“Being an optimist after you've got everything you want doesn't count.” I'll be talking about the life and career of Kin Hubbard, creator of folksy philosopher Abe Martin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, at the Indianapolis Central Library's Special Collections Room. attend.indypl.org/event/14719987

“The human race is at war. Our biggest enemy, pure and simple, is ignorance.” U.S. astronaut John W. Young, born on this day in 1930

This month in 1942, a young man from Indianapolis enlisted in the armed forces. He eventually ended up as a B-17 pilot in Europe. A mission into Germany tested him as no other mission did. rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2021/10/catc...

“He always looked after us. He’d go to bat for us every time.” A GI describing his commanding officer, Captain Henry T. Waskow, born on this day in 1918. Killed in action in Italy. Captured forever in print by Ernie Pyle. rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2019/07/erni...

"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath." F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on this day in 1896

“This is what language is: a habitual grief. A turn of speech for the everyday and ordinary abrasion of losses such as this: which hurts just enough to be a scar And heals just enough to be a nation.” Eavan Boland, born on this day in 1944

"Ray Charles is the only genius in our business." (Frank Sinatra) The great Ray Charles was born on 23 September 1930.

“When you got out of her class, you knew you were one of the best. You stood a little taller.” indianahistory.org/blog/the-lad...

“There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” Walter Lippmann

Should I buy lunch today or wait to see if I might get raptured? Decisions, decisions.

I blame the Tylenol I took as a kid for none of my books becoming best-sellers.

"Unless the great majority of Americans not only have, but believe they have, a fair chance, the better American future will be dangerously compromised." Herbert Croly, born on this day in 1869

On this day in 1908, GOP presidential candidate William Howard Taft opened his race at the White House in an unusual location--the small Indiana town of Brook, home of famed Hoosier author George Ade. rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/09/geor...

"The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty." Pablo Neruda, who died on this day in 1973

"So I had this problem--work or starve. So I thought I'd combine the two and decided to become a writer." Robert Bloch, who died on this day in 1994

OTD in 2018 I set out from the Indianapolis Airport to visit the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University to begin research on the life of World War II correspondent Richard Tregaskis. The result: my book, "Richard Tregaskis: Reporting under Fire from Guadalcanal to Vietnam.”

Foggy morning at Holliday Park.

"Ours is a problem in which deception has become organized and strong; where truth is poisoned at its source; one in which the skill of the shrewdest brains is devoted to misleading a bewildered people." Walter Lippmann

"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil." Walter Lippmann, born on this day in 1889

“I have no home. My home is where my extra luggage is, and where the car is stored, and where I happen to be getting mail this time. My home is America.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-...

"Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn, time seems speeded up. What was is not and never again will be; what is is change." Edwin Way Teale

“From the moment I realized that the world situation demands immediate action, if we do not want the war fire to spread any further. I joined those international forces which are working toward ending this unparalleled catastrophe.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-sh...

What matters? www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9mf...

"The only way to write is to write." On this day in 2012 a historical marker honoring Juliet Strauss was unveiled at her former home "Grouch Place," in Rockville, Indiana.

"Women play cellos and violins in symphony orchestras. They're playing Beethoven and Bach. What do you mean they can't play rock and roll?" Joan Jett, born on this day in 1958 youtu.be/ksrYQhFCOpg

"Next to doing things that deserve to be written, nothing gets a man more credit, or gives him more pleasure than to write things that deserve to be read." Lord Chesterfield, born on this day in 1694

“It was autumn and falling stars Covered the shrivelled forms Crouched in the moonlight.” Wallace Stevens

“Don’t let them scare you.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2019/07/elme...

“My page was too white My ink was too thin The day wouldn't write What the night pencilled in.” Leonard Cohen, born on this day in 1934

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.” Stephen King, born on this day in 1947

“He not only wished to win bigger than John Kennedy had won in 1960, but bigger than anybody had won ever. Moreover, he wanted people to vote for him, not against Goldwater; he wanted all the American people to vote for him because they loved him.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/10/all-...

"There's something about universal truths with the simplicity of the acoustic guitar. You can take it anywhere and it helps me reach listeners of all ages and walks of life." Jim Croce, who died on this day in 1973 youtu.be/-qgnGH6Rg-E

“I have an unshaken conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of utilizing them." Franklin D. Roosevelt to Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, who was born on this day in 1861

"I believe the writer . . . should always be the final judge. I have always held to that position and have sometimes seen books hurt thereby, but at least as often helped. The book belongs to the author." Maxwell Perkins

"The job of editor in a publishing house is the dullest, hardest, most exciting, exasperating and rewarding of perhaps any job in the world." Maxwell Perkins

"If you are not discouraged about your writing on a regular basis, you may not be trying hard enough. Any challenging pursuit will encounter frequent patches of frustration. Writing is nothing if not challenging." Maxwell Perkins, born on this day in 1884

“There was action everywhere, and no telling where the fire was going to come from next.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2024/10/cove...

Did you know? Although war correspondent Richard Tregaskis sailed with the task force that launched the Doolittle Raiders in April 1942, due to wartime secrecy his dispatches about his experiences did not appear until a year later? rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/04/repo...

There's no point in wondering What afterlife's like It don't matter anyhow We're already in hell As far as I can tell youtu.be/O5t7frk3DjQ?...

"War is man's most terrible preoccupation. As a journalist, it was my greatest challenge to capture what needed to be remembered of how war tears at human flesh and human spirit." Wallace H. Terry www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06I...

"When you've lived with the unnatural mass cruelty that mankind is capable of inflicting upon itself, you find yourself dispossessed of the faculty for blaming one poor man for the triviality of his faults. I don't see how any survivor of war can ever be cruel to anything, ever again.” Ernie Pyle

“It’s gotten so easy to pick out the bad guys. One after another, at an escalating pace, the corporate cowards are abandoning their duty as citizens and kowtowing to Trump in a pathetic display of weakness and avarice.” www.americaamerica.news/p/capitulati...

"Novelists do not write as birds sing, by the push of nature. It is part of the job that there should be much routine and some daily stuff on the level of carpentry." William Golding, born on this day in 1911

Antifa war correspondents.

"Writing is hard. Writing is hard for everybody, and I mistrust writers who find it easy.” Roger Angell, born on this day in 1920

· President of the United States · Supreme Allied Commander, Europe · President, Columbia University · Chief of Staff, United States Army · General of the Army · Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force · Army and Navy Distinguished Service Medals · Legion of Merit · American · Kansan · Antifa

“There’s nothing romantic whatever in knowing that an hour from now you may be dead." indianahistory.org/blog/the-las...

“The journalists kept showing up in the countryside and it was only a matter of time before they saw how hollow the entire operation was, how many lies were being told, and how fraudulent the war was.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-di...

“I gave him the devil, slapped his face with my gloves and kicked him out of the tent. Companies should deal with such men and if they shirk their duty they should be tried with cowardice and shot.” rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-...

“Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world. “Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.” www.zocalopublicsquare.org/why-mlk-and-...