Over the past 19 years, I've watched @MichelleObama, who never sought a career in the public eye, become a master orator. Her speech yesterday at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center may have been her very best. Moving, direct and powerful.
On "@CBSSunday Morning" today: Techno Claus's 17th annual visit, coming down the chimney, with a Walmart suit and unplaceable accent, to suggest some very cool tech gifts for the holidays. In rhyme!
https://t.co/Ti30YIZJ9B
Jesse Owens of USA winning gold for the long jump in the summer Olympics in Germany, 1936. The man saluting behind Owens is Lutz Long, a German who shared training tips with Owens and was the first to openly congratulate him after his final jump in full view of Hitler.
After the Olympics, the two kept in touch via mail. Below is Long's last letter to Owens while he was stationed with the German Army in North Africa during World War 2. Long was later killed in action during the allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.
"I am here, Jesse, where it seems there is only the dry sand and the wet blood. I do not fear so much for myself, my friend Jesse, I fear for my woman who is home, and my young son Karl, who has never really known his father.
My heart tells me, if I be honest with you, that this is the last letter I shall ever write. If it is so, I ask you something. It is a something so very important to me.
It is you go to Germany when this war done, someday find my Karl, and tell him about his father. Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we not separated by war. I am saying—tell him how things can be between men on this earth.
If you do this something for me, this thing that I need the most to know will be done, I do something for you, now. I tell you something I know you want to hear. And it is true.
That hour in Berlin when I first spoke to you, when you had your knee upon the ground, I knew that you were in prayer. Then I not know how I know. Now I do. I know it is never by chance that we come together. I come to you that hour in 1936 for purpose more than der Berliner Olympiade.
And you, I believe, will read this letter, while it should not be possible to reach you ever, for purpose more even than our friendship. I believe this shall come about because I think now that God will make it come about. This is what I have to tell you, Jesse.
I think I might believe in God. And I pray to him that, even while it should not be possible for this to reach you ever, these words I write will still be read by you.
Your brother, Luz"
Today, some of the books that shaped my life—and the lives of so many others—are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives. And librarians are on the front lines, fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone.
This fall Americans will be asked to roll up their sleeves not just for flu shots, but for new inoculations against Covid and R.S.V., all causes of respiratory misery. https://t.co/ZoG9gWF8rM
Through his style and musicianship, Louis Armstrong became a worldwide icon of jazz. Correspondent Kelefa Sanneh tours the new Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, where the legacy of the beloved jazz musician is explored. https://t.co/mznOGMAItm
Photographer Ansel Adams created unparalleled images of the American West at a time when photography was not universally appreciated as a fine art. Correspondent Conor Knighton takes a look at an exhibition on the artist's work. https://t.co/EuQ0J6YcgC
Three years ago in South Carolina, ten local newspapers folded their print editions. But some papers are bucking the trend, collaborating with other newsrooms and raising funds from readers to expand their coverage of vital local news. https://t.co/Qmvz0BItq1