Song of the day: “One Way Ticket (Because I Can)” by LeAnn Rimes.
Poem of the day: “Tender Buttons: Objects—Food—Rooms” by Gertrude Stein. This is the entire book of Cubism-influenced ‘verbal still lifes’ that are more about the juxtaposition and sounds of words than any literal meaning per se. Beautiful stuff if you approach it as intended.
Fact of the day: Nothing in writing is more important than the opening line. (I teach this, and I practice it. Oftentimes, I spend more time on the first line than on all of the rest of whatever I’m writing.)
Learned one thing today: The story of bowling ball designer Mo Pinel (who died of COVID), and an introduction to the intricacies of what makes for a better ball.
Visual of the day: A Memorial Day movie recommendation: We Were Soldiers. And the book is even better: We Were Soliders Once…and Young. There are a lot of heroes from the 1965 battle of Ia Drang, but the one who has always stood out to me is Ed “Too Tall” Freeman. Salute. And to all of our veterans, thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
Good thing going on: The era of boiler room cold calling for penny stocks (and, indeed, for everything) is over. Done. Kaput. Because nobody answers unidentified incoming calls on their cell phones.