February 21, 2011

What do these people have in common?

(Aside from being mental as anything.)

I just learned via Roger Ebert that I share a birthday with David Foster Wallace.

I already knew about my natal link with Nina Simone, W. H. Auden, Sam Peckinpah, and Anaïs Nin.

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comments

  1. Deron Bauman on February 21st, 2011 at 11:20 am

    That’s a good mix.

  2. Sheila Ryan on February 21st, 2011 at 11:21 am

    Might make for a good party. Or a flaming disaster. Depending.

  3. Luke Neff on February 21st, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Happy Birthday.

  4. Deron Bauman on February 21st, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Wait — Luke beat me to it! — Happy Birthday, Sheila!

  5. Luke Neff on February 21st, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    I would pay just about anything to see David Foster Wallace and W.H. Auden have a conversation.

  6. Sheila Ryan on February 21st, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    I thank y’all on behalf of David Foster Wallace et cetera.

    I was mostly thinking about what it is that makes for kindred souls.

  7. Amanda Mae on February 21st, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    What I remember about W.H. Auden off the top of my head:

    W.H. Auden was the partner of Benjamin Britten, a composer in England.

    For a while, W.H. Auden stayed at Carson McCuller’s house in New York and she tried to get him some money so he could continue his work. She also tried to get T.S. Eliot some money but he refused it.

  8. Sheila Ryan on February 21st, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    And Auden and Britten and Britten’s _____ Peter Pears [what is a word for someone who is your lover and your muse and the person who performs your work?] all went to school together, I think.

    That is a lot in common.

  9. Sheila Ryan on February 21st, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    Anaïs Nin had a lot in common with a lot of folks. If you catch my drift.

  10. Kelsey Parker on February 21st, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    Sheila, you know I named my rabbit after Nina Simone, right? So it looks like your party may include one lagomorph as well. I mean, today could be her birthday. As she’s a rescue, we really have no idea.

  11. Sheila Ryan on February 21st, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    Kelsey, I’d be happy to share a birthday with your Nina. As well as some greens.

  12. Dave Vogt on February 22nd, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    I share my birthday with the subject of a W. H. Auden poem. Surely that must count for something.