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"Deserve your dreams." Octavio Paz, born on this day in 1914

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“I’m running and I’m running to win." Indiana governor Roger Branigin rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-...

“I thought it would be easy for me to write about the destruction of Dresden, since all I would have to do would be to report what I had seen.” Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” published on this day in 1969 indianahistory.org/blog/kurt-vo...

On this day in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson stunned political pundits and voters with his announcement: ""I shall not seek, nor will I accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-...

"About this wanting to be a reporter, don't ever change your mind. It may not be the oldest profession, but it's the best." "Deadline USA," starring Humphrey Bogart youtu.be/FgdE-qPv6kw

"When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?" Jesse Owens, who died on this day in 1980

I will be there talking about groundbreaking journalist Wallace Terry.

“Every word has a history. Every word has an image locked into its roots.” John Ciardi

"Spontaneous is what you get after the seventeenth draft." John Ciardi, who died on this day in 1986

“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.” Sean O'Casey, born on this day in 1880

On this day in 1965, American astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young were treated to a ticker-tape parade in Chicago, Illinois, in celebration of their successful Gemini 3 mission. The astronauts tested the new Gemini spacecraft during their three-orbit mission.

"You're taking a descent into hell when you enter war. . . . There's no clean way to fight a war." Wallace Terry, Vietnam War correspondent

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later." Mitch Hedberg, who died on this day in 2005

“But there is the void over my head and the distance within that the tireless signals come from. And astronaut on impossible journeys to the far side of the self I return with messages I cannot decipher." R. S. Thomas

"Verse should be as natural As the small tuber that feeds on muck And grows slowly from obtuse soil To the white flower of immortal beauty" R.S. Thomas

“Ah, what balance is needed at the edges of such an abyss. I am left alone on the surface of a turning planet. What to do but, like Michelangelo's Adam, put my hand out into unknown space, hoping for the reciprocating touch?” R. S. Thomas, born on this day in 1913

“We do not need presidents who are bigger than the country, but rather ones who speak for it and support it.” Eugene McCarthy, born on this day in 1916

"A recurring ideal, I find, is that of simplicity. At times there comes the desire to write with great precision and clarity, words so simple and moving that they bring tears to the eyes." R. S. Thomas, born on this day in 1913

"I can write anywhere." Jim Harrison (The only thing Jim Harrison and I have in common.)

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity." Christopher Morley, who died on this day in 1957

“Listen, you bastards, I’ll take a drink over every one of your graves.” Ernie Pyle, Robert Sherrod, and the Battle of Okinawa rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2018/04/robe...

“Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.” Nelson Algren

“Take enormous care, and never be cavalier with copy.” Editor William McPherson, who died on this day in 2017 rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2024/06/will...

“If we can win in Indiana, we can win in every other state, and win when we go to the convention in August.” OTD in 1968, Robert Kennedy came to Indianapolis to formally file to run in the state’s Democratic presidential primary rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/01/peti...

“If a writer could write the truth about one Chicago street, that would be a good life’s work.” Nelson Algren, born on this day in 1909

"If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power." Dwight D. Eisenhower, who died on this day in 1969

Can you pick me out of this group from my ninth-grade basketball squad? Favorite memory of my time on bench is when one of our starters got hurt. Coach looked at us sitting on bench, then called a couple of time outs so starter could recover.

"Do not write. I fear you. I fear to remember, For memory holds the voice I have often heard. To the one who cannot drink, do not show water, The beloved one's picture in the handwritten word." Louis Simpson, born on this day in 1923

“The rock-bottom foundation of all journalism is reporting. Writing is important, editing is important. But in the end everything depends on reporting.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-...

"The biographer my conceive a special attachment to his subject (or in some cases a special dislike), and the wise biographer tries to be conscious of bias and not permit it to control judgment." Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

"The whole idea of covering an operation is to GET THE NEWS AND PICTURES BACK, not to play soldier yourself." rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2024/02/comb...

“I would rather starve and rot and keep the privilege of speaking the truth as I see it, than of holding all the offices that capital has to give from the presidency down.” Henry Adams, who died on this day in 1918

"Sit in a room and read--and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time." Joseph Campbell, born on this day in 1904

“They say my verse is sad: no wonder. Its narrow measure spans Rue for eternity, and sorrow Not mine, but man's This is for all ill-treated fellows Unborn and unbegot, For them to read when they're in trouble And I am not.” A. E. Housman, born on this day in 1859

"To me there is no greater subject to write about than war because it's the worst thing that we do to each other. Almost all of the human emotions are involved in war; it's the most desperate time for man." Vietnam War correspondent Wallace Terry rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2024/05/wall...

“It is a great feeling to know that from a window I can go to books to cans of beer to past loves. And from these gather enough dream to sneak out a back door.” Gregory Corso, born on this day in 1930

“Nearly everybody is looking for something brave to do. I don't know why people shouldn't write poetry. That's brave.” Robert Frost

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” Robert Frost, born on this day in 1874

On this day in 1965, Gemini 3 astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young, accompanied by their families, journeyed to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony with President Lyndon Johnson in the East Room of the White House (cloudy weather had forced the proceedings inside from the Rose Garden).

“I have made three rules of writing for myself that are absolutes: Never take advice. Never show or discuss work in progress. Never answer a critic.” Raymond Chandler, who died on this day in 1959

"The world is becoming like a lunatic asylum run by lunatics." David Lloyd George, who died on this day in 1945

"Editing isn't just something that happens to you. You have to learn how to be edited." Tracy Kidder, RIP Highly recommend Kidder's book with his editor Richard Todd.

Although acclaimed journalist Wallace Terry joked that his internship at the "Indianapolis News" consisted of carrying coffee to publisher Gene Pulliam’s office, for years he kept a photocopy of his first check from the newspaper. www.unmpress.com/978082637015...

“Nothing came easy in that country." This month in 1975, journalist Malcolm Browne returned to Vietnam to cover what became the final days of the South Vietnamese government rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2024/04/malc...

"I was a narrative historian, believing more and more as I matured that the first function of the historian was to answer the child's question, 'What happened next?'" A. J. P. Taylor

For his breakthrough article for Harpers magazine about the Centralia mine disaster, which happened on this day in 1947, freelance reporter John Bartlow Martin, because he had gathered so much material, had to create a new method of organizing it in order to begin writing.

On this day in 1947, the Centralia No. 5 coal mine exploded, killing 111 miners. Freelance reporter John Bartlow Martin set out to find what happened and why. His work was published a year later by @harpers.bsky.social. rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-...

My first interview promoting my upcoming biography about acclaimed journalist Wallace Terry, set for release October 6 by the @unmpress.bsky.social. youtu.be/fVpGx40x940?...