It’s become August 17 2020 during the middle of the night. One more day of life. There’s a song by Michael McCloud that I like to play called Schooner Wharf Bar Dog (I’ll post the video link at the end) that starts out “Everybody knows we’re all gonna die, ain’t nobody knows the what when or why”. In this post I’d like to remind you that fortunate we are to have this day in our lives. Every day you wake up you should feel that you’ve won the lotto because we have. After all, it’s Baby Boomers Recognition Day, Balloon Airmail Day, National #2 Pencil Day, National Nonprofit Day, National Black Cat Appreciation Day and my pick, Cupcake Day. Mine will have sprinkles. The way back machine tells us that on this day in 1590 Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier. In 1891 on this date, the 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC. This is the date in 1903 that Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University and begins the Pulitzer Prizes. On this day in 1915 a mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life. The public decided that wasn’t a good idea. Finally, on this day in 1936 an unemployed worker, Neils B. Ruud, in Madison, Wisconsin, receives the first unemployment benefit check paid under a State law, for $15. Today is May West’s birthday (1893). Mae said, “Between two evils, I’ll always pick the one I’ve never tried before”. This is the day in 1973 Conrad Aiken, American poet (Pulitzer), dies at 74. He said, “Separate we come, and separate we go, And this be it known, is all that we know.” Which brings me back to the start of this post. Enjoy this day. It’s called the “present” for a reason. Abide.
