In memory, on National Science Fiction Day

On September 2, 2020, almost 50 years after she sold her first story, and more than 14 years after her death, Octavia E. Butler finally fulfilled her own prophecy and became a New York Times bestseller: Butler’s post-apocalyptic novel Parable of the Sower, which was originally published in 1993 (but is set in the early 2020s), appeared at #14 on the list. 

Not that Butler had anything to prove before this, mind you. After all, in 1995 Butler became the first SF writer to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant; her work has been honored with Hugos and Nebulas; she is in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. She was a prescient thinker, a beloved teacher and mentor, and has become an enduring cultural icon, complete with Google doodle. There’s even a Mars landing site named after her.

Octavia was also very good at writing author bios. (Don’t laugh; they’re hard.) More importantly, perhaps, she has inspired countless writers and artists who came after her—from Nnedi Okorafor to Janelle Monáe and even Brit Marling, who cites Parable of the Sower in particular as informing her work on The OA. Butler is becoming one of those writers who gets continually rediscovered and re-evaluated, but for fans old and new, it’s a very verdant period for Butler’s work—both Parable of the Sower and Kindred will soon be adapted for the screen, and gorgeous new editions and new nonfiction about the writer abound. It would be the Octaviassance, except for the fact that for many of us, she never went away. 

Source:

lithub.com

Senator Timothy Pickering, a Federalist from Massachusetts, becomes the first senator to be censured when the Senate approves a censure motion against him by a vote of 20 to seven. Pickering was accused of violating congressional law by publicly revealing secret documents communicated by the president to the Senate.

During the Revolutionary War, Pickering served as General George Washington’s adjutant general and in 1791 was appointed postmaster general by President Washington. In 1795, he briefly served as Washington’s secretary of war before being appointed secretary of state in 1795. He retained his post under the administration of President John Adams but was dismissed in 1800, when Adams, a moderate Federalist, learned that he had been plotting with Alexander Hamilton to steer the United States into war with revolutionary France. Returning to Massachusetts, he was elected a U.S. senator, but resigned after he was censured for revealing to the public secret foreign policy documents sent by the president to Congress. An outspoken opponent of the War of 1812, Pickering was elected as a representative from Massachusetts in 1813 and served two terms before retiring from politics.

Citation Information

Article Title

First censuring of a U.S. senator

AuthorHistory.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-censuring-of-a-u-s-senator

Access Date

January 1, 2023

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

December 21, 2021

Original Published Date

July 21, 2010

by McKenna Mobley

Victorville Daily Press

The nearly 3,000-acre Vista Fire has closed various hiking trails in the area due to unsafe conditions, including Mount Baldy, most of the Deep Creek area, and Lytle Creek.

As of July 12, major closures in the Baldy area include Manker Flats, Mt. Baldy Rest Area, Ice House Canyon, Bear Canyon, Mt. Baldy Station, and Mt. Baldy Village. These are closed until Oct. 31, 2024 or until further notice.

Violators of the closure will be faced with a $5,000 fine, $10,000 for organizations, and imprisonment for up to six months, according to authorities.

Additionally, Deep Creek is closed between the confluence of Deep Creek and Hooks Creek, and the intersection of Deep Creek with Devil’s Hole Trailhead until June 8, 2025. This area does not include Deep Creek Hot Springs, which is still open according to Bowen Ranch Campground employees.

Lytle Creek Road is also closed at the I-15 and Sierra Avenue. While the Bonita Ranch Campground is still open to campers with a reservation, all day-use trails and creek access is closed.

Source: vvdailypress.com

Hikers in California are up in arms following the ‘unfair’ closure of a series of popular trails on Mount Baldy. The U.S. Forest Service shut the trails in the wake of the Bridge Fire that ravaged the local area, burning 20 homes and more than 50,000 acres of surrounding hillsides.

Source: Internet

1492		history.netCatholic forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take the town of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain.
1758		The French begin bombardment of Madras, India.
1839		Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.
1861		The USS Brooklyn is readied at Norfolk to aid Fort Sumter.
1863		In the second day of hard fighting at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops defeat the Confederates.
1903		President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.
1904		U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
1905		After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.
1918		Russian Bolsheviks threaten to re-enter the war unless Germany returns occupied territory.
1932		Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.
1936		In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations.
1942		In the Philippines, the city of Manila and the U.S. Naval base at Cavite fall to Japanese forces.
1943		The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea.
1963		In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.
1966		American G.I.s move into the Mekong Delta for the first time.
1973		The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
1980		President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
1981		British police arrest the “Yorkshire Ripper” serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe.
1999		A severe winter storm hits the Midwestern US; in Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13 ºF and19 inches of snow fell; 68 deaths are blamed on the storm.
2006		A coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia, kills 12 miners and critically injures another. This accident and another within weeks lead to the first changes in federal mining laws in decades.