The Great Elaine May salutes Mike Nichols

From "That's That" by Colin Broderick

"But it was my mother's older sister Nan who made the best loaf of bread. Her treacle bread especially was a source of envy among every housewife in Altamuskin. Nan's treacle bread could not be replicated. Many tried. They could record the exact ingredients, measure it spoon for spoon, retrace every motion, every degree and minute in the oven, and still never come close to that level of perfection. I am convinced that the missing ingredient was some deeply personal secret that she held; a fusion of pain and love that she unknowingly folded into the bread with her bare hands as she worked, the flower of it bloomed in the cooking and dissolved on your tongue like a mystery." - That's That

The Death of Stonewall Jackson

The NY Times: The Death of Stonewall Jackson
Jackson died at 3:15 p.m. His final words: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”

What Are You Reading?

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Mother's Day Quote - Oscar Wilde

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his." - Oscar Wilde

The Great Gatsby

"I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited--they went there." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3

Manhattan's Beginnings

Peter Minuit landed on the island of Manhattan on this date in 1626. Dutch fur traders had established a trading post on nearby Governors Island a few years earlier. In 1625, construction began on Manhattan Island in the form of a citadel, Fort Amsterdam. The Dutch West India Company appointed Minuit Director of the Colony of New Netherland. He arrived to find a small village already in place, with more land being cleared. There were stands of hickory, oak, and chestnut trees among the grasslands and salt marshes. Times Square was a red maple swamp. A creek ran through Midtown. On the west side of the island, there was a cemetery, a small farm, an orchard, and two wealthy estates. Most of the houses were built along the East River, since its shore was more protected from winds than the shore of the Hudson. The main street was built over an old Indian path running from the southern tip of the island north to what is now City Hall Park. First, it was called Heere Straat, or Gentlemen's Street, but it eventually came to be known as Breede Wegh — which became the name we know it by today, Broadway.