Saturday, September 25, 2010
[1897 - William Faulkner, novelist, born in
New Albany, Mississippi]
[1905 - Red (Walter) Smith, Pulitzer Prize-
winning sportswriter, born in Green Bay, Wisconsin]
[1906 - Dimitri Shostakovich, composer, born in
St. Petersburg, Russia]
[1917 - Phil (Philip Francis) 'Scooter' Rizzuto, Hall of Fame Yankee shortstop, born in Brooklyn]
[1926 - Aldo Ray (DaRe), actor, born in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania]
[1930 - Sheldon Alan 'Shel' Silverstein, poet, cartoonist, singer, songwriter, born in Chicago]
[1932 - Glenn (Herbert) Gould, piano virtuoso, born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada]
[1933 - Erik Darling, folk singer & songwriter, born in Baltimore, Maryland]
[1936 - Juliet Prowse, dancer, actress, born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India]
[1952 - Christopher Reeve, actor, director,
producer, writer, born in New York City]
[1957 - Nine black students enter Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, under protection of
the 101st Airborne Division, USA]
[1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, is sworn in]
Grandpa is reading a bedtime story to grandson (age 3.1). He notices that the child can already recognize individual words in his train book, so he asks:
Can you read?
No, Grandpa; I can read when I am four.
Don't you think that you could read when you are three?
No, Grandpa, you have to be four.
{Grandpa sees an opportunity to conduct a Socratic dialogue with grandson.}
Do you think you could read in one month?
No, Grandpa.
How about two months? Could you read then?
No Grandpa, I think it would take longer.
How about four months, could you read after that long a time?
Yes, Grandpa. I think I could.
But, Zach, in four months you will still be three.
Oh!
{It would seem that a well-intentioned adult who didn't know him thought to encourage young Zach by telling him he would be able to read when he was four (before he went to kindergarten). Instead, a barrier had been erected.}
William's Whimsical Words:
Take care what you say to children.
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