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Writer's Almanac

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 28, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 28, 2020

On this day in 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 27, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 27, 2020

It’s the birthday of philosopher Georg Hegel (1770), whose concept of dialectic posited that all human progress is driven by the conflict between opposites.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 26, 2020

On this date in 1873, the St. Louis, Missouri, school board authorized the first public kindergarten in the United States, thanks to Susan Blow’s activism.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

“Without language there is no poetry, without poetry there’s just talk. Talk is cheap and proves nothing.” –Charles Wright, former U.S. Poet Laureate

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The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, August 24, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Monday, August 24, 2020

It was on this day in the year 410 that Rome was sacked by the Visigoths. It was the first time in 800 years that Rome was successfully invaded.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, August 23, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Sunday, August 23, 2020

It was on this day in 1939 that the governments of Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, shocking many American communists.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, August 22, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Saturday, August 22, 2020

It’s the birthday of the witty Dorothy Parker (1893), who was kicked out of various institutions for offending people, and who left her estate to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 21, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Friday, August 21, 2020

It’s the birthday of author Ellen Hinsey (1960), who said, “poetry is an independent ambassador for conscience: It answers to no one.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 20, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Thursday, August 20, 2020

On this day 80 years ago, Winston Churchill said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

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The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 19, 2020

The Writer’s Almanac for Wednesday, August 19, 2020

It’s the birthday of Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), who created the sci-fi franchise Star Trek, which was unique in that it imagined a generally peaceful future.

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