Adding to the Mystery

In the mailbox this 19th day of 2023 February . . .

Somehow, The Great Mystery remains a mystery in spite of heroic attempts that uncover fragments of it...if not add to it.

Today is the 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus' birth, in the ancient city of 1473 Toruń, Poland. His stellar observations moved the earth from the conceptual center of the universe to be replaced by an orbit around a Sun centered system.

Speaking of pioneering change-agents, one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century, Betty Friedan's culture changing The Feminine Mystique was published on this date in 1963.

Today is also the birth date for novelists Amy Tan in 1952 Oakland, California and Carson McCullers, born in 1917 Columbus, Georgia. For more on the phenomenal Ms. McCullers, see also this take on her life and times (as well as ours) in The Paris Review.

Regarding the theatrical curtain call (which can be extraordinarily awkward for many artists): “None of that false humility. Stand up there. The applause is for the audience. It is actually not about you. They’ve been sitting there attending to the evening. Let them complete the circle.” – Kate Blanchett