Happy Birthday to 17th century English metaphysical poet, George Herbert (1593-1633)!

"Do not wait! The time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."-George Herbert 

Read his works online.

Happy Birthday Ovid!

Happy Birthday Ovid! 

Often described as one of the most important figures to know of ancient history, Ovid’s prolific writing influenced Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton. 

Publius Ovidius Naso, or Ovid, was born on March 20, 43 BCE in Sulmona, Italy to a wealthy family. He studied in Rome to become a public speaker and politician but to the dismay of his father, he used what he had learned to write poetry. 

Though critics in antiquity were not always kind, considering his work to be frivolous, his writings remain some of the most important work of the ancient world. 

Read and/or download Ovid’s epic meter of dactylic hexameters, “Metamorphoses."

Happy 100th Birthday Mary Leakey!!!!!

British archaeologist and anthropologist, Mary Leakey, was born one hundred years ago, today, in London, England. She died at the age of 83 in Kenya, Africa on December 9, 1996. 

Leakey was best known for her discovery of the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans, and also the discovery of the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge. She spent much of her career working side by side with her husband Louis Leakey. Louis died at a younger age in October 1972.

For more information, on her contributions to the study of human origins, please visit the Leaky Foundation website.