Festivals and Culture
Facts and Figures for Thanksgiving Day: Nov. 24, 2011
"The legacy of thanks and the feast have survived the centuries, as the event became a national holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving." Cherry, Pumpkin or Pecan? more »
The Dickens 200th Birthday Celebration in 2012
In the US, there is UC Santa Cruz and the Dickens Universe and Project. In London, an exhibit that display examines the central relationship between Dickens and the city that he described as his ‘magic lantern’ more »
The "most notorious liar in the country" Gets a Memorial on the Mall
15 months after Dr. King’s famous speech at the 1963 march and rally, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover told a group of women reporters that King was "the most notorious liar in the country." This came in reaction to newspaper reports of a mild criticism by King of the FBI’s handling of civil rights complaints in the South. more »
Jane Austen: "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of"
At the age of eleven, Jane Austen finished her formal education and returned home. It was in this environment, encouraged by her family — all enthusiastic readers themselves — that she began to write poems, stories, and plays for her family’s as well as her own amusement. more »