of the West at the time. 

Annie Oakley was a powerful image for young girls in the first decades of the 1900s. She advocated for women to receive more independence and education and is the undisputed inspiration for the image of the “cowgirl.” She used her story as proof that women were as capable as men when given the same opportunities. 

Amores (II)

e.e. cummings

in the rain-

darkness,        the sunset

being sheathed i sit and

think of you

the holy

city which is your face

your little cheeks the streets

of smiles

your eyes half-

thrush

half-angel and your drowsy

lips where float flowers of kiss

and

there is the sweet shy pirouette

your hair

and then

your dancesong

soul.      rarely-beloved

a single star is

uttered,and i

think

           of you

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening. 

The date is August 12th, Monday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Katharine Lee Bates, American educator and poet. 

Bates most notably penned the lyrics for “America the Beautiful.” The words were inspired by a hike to the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado. Bates happened to be teaching a course at a Colorado school for the summer.

Bates’s first draft of “America the Beautiful” was jotted down in a notebook between teaching classes. It was first published in 1895 in a small weekly journal and gained notoriety in 1904 when a new version appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript, an afternoon newspaper.  

But Bates did more than just write “America the Beautiful.” She was a noted educator at Wellesley College, the author of multiple books, and a journalist. She is credited with making American Literature a legitimate course of study and is perhaps the first woman to write a textbook. Her textbook is credited with elevating the writing of Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau, who were considered fringe writers at the time. 

An unmarried woman in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bates most certainly endured sexism throughout her career. She made it a point to represent the working classes, particularly women. As a war correspondent during the Spanish American War she attempted to show both sides of the fight in order to combat the rampant demonization of the Spanish people. 

Bates maintained an intimate friendship with her fellow Wellesley professor Katharine Coman. The two lived together in the Bates Home, but the full details of their relationship were lost when Bates burned the majority of their letters to each other. Historians are split on the exact nature of their relationship, but the LGBT has embraced Katharine Lee Bates as an icon. 

In 1970, Bates was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame more than 40 years after her death in 1929. Two elementary schools - one in her hometown Falmouth, MA and one in Colorado Springs, Colorado - are named in Katharine Lee Bates honor. Her manuscripts and letters are preserved by Wellesley College, Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and the Falmouth Historical Society. 

And today is the birthday of Gladys Bentley, performer, and artist. 

As Gladys Bentley matured during the early 1910s, her sexual orientation became more obvious, much to the dismay of her conservative Trinidadian parents. Feeling wholly unaccepted by her family and community, at 16, Bentley ran away from home. 

She landed in New York at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and ended up thriving. Bentley quickly entered show business, gaining a reputation as a talented entertainer and creator of material. Her act usually consisted of performing in drag to her own humorous and risqué compositions.

Despite being openly gay, Gladys Bentley was embraced by the Harlem community and fans alike. She was so beloved as a performer, the main speakeasy that hosted her would rename itself “Barbara’s Exclusive Club” - Barbara “Bobbie” Minton being her stage name. 

Unfortunately, as time wore on, Bentley was not able to achieve ever increasing fame. When she took her act to Broadway, it was shut down for being too raunchy. Bentley then moved to Los Angeles, CA to try her act there, but she was never able to be as successful as her time in Harlem. 

As Cultural mores shifted away from the loose, easygoing acceptance of the 1920s to the more conservative, afraid views of the 1940s and ‘50s, Bentley found herself under McCarthy Era scrutiny. 

She retreated from performing, attempted and failed at a heterosexual marriage, and finally found some peace in working a ministership. 

[This is the original 1893 version of poem, with the last stanza updated to the 1904 version.]

America. A Poem for July 4.

Katharine Lee Bates

O beautiful for halcyon skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought

By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife,

When once or twice, for man's avail,

Men lavished precious life!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain,

The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening.

The date is August 9th, Friday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, American humanitarian. She is also, of course, the wife of Alexander Hamilton. 

Elizabeth Schuyler, sometimes affectionately referred to as Eliza or Betsey, was thrown into high society from her birth in 1757. Eliza was born into large Dutch family and it is unclear how many siblings she had since not all of them lived to adulthood. Her family’s prominence in early America meant she was surrounded by the foremost thinkers of the new nation. She even had a chance to meet Benjamin Franklin. 

When she was 22, Eliza was sent from the Schuyler residence in Albany, NY to Morristown, NJ to live with a maternal Aunt. 

Rather Fortuitously, George Washington’s army was stationed in Morristown and Eliza, in need of society, became friends with Martha Washington and began a courtship with Alexander Hamilton, one of George Washington’s aides. 

A short several months later, Eliza’s father visited Morristown and Hamilton took the opportunity to ask for Eliza’s hand in marriage. Surprisingly, Philip Schuyler accepted the match, despite Hamilton’s uncertain financial situation. No one was in the room where it happened so we can’t know if Hamilton had to do some serious persuading, or if Philip saw something promising in the young Hamilton. 

The couple would be a force to be reckoned with. Eliza supported Hamilton in his work, particularly his writing.  Drafts of The Federalist Papers and Hamilton’s defense of a plan for a national bank are inked in Eliza’s hand. Eliza would rekindle her friendship with Martha Washington during their husbands’ time at the White House, the first entertainers for guests of the newly independent America. 

On the whole the Hamiltons maintained a solid marriage raising 8 of their own children, despite an embarrassing extramarital affair on the part of Hamilton. 

When Hamilton died in a duel, Eliza and much of the nation was understandably heartbroken. The information we have regarding Alexander Hamilton survives in large part because of Eliza’s work after his death to preserve his legacy. 

Eliza was also instrumental in the development and operation of the Orphan Asylum Society, now known as Graham Windham. She was one of three founding members of the organization in 1806 and served as VP or president for a combined forty-two years. 

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton had a reputation as strong-willed and occasionally impulsive and lived to be 97. 

(Check out Ron Chernow’s book on Alexander Hamilton for his lauds of Eliza Hamilton or take a look at Tilar Mazzeo’s book Eliza Hamilton for more facts. if you’re looking for something more dramatized, there is a best-selling fictional take on her story My Dear Hamilton.) 

And today is the birthday of Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist.

Piaget is remembered for his work in child development and developmental psychology. 

Interested in how knowledge is acquired, Piaget found himself working at a school in France after receiving his own education. While grading tests for his superior, he noticed that children of certain ages consistently gave wrong answers to certain questions. The pattern was too obvious to be ignored. 

He began to study more seriously how children acquire knowledge and mentally mature, giving us what is known as “Piaget's theory of cognitive development.”

Piaget became a big proponent of education, serving as Director of the International Bureau of Education, a part of UNESCO. He once said, “only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse.”

Prairie Spring

Willa Cather

Evening and the flat land,

Rich and sombre and always silent;

The miles of fresh-plowed soil,

Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;

The growing wheat, the growing weeds,

The toiling horses, the tired men;

The long empty roads,

Sullen fires of sunset, fading,

The eternal, unresponsive sky.

Against all this, Youth,

Flaming like the wild roses,

Singing like the larks over the plowed fields,

Flashing like a star out of the twilight;

Youth with its insupportable sweetness,

Its fierce necessity,

Its sharp desire,

Singing and singing,

Out of the lips of silence,

Out of the earthy dusk.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely weekend!

The date is August 8th, Thursday, and today I’m coming to you from Rochester, NY. 

Today is the birthday of Sara Teasdale, American poet. 

Born in 1884 in St. Louis Missouri, Sara was a sickly child and her mother kept her at home. At age 10 she was finally deemed healthy enough to attend school. 

Despite having entered into a more public existence, during her teens Sara was still fairly solitary. Her mother had built Sara her own suite in the family home and Sara spent most of her time working, sleeping, and eating in her own quarters. Her enrollment in school was a positive. Sara Teasdale gained friends and a mentor which chased away much of the loneliness to which she had grown accustomed. 

Done with school at 18, Teasdale’s mentor, Lillie Rose Ernst, encouraged her to join a women’s group she was forming. In 1904, Teasdale was a member of the Potters. The Potters was a group of young women in St Louis that worked together to publish The Potter’s Wheel, a monthly literary magazine. Teasdale was a member until 1907 when she began to focus on her own career. 

Teasdale saw her first success with her collection titled Helen of Troy and Other Poems in 1911. She began to attract the attention of male admirers of her poetry and fell in love with Vachel Lindsay, a fellow poet. 

However, Lindsay was a struggling artist, and did not propose marriage to Teasdale. She ended the affair heartbroken, and married Ernst Filsinger in 1914. 

She continued to write and publish successfully, despite a marriage strained by her husband’s constant absence for business. Her 1915 collection Rivers to the Sea was a best-seller and a few years later she published Love Songs, which won her a Pulitzer Prize in 1918. (Here’s a collection of all of her poetry.)

Despite literary success, Teasdale was prone to bouts of depression and loneliness. She and her husband had no children and they would divorce when Sara was in her 40s. She reignited a friendship with Lindsay who was no married with children. It seemed this only compounded her loneliness and she began to suffer from serious depression. 

No ties left to the world, Teasdale overdosed on sleeping pills at age 49. Over three hundred of her poems are in the public domain, with notable poems including: “There Will Come Soft Rains” and “I Shall Not Care.”  

And today is the birthday of Bob Smith, American surgeon and co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Bob Smith’s struggle with alcoholism started as soon as he began drinking in college at Dartmouth and continued through medical school and then as a practicing doctor. 

Bob Smith tried and failed to stay sober for years. But it wasn’t until he befriended Bill Wilson, another recovering alcoholic that the two successfully were able to remain sober. 

Bob Smith, with the help of Bill Wilson, had his last drink on June 10th, 1935. The two went on to co-found Alcoholics Anonymous, publishing the organizations first “Big Book” in 1939 which included stories from 100 men who had achieved sobriety. In 1946, a new edition was published that included the 12 Steps.

Union Square

Sara Teasdale

With the man I love who loves me not, 

I walked in the street-lamps' flare; 

We watched the world go home that night 

In a flood through Union Square.

I leaned to catch the words he said 

That were light as a snowflake falling; 

Ah well that he never leaned to hear 

The words my heart was calling.

And on we walked and on we walked 

Past the fiery lights of the picture shows -- 

Where the girls with thirsty eyes go by 

On the errand each man knows.

And on we walked and on we walked, 

At the door at last we said good-bye; 

I knew by his smile he had not heard 

My heart's unuttered cry.

With the man I love who loves me not 

I walked in the street-lamps' flare -- 

But oh, the girls who ask for love 

In the lights of Union Square.

Thank you for listening. I’m your host Virginia Combs, wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening.