Tell me something I don't know

Today is Marilyn Monroe's birthday. She would have been 79. Everybody has an idea about her--the very image of her creates clouds of ideas and/or opinions in most people's minds. That's what it is to be an icon. The face relates more than the person.

Here are some things you might not know:

She owned a set of yellow pots and pans.
She read On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Ulysses by James Joyce.
When a club owner in New York wouldn't let Ella Fitzgerald perform in his club, because she was black, Marilyn made a deal with him that she would come every single night she performed there. He took her up on it, and Ella was able to break the racial line.

I wonder about all the quiet things that are in us all. Things that you can't tell just by looking at someone. The things that will not get noticed, but somehow make us more human.

I'm inspired by this entry today.

and this very brave lady.

Also, Lucinda Williams. She was blocked for SIX YEARS. She made one of my favorite albums of all time.

Also, by the fact that Graham is coming in from New York tonight. This is it. We are no longer a long distance relationship. Halle-frickn'-luja!