The James Logan Courier

Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He was nominated to the court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.

Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, the great-grandson of a slave. His original name was Thoroughgood, but he shortened it to Thurgood in second grade because he disliked spelling it. His father, William Marshall, who was a railroad porter, instilled in him an appreciation for the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law. Additionally, as a child in Baltimore, he was punished for his school misbehavior by being forced to write copies of the Constitution, which he later said piqued his interest in the document.

By Kim Janssen
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

Did you struggle to make it past page 20 of "Moby Dick"?

Do you live in fear of people discovering you've never read "Hamlet"?

Too busy for CliffsNotes?

Two University of Chicago freshmen believe they've found a solution. The pair recently signed a book deal with Penguin Books to rewrite 75 classic novels and plays as "Twitterature."

In a move likely to be greeted by book-lovers with a mixture of horror and why-didn't-I-think-of-that jealousy, college roommates Alex Aciman and Emmett Rensin, both 19, are rewriting classics by Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Dante and other greats in 20 or fewer 140-character tweets.

From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

William Strunk, Jr. (July 1, 1869, Cincinnati, Ohio—September 26, 1946, Ithaca, New York) was Professor of English at Cornell University and is best known as the author of the first editions of The Elements of Style, a guide to English usage, which he had printed privately in 1918 for the use of his students. It became a classic on the local campus, known as "the little book".

In the original edition, Strunk describes the purpose of the book as follows:

"It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention ... on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated."

Read William Strunk's classic "Elements of Style," free from Bartleby.com.

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)

"The Conduit's" visual aptitude has been the source of buzz since the game's unveiling, but a Wii game best known for its graphics is like a baseball player who leads the minor leagues in hitting. If it's going to stand out among a sea of gorgeous, full-featured Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 first-person shooters, "The Conduit" needs more than just the best graphics on its platform to stick around.

That's where the game's attention to movement swoops in. "Metroid Prime" and "Medial of Honor"
already illustrated how uniquely cool a Wii first-person shooter can feel, and "The Conduit" drives the point home. Motions made with the Wii remote skillfully translate to the onscreen character's handling of the game's guns. The default settings are spot-on with respect to turning sensitivity and differentiating your character's head and hand movements, and a laundry list of adjustable
settings gives players who disagree a foolproof degree of on-the-fly fine-tuning. Under optimum settings, it feels great — neither necessarily better nor worse than the traditional controller method, but unique in a way that makes for a fun, divergent experience.

From wikpedia:
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (born June 30, 1917), is an iconic American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Barnet. She currently lives in New York City and no longer makes public appearances.

Lena Horne was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in an upper middle class black community. Her father, Edwin "Teddy" Horne, who worked in the gambling trade, left the family when she was three. Her mother, Edna Scottron, was the daughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron; she was an actress with an African American theater troupe and traveled extensively. Horne was mainly raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne. Her uncle, Frank S. Horne, was an adviser to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She is a reported descendant of the John C. Calhoun family.

Learn more about Lena Horne, and see her perform, at lena-horne.com.

By Fred Tasker
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
MIAMI — After a lifetime of Hollywood success, actress Farrah Fawcett had the misfortune to die from one of the rarest malignancies, anal cancer.

It's a cancer that struck 5,070 Americans in 2008, compared with 40,740 cases of rectal cancer, 108,070 cases of colon cancer, 184,450 cases of breast cancer and 215,020 cases of lung cancer.

It's so rare, doctors say, that many caregivers don't routinely screen for it and many patients don't notice it until it reaches advanced stages.
"Early on, the patient often doesn't feel anything or know anything," said Dr. Michael Hellinger, colorectal surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach. "As it advances, with rectal bleeding, a little lump, people sometimes think it's hemorrhoids."

From wikipedia:
George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American solar astronomer, born in Chicago. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, (1889–90), and at Berlin (1893–94). As an undergraduate at MIT, he invented the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discoveries of the solar vortices and magnetic fields of sun spots.

Read The New Heavens by George Ellery Hale, free from googlebooks.com.

From The Courier's Archives
Musically Minded by Kimberly Low

Bubble Jim by Sabina Singh

School Days by Jamie Maxfield

From wikipedia:
Esther Forbes (June 28, 1891 - August 12, 1967) was an American novelist and children's writer who received the Pulitzer Prize and the Newbery Medal.

Forbes was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, the fifth of six children born to Harriette Merrifield and William Trowbridge Forbes. After attending school in Wisconsin, Forbes served as a member of the editorial staff at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston. Her first novel, Oh Genteel Lady!, was published in 1926 and was made a selection by the then newly formed Book-of-the-Month Club. She married Albert Hoskins in 1926. They were divorced in 1933.

Learn more about Esther Forbes, free from the Worchester Polytechnic Institute.

From wikipedia:
Robert James Keeshan (June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He is most famous as the title character of the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which became an icon for millions of baby boomers during its 30-year run from 1955-1984.

Keeshan also played the original "Clarabell the Clown" on the Howdy Doody television program.

Learn more about and see clips from The Captain Kangaroo Show, free from tvparty.com.

By Roger Moore
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)

Shohreh Aghdashloo, the Oscar-nominated Iranian-born actress, has been watching events in her native land with something approaching glee.

"This is the most exciting moment in post-revolutionary Iran's history," she says. "We are hearing words that we have not heard before, such as 'transparency,' 'the rule of law,' and we're hearing them out in the open. Whenever I see the pictures on the news or hear, on the phone, from friends in Iran, all I can think of is, Is Iran at the dawn of its democracy?"
Aghdashloo, 57, an Oscar nominee for "House of Sand and Fog," left Iran during the 1979 revolution. But it is much on her mind and in her heart these days. She has a starring role in a movie set in Iran, about an infamous side of Islamic states _ execution by throwing rocks at someone until they die. "The Stoning of Soraya M". is based on the 1994 international best seller by a French author telling of a woman falsely accused of adultery, convicted and stoned to death in her village. The movie's "debut comes even as the world frets about things Iranian in the wake of a disputed election," The New York Times notes.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (27 June 1838 - 8 April 1894) ('Chattopadhyay' in the original Bengali; 'Chatterjee' as spelt by the British) was a Bengali poet, novelist, essayist and journalist, most famous as the author of Vande Mataram or Bande Mataram, that inspired the freedom fighters of India, and was later declared the National Song of India.

Chatterjee is considered as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India. Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's The Poison Tree, free from Google books.

By Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

Call it the Dave Brubeck Comeback Tour. Three months ago, the 88-yearold pianist was in the hospital battling a virus and pulmonary infection that threatened his heart. Three weeks ago, he had no feeling in part of his left hand, the side effect of medicine he had been taking.
Now _ defying the expectations of family and physicians — the legendary jazz musician has returned to the road, where he has thrived for more than half a century.

"It was damn serious, what was happening to my health," says Brubeck.

"Now we're driving 350 miles every day in an RV I've rented.


(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
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From wikipedia:
Antoni Plŕcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852–10 June 1926) – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí – was a Spanish Catalan architect who belonged to the Modernist style (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs.

Antoni Gaudí was born in the province of Tarragona in southern Catalonia on 25 June 1852. While there is some dispute as to his birthplace – official documents state that he was born in the town of Reus, whereas others claim he was born in Riudoms, a small village 3 miles (5 km) from Reus, – it is certain that he was baptized in Reus a day after his birth. The artist's parents, Francesc Gaudí Serra and Antňnia Cornet Bertran, both came from families of coppersmiths. It was this exposure to nature at an early age that influenced him to incorporate natural shapes into his later work.

Learn more about Antoni Gaudi, and see examples of his work, free from gaudiclub.com.