Jan. 5, 2000
The Sixth of January
The Song of Wandering Aengus
On this day in 1643 the first legal divorce recorded in the American colonies was finalized. Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay colony had petitioned for divorce from her estranged and adulterous husband, Dennis Clarke. Mr. Clarke admitted to abandoning his wife and two children for another woman, and confirmed that he would not return to the marriage. The court's record read: "She is garunted to bee divorced."
On this day in 1887, the first United States school of "Librarianship" opened at Columbia University the beginning of the field of study now called Library Science.
It's the birthday of American Poet W(illiam) D(eWitt) Snodgrass, born in Wilkinsberg, Pennsylvania (1926), whose first collection of poetry, Heart's Needle, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959.
It's the birthday of American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, born in Rogers, Texas (1931). Ailey became involved with the Lester Horton Dance Theater while a student at UCLA in 1949, and took over as director of that company when he was only 22 years old. In 1958 he formed his own dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He's best known for establishing a place for blacks in modern dance, and for his works portraying black heritage. His most renowned work, "Revelations" is based on Negro spirituals.
It's the birthday of Italian author and scholar, Umberto Eco [oom BARE toh EKK oh], born in Allessandria, Italy (1932). Eco studied aesthetics and earned his doctorate at the University of Turin (1954). He taught in Florence, Milan, and Bologna and wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his best selling fantasy In the Name of the Rose (1981), which blends mystery, philosophy and history, and questions "truth" from many perspectives. His other works include A Theory of Semiotics (1976) and Foucault's [foo KOZE] Pendulum (1989).
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®