This and That
Deaths of Greenspan, Clive Davis, radical Islam in America, Obama’s pseudo-library, August calendar preview, TWA Flight 800, Taylor Swift wedding, Empire State Building, Iran Deal 2
August’s marginalized, unknown and forgotten historic or important dates include:
August 1: My story “The Corn Ball,” a tale of a young, single mother attending an environmentalist ball, debuted in a Midwestern journal on this date in 2024. Listen to me read the story, partly inspired by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” aloud on my podcast. Read “The Corn Ball,” in my e-book Long Run: Short Stories, Volume One.
August 2: Football coach and sporting businessman Lamar Hunt, who coined the term Super Bowl was born on this date in 1932. Read Lamar Hunt’s biography by sports author, Autonomia subscriber and journalist David Sweet.
August 3: Explorer Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain on this date in 1492.
August 4: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window starring Grace Kelly and James Stewart debuted on this date in 1954.
August 11: On this date last year, I approved Scattaregia Design boss Jim Scattaregia’s cover design for my first book, the e-book Long Run: Short Stories, Volume One.
August 13: Alfred Hitchcock was born in Essex, England on this date in 1899.
August 17: On this date in 2024, “Runaway,” my most autobiographical fiction, debuted in India. My short story “Speakeasy,” the basis for my novel about free speech, also debuted in an anthology published in Ohio on the same date. On this same date in 2025, my short story “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail,” was accepted for literary debut in Chicago. “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail” was later reproduced with my permission in Classic Chicago Magazine, which also published its two sequels, “Boom-Boom Adds Spice” and “Boom-Boom Makes a Mint”. I’m adapting the trilogy as a three-act play. Read “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail,” “Speakeasy” and “Runaway” in my e-book Long Run: Short Stories, Volume One.
August 18: Robert Redford was born 90 years ago today. Roberto Clemente was born 92 years ago today.
August 19: “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail” won the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Award for third prize and was published in Line of Advance on this date in 2025. This was my first fiction writing award. Read “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail” in Line of Advance, a military-themed journal founded by three U.S. combat war veterans who fought the Taliban together in Afghanistan. Winning stories in the contest, judged by an officer and author in the United States Navy, were included in an anthology, War Stories.
Iran Deal 2, Saudi Arabia Deal, Qatar Plane
Iran Deal 2 remains U.S. policy, as President Trump refuses to renounce, withdraw or cancel his agreement with Iran. In America’s pact with the Islamic dictatorship, Iran gains power, money and arms despite Trump ordering the U.S. military to retaliate in February for the jihadist state’s 47-year war against America.
Additionally, Trump allied with another Islamic dictatorship, Saudi Arabia, proposing to recognize the dictatorship’s right to manufacture nuclear weapons in exchange for the Saudi regime recognizing Israel. Coupled with Trump’s accepting an airplane designated as Air Force One as a gift from another state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar, this approach counters Trump being the first and only president to retaliate against Iran for attacking America, which he ordered this year on February 28.
