“Juneteenth was never about commemorating a delayed proclamation, but about celebrating a people’s enduring spirit.”
Category Archives: News
Happy Father’s Day 2023!
Filed under News
In Memoriam – Cormac McCarthy, 1933-2023
“My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That’s heaven. That’s gold, and anything else is just a waste of time.”
Filed under News
June 2023 Literary Calendar
Events in the month of June for writers and readers
Audiobook Appreciation Month
Black Lives Matter Month
Celibacy Awareness Month
Children’s Awareness Month
National Adopt a Cat Month
National Candy Month
National Foster a Pet Month
National Men’s Health Month
National Oceans Month
Rainbow Book Month
- June 1 – Dare Day
- June 2 – American Indian Citizenship Day; National Doughnut Day; National Leave the Office Early Day
- June 3 – Love Conquers All Day
- June 4 – Audacity to Hope Day; Hug Your Cat Day; National Cancer Survivors Day; National Cheese Day
- June 4-10 – National Week of the Ocean; Pet Appreciation Week
- June 5 – Thank You Day; World Environment Day
- June 6 – National Yo-Yo Day
- June 7 – Global Running Day; VCR Day; World Caring Day
- June 8 – Best Friends Day; International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos
- June 9 – National No Apologies Period Day; National Sex Day
- June 10 – Abolition Day; Ball Point Pen Day; Herbs and Spices Day; National Iced Tea Day
- June 11 – National Children’s Day; Race Unity Day
- June 12 – Anne Frank’s Birthday; Democracy Day; National Red Rose Day; Peace Day; World Day Against Child Labor
- June 13 – Sewing Machine Day
- June 14 – Monkey Around Day; World Blood Donor Day
- June 15 – Nature Photography Day; Smile Power Day; World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
- June 16 – International Waterfall Day; Take a Road Trip Day; World Sea Turtle Day
- June 17 – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
- June 18 – Father’s Day (U.S.); National Splurge Day; Wear Blue Day
- June 18-24 – National Forgiveness Week (U.S.)
- June 19 – Juneteenth (U.S.); National Watch Day; World Sauntering Day
- June 19-25 – Animal Rights Awareness Week (U.S.); Learning Disability Week; Universal Father’s Week
- June 21 – Andean New Year; Indigenous People’s Day (Canada); International Yoga Day; Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere); Winter Solstice (Southern Hemisphere); World Giraffe Day; World Humanist Day; World Music Day
- June 22 – Octavia Butler’s Birthday; National Kissing Day; World Rainforest Day
- June 23 – Let It Go Day; National Food Truck Day; National Pink Day; National Typewriter Day
- June 24 – Farmer Day; International Fairy Day
- June 25 – Eric Carle’s Birthday
- June 26 – International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
- June 27 – Sun Glasses Day
- June 28 – Paul Bunyan Day
- June 29 – Fisherman’s Day; Hug Holiday; International Day of the Tropics; Waffle Iron Day
- June 30 – International Asteroid Day; National Safer Workplace Day
Filed under News
Memorial Day 2023
“This is the day we pay homage to all those who didn’t come home. This is not Veteran’s Day; it’s not a celebration; it is a day of solemn contemplation over the cost of freedom.”
Filed under News
In Memoriam – Tina Turner, 1939-2023
“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go – purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything… whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”
I have a personal – albeit tenuous – connection to Tina Turner. My father worked for a printing shop in downtown Dallas for most of his adult life. In the early 1960s, before I was born, he met Turner and her then husband, Ike, when they came to town ahead of a series of shows they had scheduled. The couple was just getting started in their career together, and the shop where my father worked landed the contract to print up tickets and various promotional materials for the Turners. My father had never heard of them, but recounted they were polite and professional, arriving in business attire as was customary at the time. Ike, he said, did most of the talking. He never saved any of the stuff he printed for them, so he had only his recollection of the meeting to relay in the following years.
Filed under News
Happy Mother’s Day 2023!
“Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and pulling it up over your head.”
Image: Morgan Johnson
Filed under News
May 2023 Literary Calendar
Events in the month of May for writers and readers
Get Caught Reading Month
Short Story Month
- May 1 – American Cheese Month; Arthritis Awareness Month; Asian American and Pacific Islander Month; Be Kind to Animals Month; Better Sleep Month; Couple Appreciation Day; Global Love Day; Indian Heritage Month; Jewish American Heritage Month; Labor History Month; May Day; Mental Health Awareness Month; Military Appreciation Month; Mother Goose Day; National Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month; National Anxiety Month; National Loyalty Day; National Meditation Month; National Pet Month; Phone In Sick Day
- May 1-7 – Hurricane Preparedness Week
- May 2 – International Harry Potter Day; Poem on Your Pillow Day
- May 2-8 – Children’s Book Week
- May 3 – World Press Freedom Day
- May 4 – Greenery Day; National Day of Reason (U.S.)
- May 4-10 – Red Cross Week
- May 5 – Nellie Bly’s Birthday; Cinco de Mayo (México); Europe Day; National Cartoonists Day; National Silence the Shame (about mental illness) Day; National Space Day
- May 6 – Sigmund Freud’s Birthday; Free Comic Book Day
- May 6-12 – National Nurses Week
- May 7 – Tchaikovsky’s Birthday; World Laughter Day
- May 7-13 – National Pet Week
- May 8 – Peter Benchley’s Birthday
- May 9 – J.M. Barrie’s Birthday; Peter Pan Day
- May 11 – Irving Berlin’s Birthday; Salvador Dali’s Birthday; Martha Graham’s Birthday; National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day
- May 12 – Limerick Day
- May 14 – Mother’s Day (U.S.)
- May 15-21 – Dementia Awareness Week
- May 16 – Love a Tree Day
- May 19 – Nora Ephron’s Birthday
- May 20 – Eliza Doolittle Day; Flower Day
- May 22 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Birthday; Sherlock Holmes Day
- May 25 – Robert Ludlum’s Birthday
- May 27 – Dashiell Hammett’s Birthday; Ian Fleming’s Birthday
- May 29 – Memorial Day (U.S.)
- May 30 – National Creativity Day
- May 31 –Walt Whitman’s Birthday
Filed under News
Earth Day 2023
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
Filed under News
Happy Easter 2023
“The real reason Easter is on a different day each year is because sometimes it’s difficult to remember which lie you told.”
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 