Category: Today’s Birthday

Born in Oakland, California, to Chinese immigrants, Tan is an award-winning author whose novels focus on the lives of Asian-Americans and the complexities of intergenerational relationships, particularly those of mothers and daughters. Her best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club was based on the tragic experiences of her mother, who had years earlier fled an abusive marriage, though it meant leaving her three daughters behind in Shanghai. When did Tan finally meet her half-sisters? Discuss

Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, author, and peace activist best known for her marriage to John Lennon of the Beatles. She was raised in Japan and the US, where she started exploring conceptual and performance art. A member of the Fluxus movement, Ono developed a reputation as an avant-garde filmmaker, conceptual artist, performance artist, and experimental musician. Her 1964 Cut Piece, a commentary on identity, gender issues, suffering, and loneliness, invited the audience to do what? Discuss

Born in London, Rendell became an author of murder mysteries and psychological thrillers in the 1960s. She has since published dozens of award-winning novels—many featuring her Chief Inspector Wexford—and has been recognized for her sharp prose and psychological insight by both critics and audiences. Originally a journalist, Rendell was fired after writing about a society dinner she did not attend. What notable misfortune, which was absent from Rendell’s article, befell the speaker of the event? Discuss

De Vries was a Dutch botanist whose theory of biological mutation and rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of heredity made possible the active investigation and universal acceptance of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He held that new species are formed chiefly through mutations—sudden, unpredictable, inheritable changes in an individual organism. Teaching at the University of Amsterdam, he introduced the experimental study of evolution. What important evolution-related term did he introduce to science? Discuss

Fleming is an American soprano who specializes in opera and lieder, a type of German art song intended for soloists. The daughter of two music teachers, Fleming graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 1981 with a degree in music education and went on to study at Eastman School of Music and Juilliard. Her professional debut was in Austria in 1986. She has won numerous awards for her roles in opera and for the classical music she has recorded. What did Fleming do to pay for her studies at Juilliard? Discuss

Wood was an American artist famous for painting scenes from the rural Midwest that feature austere people and stylized landscapes. Born in Iowa, Wood traveled to Europe in the 1920s and was exposed to the late medieval primitive painting style that would later influence his own art. One of the best-known icons of American art, his American Gothic features a stern Midwestern farmer holding a pitchfork and a woman who is often assumed to be the farmer’s wife but is not. Who is she? Discuss

Estep was an American Baptist historian, author, and professor of church history. He was considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the Anabaptist movement, a Christian sect that rejects infant baptism and practices the ritual of believer’s baptism only after a person has made a declaration of faith. Estep wrote numerous works, including books on subjects such as Baptist and Anabaptist history, religious liberty, and world missions. At what theological seminary did he teach? Discuss

Szilard was a Hungarian-American nuclear physicist who, after immigrating to America from Nazi Germany, was instrumental in the development of nuclear weapons. Working with Enrico Fermi, he developed the first self-sustained nuclear reactor based on uranium fission. He was one of the first to realize that nuclear chain reactions could be used in bombs and, in 1939, helped to establish the Manhattan Project. Later he protested nuclear warfare and decided to study what instead? Discuss

Brecht was a German playwright and poet whose brilliant wit and revolutionary theatrical experiments made him a vital and controversial force in modern drama. In 1928, he displayed his hostility toward capitalism as well as his bittersweet compassion for humanity in The Threepenny Opera. With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, he went into exile, first in Scandinavia and then in the US. One of Brecht’s most important theories was the concept of Verfremdungseffekt, which means what? Discuss

The son of a poor minister, Wright went on to become an extremely wealthy mining company owner. He lived a lavish lifestyle and mingled with the social elite, giving off the appearance of a legitimate and successful businessman. Yet, when his companies collapsed in 1900, it was revealed that he had earned his fortune by defrauding investors. Convicted in 1904 of fraud, he chose to end his own life rather than serve out his prison sentence. How did he kill himself while still in the courthouse? Discuss