15       EVENTS:       16th,Portsmouth  7pm,  Beat night, Thurs., at the Press Room. http://www.pressroomnh.com/       Births:       Andy Razaf 1895, [Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo], African-American musical lyricist   http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/andy-razaf-prolific-black-lyricist-finally-recognized-hall-fame   Maxwell Anderson,   (1888 – 02/28/1959)  US playwright   http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=7672   http://www.fact-index.com/m/ma/maxwell_anderson.html       Betty Smith,   (1896 – 01/17/1972)  US writer     http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060736262       David McCord  (1897 – 04/13/1997)  US writer       http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/04.17/DavidMcCordFund.html       This is my rock And here I run To steal the secret of the sun. This is my rock And here come I Before the night has swept the sky. This is my rock This is the place I meet the evening face to face.   -David McCord           http://www.cqsb.qc.ca/svs/434/poems.htm#top   http://billiediscoverytoys.blogspot.com/2008/09/books-fall-open-by-david-mccord.html       Muriel Rukeyser (1913 – 02/12/1980)  US writer   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/muriel-rukeyser   http://www.poemhunter.com/muriel-rukeyser/       Edna O'Brien (1932) controversial Irish writer   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/eobrien.htm   http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth204       John [Thomas] Sladek, 1937 -  US, sci-fi author (Tik-Tok, Bugs)   http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/john-sladek/       Donald Goines (1937-1974) [Al C. Clark], African American novelist   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/goines.htm   Alex Cox, 1954 -  director (Repo Man)   http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007182/   Donna Brazile 1959. African-American author, educator, and political activist and Democratic Party strategist http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/donna-brazile-skilled-political-strategist-educator-and-author     PASSED           Izaak Walton  (08/09/1593 –1683)  English writer,   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/iwalton.htm       Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, authoress of juvenile and educational works, 1810,   http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/EDtrimmer.htm       Sitting Bull  (??/??/1831 –1890)  US native chief   http://www.powersource.com/gallery/people/sittbull.html       Arthur Machen, Welsh author  1863-1947   http://www.litgothic.com/Authors/machen.html   http://kobek.com/machen.pdf       One day when I was all alone I found a wondrous little stone,   It lay forgotten on the road Far from the ways of man's abode.   When on this stone mine eyes I cast I saw my Treasure found at last.   I pressed it hard against my face, I covered it with my embrace,   I hid it in a secret place.   And every day I went to see This stone that was my ecstasy;   And worshipped it with flowers rare, And secret words and sayings fair.   O stone, so rare and red and wise O fragment of far Paradise,   O Star, whose light is life! O Sea, Whose ocean is infinity!   Thou art a fire that ever burns,  And all the world to wonder turns;   And all the dust of the dull day By thee is changed and purged away,   So that, where'er I look, I see A world of a Great Majesty.   The sullen river rolls all gold, The desert park's a faery wold,   When on the trees the wind is borne I hear the sound of Arthur's horn   I see no town of grim grey ways, But a great city all ablaze   With burning torches, to light up The pinnacles that shrine the Cup.   Ever the magic wine is poured, Ever the Feast shines on the board,   Ever the song is borne on high That chants the holy Magistry—   http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25016/25016-h/25016-h.htm       Agnes Repplier  (04/01/1858 –1950)  US writer   http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Agnes_Repplier   Harry Tobias, songwriter, 1994   http://songwritershalloffame.org/songs/detailed/C103   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXJM6F128K0           Diane Middlebrook  (04/16/1939 –2007)  US writer   http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/dec/18/culture.obituaries   http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/remembering-d               SITES:   http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-12-08/books/the-best-books-of-2010/   http://www.wildgoosefestival.org/   http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/the-shameful-attacks-on-julian-assange/67440/   http://figment.com/   http://www.tbs.com/video/conan/   http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/subject/26.cfm   http://www.slate.com/id/2267846/pagenum/all/   http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/12/how_to_hate_the_beatles.html   http://www.npg.si.edu/                           BONUS POEM: Aldebaran at Dusk THOU art the star for which all evening waits—       O star of peace, come tenderly and soon!       As for the drowsy and enchanted moon,   She dreams in silver at the eastern gates   Ere yet she brim with light the blue estates       Abandoned by the eagles of the noon.       But shine thou swiftly on the darkling dune   And woodlands where the twilight hesitates.   Above that wide and ruby lake to-West       Wherein the sunset waits reluctantly,           Stir silently the purple wings of Night.   She stands afar, upholding to her breast,       As mighty murmurs reach her from the sea,           Thy lone and everlasting rose of light.                                                                                    George Sterling