Literati

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Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote more than 60 plays during his lifetime and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925. Synopsis George Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland. In 1876 he moved to London, where he wrote regularly but struggled financially. In 1895, he became a theater critic for the Saturday Review and began writing plays of his own. His play Pygmalion was later made into a film twice, and the screenplay he wrote for the first version of it won an Oscar. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 60 plays and won many other awards, among them the Nobel Prize. Early Years Playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, 1856. The third child, Shaw's early education took the form of tutoring sessions provided by his clerical uncle. Early on, Shaw explored the worlds of the arts (music, art, literature) under his mother's guidance and through regular visits to the National Gallery of Ireland. In 1872, Shaw's mother left her husband and took Shaw's two sisters to London, and four years later Shaw followed (his younger sister had died in the meantime), deciding to become a writer. Shaw struggled financially, and his mother essentially supported him while he spent time in the British Museum reading room, working on his first novels. The Writing Life Begins Unfortunately, despite the time he spent writing them, his novels were dismal failures, widely rejected by publishers. Shaw soon turned his attention to politics and the activities of the British intelligentsia, joining the Fabian Society in 1884. The Fabian Society was a socialist group whose goal was nothing short of the transformation of England through a more vibrant political and intellectual base, and Shaw became heavily involved, even editing a famous tract the group published (Fabian Essays in Socialism, 1889). The year after he joined the Fabian Society, Shaw landed some writing work in the form of book reviews and art, music and theater criticism, and in 1895 he was brought aboard the Saturday Review as its theater critic. It was at this point that Shaw began writing plays of his own. The Dramatist Shaw's first plays were published in volumes titled "Plays Unpleasant" (containing Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer and Mrs. Warren's Profession) and "Plays Pleasant" (which had Arms and the Man, Candida, The Man of Destiny and You Never Can Tell). The plays were filled with what would become Shaw's signature wit, accompanied by healthy doses of social criticism, which stemmed from his Fabian Society leanings. These plays would not go on to be his best remembered, or those for which he had high regard, but they laid the groundwork for the oversized career to come. The Literary Giant Toward the end of the 19th century, beginning with Caesar and Cleopatra (written in 1898), Shaw's writing came into its own, the product of a mature writer hitting on all cylinders. In 1903, Shaw wrote Man and Superman, whose third act, "Don Juan in Hell," achieved a status larger than the play itself and is often staged as a separate play entirely. While Shaw would write plays for the next 50 years, the plays written in the 20 years after Man and Superman would become foundational plays in his oeuvre. Works such as Major Barbara (1905), The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), Pygmalion (1912), Androcles and the Lion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923) all firmly established Shaw as a leading dramatist of his time. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Pygmalion, one of Shaw's most famous plays, was adapted to the big screen in 1938, earning Shaw an Academy Award for writing the screenplay. Pygmalion went on to further fame when it was adapted into a musical and became a hit, first on the Broadway stage (1956) with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, and later on the screen (1964) with Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Shaw died in 1950 at age 94 while working on yet another play.

Join the Sacred Traveler for a few moments of sacred chant as we put all the guns down, sit by the seat of the mother & listen, letting our souls absorb all her wisdom... featuring stunning visuals & the the voice of an angel sacred singer Fia Forsström offers her voice to the moment as a balm for all that has been neglected... tune in turn on & drop out of this world, only here in this pocket dimension where everything is possible, & all our dreams become our everyday reality... Based in the countryside north of Stockholm, Fia Forsström (known mononymously as Fia) is a folk pop singer/songwriter who with her inspirational lyrics, empowering songs, and catchy melodies quickly enchanted hearts all over world with the release of her solo debut ”Made of Stars” in 2016 which was crowdfunded together with her fans. Building a solid platform through social media and word of mouth, Fia took her place as one of the leading voices on the motivational music scene with ”Legacy of Light” (2017) and ”Waterfall of Wisdom” (2019), both of them recorded and released with the help of her loving listeners. Fia was born in 1994 in Kista, Sweden. She began playing the oboe and writing songs at the age of 10. During her teenage years she picked up the guitar and piano being part of different ensembles while attending the music program at Westerlundska High School. She released her solo debut ”Made of Stars” in 2016 independently with the support of fans, and in 2017 Fia garnered even more widespread acclaim with the follow up ”Legacy of Light”. At this point Fia was a known name in the personal development community and her star continued to rise with ”Waterfall of Wisdom” released in 2019 which wrapped up the acoustic album trilogy. In 2020, her music was featured in a meditation app developed by the University of California Santa Barbara Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, bringing her songs to high school students all over the US.

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Charles Bukowski, American Author Prolific and influential 20th-century poet, short story writer, and novelist. Charles Bukowski was born in Germany, shortly after World War I, to a German mother and American soldier father. When he was two years, eight months old, his parents put him on a ship and brought him to the United States, where they settled in Los Angeles, California, near the father's family. Shortly after America joined World War II, Bukowski left Los Angeles, traveling to various cities around the country, spending the bulk of his time in Philadelphia and New Orleans. In 1947 he returned to Los Angeles, where he lived for the remainder of his life. While "on the road," Bukowski was published for the first time in Story magazine. The year was 1944, and he was 24 years old. At that time he was primarily a short story writer who only occasionally wrote poetry. But a decade later, in 1954, that would change after Bukowski suffered an internal hemorrhage and spent nine days on the cusp of death in Los Angeles County Hospital. After that experience, he began writing much more poetry and quickly became one of the most unique and influential voices in 20th-century American poetry. Ultimately, Bukowski is perhaps more well-known for his novels, such as Post Office, Factotum, Women, and Ham on Rye than for his poetry. But even while he was working on novels he continued to write poetry and short stories. In fact, at the time of his death in 1994, Bukowski had written over 5,300 poems and stories. And those are only the titles that we know of. There were likely hundreds more that were written—and subsequently lost—in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, before he began keeping copies of his work. Film adaptations of Bukowski's books In 1979 Bukowski began writing the screenplay for what would become the film Barfly. After years of delays and wrangling, the film was eventually made by Barbet Schroeder with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway in the leading roles. Bukowski wrote about the experience in his funny, underrated novel Hollywood. The same year, 1987, a Belgian film was released based on Bukowski short stories called Crazy Love. Other film adaptations of Bukowski's work include the Italian film Tales of Ordinary Madness, starring Ben Gazzara, and Factotum, with Matt Dillon taking his turn playing Bukowski. While working menial jobs, such as a door person, and dangerous factory jobs like loading globs of rubber into cutting machinery, he spent most of his money on printing manuscripts and stamps to send his work to publishers. He became disillusioned with the publishing industry, and for almost ten years, he wouldn’t write or have another piece published. His experience working various menial and manual jobs would be the basis for many of his characters and perspectives in later written works. Around 1946, he nearly gave up on writing entirely. For the next ten years, he focused on maintaining employment and wrote little, if anything. He immediately began writing poetry after a near-death experience due to internal bleeding and massive blood loss. His near-fatal illness changed him, and he began to write thousands of poems. He became known for his simple, straightforward, and unadorned style that contrasted with the flowery and ornate popular image of poetry. Bukowski began submitting poems to smaller magazines such as Quixote, The Naked Ear, and Harlequin, the latter of which he started a correspondence with then editor and poet Barbara Frye. They agreed to marry in 1955 but ultimately divorced in 1958. After she died in India under mysterious circumstances, he would start drinking heavily again. He continued to write poetry, with these personal experiences often featuring in his work. After his father died in 1958, he spent some time going through things at his childhood home but ultimately sold the house. He then heard about the death of his first girlfriend, Jane Cooney Baker, which affected him deeply. His drinking became more severe, according to his girlfriend at the time, Frances Smith. All these events occurring within a few years would prominently feature in and inspire Bukowski to write more poetry. After having many poems published in small literary magazines, E.V. Griffith of Hearse publishing noticed and agreed to publish a chapbook titled “Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail” in 1960. This was a monumental occasion for Bukowski, who finally had his first book published at 40 years of age. The aftermath of Bukowski's death After Bukowski's death in 1994, Black Sparrow Press continued to release new poetry collections every year or so. Unfortunately, those collections suffer from comprehensive—and inexplicable—editorial tampering, which has the overall effect of making the posthumous collections appear as if they were comprised of lesser works. When reading Bukowski's original manuscripts, however, it becomes clear that it is the changes made by Bukowski's then "editor"

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Emmy Award–winning television and film writer Rod Serling created and hosted the sci-fi fantasy series 'The Twilight Zone' and co-wrote 'Planet of the Apes.' Who Was Rod Serling? In 1955, Rod Serling won his first Emmy, for writing the TV business drama Patterns. In 1959, he turned to the sci-fi fantasy genre, with The Twilight Zone. In 1968, he co-wrote the screenplay for Planet of the Apes. Serling died in Rochester, New York, on June 28, 1975. Over the course of his career, he wrote 252 scripts and won six Emmys. Early Years Television writer and producer Rod Serling was born Rodman Edward Serling on December 25, 1924, to a Jewish family in Syracuse, New York. When Serling was 2 years old, he and his family moved to the quiet college town of Binghamton, where his dad opened a grocery store. After graduating from Binghamton High School, Serling enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, with the aim of fighting the Nazis in Europe. Contrary to his intention, he ended up becoming a paratrooper in the Pacific theater. During the war, Serling was injured in his knee and wrist at the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. He was sent home with a Purple Heart and emotional battle scars that would haunt him for the rest of his days. To compound matters, Serling's return from the war was followed by the devastating loss of his father, who died suddenly of a heart attack. His traumatic experiences would later serve as inspiration for his writing. After the war, Serling attended Antioch College in Ohio. Television Writer and Producer In 1948, Serling moved to New York City and entered the work world as a struggling freelance radio writer. In 1955, he branched out into television script writing with the TV business drama Patterns. Patterns earned Serling his first Emmy Award. Serling's second Emmy win came a year later, with the 1956 production of Requiem for a Heavyweight, starring Jack Palance. During the late 1950s, Serling fought the CBS network when they insisted on editing his controversial scripts. CBS got its way and heavily revised his script about lynching, entitled A Town Has Turned to Dust, and another about corruption in a labor union, called The Rank and File. Instead of continuing to fight inevitable censorship, in 1959 Serling turned from realism to the sci-fi fantasy genre, with the iconic series The Twilight Zone. Not only did Serling write the series, but he was also the face of it, serving as its on-screen narrator. The Twilight Zone ran until 1964 and garnered Serling his third Emmy. In 1968, Serling co-wrote the screenplay for the original movie version of Planet of the Apes. After a stint of screenwriting, he returned to television writing in 1970. Serling spent his later career hosting Rod Serling's Night Gallery and teaching screenwriting at Ithaca College. Over the course of his career, Serling wrote an estimated 252 scripts and won a total of six Emmys. Personal Life and Wife While Serling worked 12 hours a day seven days a week, his wife, Carol, whom he had met at Antioch College, tended to their daughters, Jodi and Anne. Despite his demanding work schedule, Anne Serling claims in her memoir of her father, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, that she "never felt the 12-hour workday," and always knew that if she needed to, she could go talk to him. Later Life and Death In May 1975, when he was 50 years old, Serling had a heart attack while running on a treadmill. A couple of weeks later, he had a second heart attack, at his cottage on Cayuga Lake, and was sent to the hospital for open-heart surgery. On June 28, 1975, Serling died at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Aloha:-) hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of literary beauty… If so check out the full video at the Literati Channel:-) https://youtube.com/@LovevolutionFoundation

Manly Palmer Hall (18 March 1901 – 29 August 1990) was a Canadian author, lecturer, astrologer and mystic. Over his 70-year career he gave thousands of lectures, including two at Carnegie Hall, and published over 150 volumes, of which the best known is The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928). In 1934 he founded The Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. It includes a research library, lecture hall, and publishing house. Hall was born in 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to Louise Palmer Hall, a chiropractor and member of the Rosicrucian Fellowship, and William S. Hall, a dentist. The younger Hall is said never to have known his father. In 1919, Hall moved to Los Angeles, California, to reunite with his birth mother, who was living in Santa Monica. Upon meeting her, he was almost immediately drawn to the arcane world of mysticism, esoteric philosophies and their underlying principles. In 1919, Hall took over as preacher of the Church of the People, located at Trinity Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. Less than a year later, Hall booked his first lecture on the topic of reincarnation.  Hall was ordained a minister in the Church of the People on 17 May 1923. Only a few days later, he was elected "permanent pastor" of the church.  His first publications consisted of two small pamphlets, The Breastplate of the High Priest (1920) and Wands and Serpents (1927). Between 1922 and 1923 he wrote three books: The Initiates of the Flame (1922), The Ways of the Lonely Ones (1922), and The Lost Keys of Freemasonry (1923). Hall himself would become a Freemason later in life, in 1954. The Secret Teachings of All Ages By 1928, Hall had become sufficiently known and respected as an interpreter and lecturer of many ancient writings. The major books which followed include The Dionysian Artificers (1936), Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians (1937), and Masonic Orders of Fraternity (1950). In his over 70-year career, Hall delivered approximately 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles. He appears in the introduction to the 1938 film When Were You Born, a murder mystery that uses astrology as a key plot point. Hall wrote the original story for the film (screenplay by Anthony Coldeway) and is also credited as the narrator. Hall returned in 1945 for another well-attended lecture at Carnegie Hall, titled: "Plato's Prophecy of Worldwide Democracy." Personal life Hall and his followers went to extreme lengths to keep any gossip or information that could tarnish his image from being publicized, and little is known about his first marriage, on 28 April 1930, to Fay B. deRavenne, then 28, who had been his secretary during the preceding five years. The marriage was not a happy one; his friends never discussed it, and Hall removed virtually all information about her from his papers following her suicide on 22 February 1941.  Following a long friendship, on 5 December 1950, Hall married Marie Schweikert Bauer (following her divorce from George Bauer), and the marriage, though stormy, was happier than his first. In 1934, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles, California, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and the occult. The PRS still maintains a research library of over 50,000 volumes, and also sells and publishes metaphysical and spiritual books, mostly those authored by Hall. After his death, some of Manly Hall's rare alchemy books were sold to keep the PRS in operation. "Acquisition of the Manly Palmer Hall Collection in 1995 provided the Getty Research Institute with one of the world's leading collections of alchemy, esoterica, and hermetica. Hall was a Knight Patron of the Masonic Research Group of San Francisco, with which he was associated for a number of years prior to his Masonic affiliations. On 28 June 1954, Hall was initiated as a Freemason into Jewel Lodge No. 374, San Francisco (now the United Lodge); passed 20 September 1954; and raised 22 November 1954. He took the Scottish Rite Degrees a year later.[19] He later received his 32° in the Valley of San Francisco AASR (SJ). On 8 December 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33° Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite) at a ceremony held at the Philosophical Research Society (PRS)

This is my life statement & epitath all rolled into one, & has guided every decision action & experience of my life... I am the Voice of the Cosmos... the Voice of Nature. The ecstasy of Stars is with me, the birth pangs of Earth are with me. The First I convert into New Consciousness... for the latter, I become the Tongue of Trees.

Freemasons, known popularly for their white aprons, arcane symbols and secret handshake, are members of the world's oldest fraternal organization. Despite its longevity, Freemasonry has long been shrouded in mystery. To outside observers, the organization's rites and practices may seem cult-like, clannish and secretive — even sinister. Some of this stems from Freemasons' often deliberate reluctance to speak about the organization's rituals to outsiders, according to Time. But it is also partly the result of many popular movies and books, that have fostered misconceptions or depicted the order in an unflattering light. In reality, however, Freemasonry is a worldwide organization with a long and complex history. Its members have included politicians, engineers, scientists, writers, inventors and philosophers. Many of these members have played prominent roles in world events, such as revolutions, wars and intellectual movements. In addition to being the world's oldest fraternal organization, Freemasonry is also the world's largest such organization, boasting an estimated worldwide membership of some 6 million people. As the name implies, a fraternal organization is one that's composed almost solely of men who gather together for mutual benefit, frequently for professional or business reasons. However, nowadays women can be Freemasons, too. Freemasons, or Masons as they are sometimes called, are dedicated to loftier goals as well. Bound together by secret rites of initiation and ritual, its members ostensibly promote the "brotherhood of man," and in the past, have often been associated with 18th century Enlightenment principles such as anti-monarchism, republicanism, meritocracy and constitutional government. A code of ethics also guides the behavior of members. This code is derived from several documents, the most famous of which is a series of documents known as the "Old Charges" or "Constitutions." One of these documents, known as the "Regius Poem" or the "Halliwell Manuscript," is dated to sometime around the latter 14th or early 15th century, and is reportedly the oldest document to mention Masonry. Freemasonry and Christianity have had a complex, often divisive, relationship. Some orthodox Christians have taken issue with Freemasonry's Deism and its frequently perceived ties to paganism and the occult. Freemasonry has its origins in the stonemason guilds of medieval Europe, these guilds, especially active during the 14th century, were responsible for constructing some of the finest architecture in Europe, such as the ornate Gothic cathedrals of Notre Dame in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London. Like many artisan craft guilds of that time, its members jealously guarded their secrets and were selective about who they chose as apprentices. Initiation for new members required a long period of training, during which they learned the craft and were often taught advanced mathematics and architecture. Their skills were in such high demand that experienced Freemasons were frequently sought out by monarchs or high-ranking church officials. The guilds provided members not only with wage protection and quality control over the work performed but also important social connections. Members gathered in lodges, which served as the headquarters and focal points where the Masons socialized, partook in meals and gathered to discuss the events and issues of the day. Many of these new members were "learned gentlemen" who were interested in the philosophical and intellectual trends that were transforming the European intellectual landscape at the time, such as rationalism, the scientific method and Newtonian physics. The men were equally interested in questions of morality — especially how to build moral character. THE SYMBOLS OF FREEMASONRY The world of Freemasonry is composed of esoteric signs and symbols that are baffling to most non-Masons. Perhaps the most common are the compass and square, which are the universally recognizable symbols of the organization. They typically emblazon the lintels above lodge entrances and can be found on the aprons worn by Masons during rituals. Although there is not a single, universally agreed upon meaning, most Masons would probably contend that these two objects in conjunction are meant to represent how a Mason should conduct himself, according to an online dictionary of Masonic symbols. The square signifies that a man should act "square" with his fellow man — that is, he should be honest and forthright in all his dealings. The compass is a reminder to engage in moderation, and not to get carried away by life's vices. In general, Masonic symbols — such as the beehive, the acacia tree and the all-seeing eye, to name a few — are meant to invoke ideals, remind members of correct modes of conduct and behavior, and impart important lessons. "The symbols of freemasonry largely have to do with ethics — how one should live their life.

In this Literati Short Scholar Joseph Campbell offers insights into the mystery of God across all cultures & philosophical beliefs there is a core of truth that lingers in our psyche that reveals to us our own inner calling to a higher power that can transform & illuminate our purpose for being on this planet at this time...

In September 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation continued the legend that Gene Roddenberry began 25 years prior. As creator and producer of the original Star Trek television series, he launched a phenomenon without precedent in show business and attained a celebrity status unique among his peers. Although Gene Roddenberry passed away October 24, 1991, his legacy remains as Star Trek: The Next Generation continues to flourish and grow in movie theaters, and three television series based upon Star Trek — Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and now Enterprise — maintain his vision of the future. While making Star Trek, Roddenberry's reputation as a futurist began to grow. His papers and lectures earned him high professional regard as a visionary. He spoke on the subject at NASA meetings, the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress gatherings, and top universities. As creator of the beloved Starship Enterprise and its crew, which included the heroic Captain Kirk and the logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock, Roddenberry unwittingly unleashed a phenomenon in which Star Trek enthusiasts became a veritable cult, numbering physicists, aerospace engineers, housewives, senators, children, teachers and intellectuals among its devotees (affectionately known as "Trekkies," and later, "Trekkers"). The show went outside television to win science fiction's coveted Hugo Award and then spawned an animated spin-off, as well as a series of feature films. Gene Roddenberry led a life as colorful and exciting as almost any high-adventure fiction. He was born in El Paso, Texas, on August 19, 1921, spent his boyhood in Los Angeles, studied three years of policemanship and then transferred his academic interest to aeronautical engineering and qualified for a pilot's license. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps in the fall of 1941 and was ordered into training as a flying cadet when the United States entered World War II. Emerging from Kelly Field, Texas, as a Second Lieutenant, Roddenberry was sent to the South Pacific where he entered combat at Guadalcanal, flying B-17 bombers out of the newly-captured Japanese airstrip, which became Henderson Field. He flew missions against enemy strongholds at Bougainville and participated in the Munda invasion. In all, he took part in approximately 89 missions and sorties. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. While in the South Pacific, he also began to write. He sold stories to flying magazines, and later poetry to publications, including The New York Times. Upon his return from combat, he became a trouble-shooter for the Air Force working out of Washington, D.C., investigating the causes of air crashes. At war's end, he joined Pan American World Airways. During this time, he also studied literature at Columbia University. It was on a flight from Calcutta that his plane lost two engines and caught fire in mid-air, crashing at night in the Syrian desert. As the senior surviving officer, Roddenberry sent two Englishmen swimming across the Euphrates River in quest of the source of a light he had observed just prior to the crash. Meanwhile, he parleyed with nomads who had come to loot the dead. The Englishmen reached a Syrian military outpost, which sent a small plane to investigate. Roddenberry returned with the small plane to the outpost, where he broadcast a message that was relayed to Pan Am, which sent a stretcher plane to the rescue. Roddenberry later received a Civil Aeronautics commendation for his efforts during and after the crash. Back in the States, Roddenberry continued flying until he saw television for the first time. Correctly estimating television's future, he realized that the new medium would need writers and decided that Hollywood's film studios would soon dominate the new industry. He acted immediately, left his flying career behind and went to Hollywood, only to find the television industry still in its infancy, with few openings for inexperienced writers. At a friend's suggestion, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department, following in his father's footsteps and gaining experiences which would be valuable to a writer. Star Trek followed (1966-1969). The first of the two pilots was pronounced "too cerebral" by the network and rejected. Once on the air, however, Star Trek developed a loyal following and has since become the first television series to have an episode preserved in the Smithsonian, where an 11-foot model of the U.S.S. Enterprise is also exhibited on the same floor as the Wright brother's original airplane and Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis." The legacy of Star Trek, as created by Gene Roddenberry, continues to grow as the newest series, Enterprise, joins Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Star Trek: The Next Generation has evolved into a feature film series, debuting in 1994 with "Star Trek Generations." Roddenberry is often affectionately referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy."

Inanna is the ancient Sumerian goddess of love, sensuality, fertility, procreation, and also of war. She later became identified by the Akkadians and Assyrians as the goddess Ishtar, and further with the Hittite Sauska, the Phoenician Astarte and the Greek Aphrodite, among many others. She was also seen as the bright star of the morning and evening, Venus, and identified with the Roman goddess. Inanna is one of the candidates cited as the subject of the Burney Relief (better known as The Queen of the Night), a terracotta relief dating from the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 BCE) although her sister Ereshkigal is the goddess most likely depicted. In some myths she is the daughter of Enki, the god of wisdom, fresh water, magic and a number of other elements and aspects of life, while in others she appears as the daughter of Nanna, god of the moon and wisdom, but is most often depicted as the granddaughter of Enlil and niece of Enki. As the daughter of Nanna, she was the twin sister of the sun god Utu/Shamash. Her power and provocation is almost always a defining characteristic in any of the tales told of her. Inanna in Myth Through the work of the Akkadian poet and high priestess Enheduanna, Inanna was notably identified with Ishtar and rose in prominence from a local vegetative deity of the Sumerian people to the Queen of Heaven and the most popular goddess in all of Mesopotamia. Inanna was the foremost Sumerian goddess, patron deity of Uruk. Her name was written with a sign that represents a reed stalk tied into a loop at the top. This appears in the very earliest written texts from the mid-fourth millenium B.C. She is also mentioned in all the early god lists among the four main deities, along with Anu, Enki, and Enlil. In the royal inscriptions of the early Dynastic Period, Inanna is often invoked as the special protectress of kings. Sargon of Akkad claimed her support in battle and politics. It appears that it was during the third millenium that the goddess acquired martial aspects that may derive from a syncretism with the Semitic deity Ishtar. Inanna's main sanctuary was the Eanna (`House of Heaven') at Uruk, although she had temples or chapels in most cities. The goddess appears in many ancient Mesopotamian myths, most notably Inanna and the Huluppu-Tree (an early creation myth), Inanna and the God of Wisdom (in which she brings knowledge and culture to the city of Uruk after receiving the gifts from the god of wisdom, Enki, while he is drunk), The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (the tale of Inanna's marriage to the vegetation-god), and the best known poem The Descent of Inanna in which the Queen of Heaven journeys to the underworld. Aspects of the Goddess She is often shown in the company of a lion, denoting courage, and sometimes even riding the lion as a sign of her supremacy over the 'king of beasts'. In her aspect as goddess of war, Inanna is depicted in the armor of a male, in battle dress (statues frequently show her armed with a quiver and bow) and so is also identified with the Greek goddess Athena Nike. She has been further associated with the goddess Demeter as a fertility deity, and with Persephone as a dying-and-reviving god figure, no doubt a carry-over from her original incarnation as a rural goddess of agriculture. Rather, Inanna is an independent woman who does as she pleases, quite often without regard for consequences, and either manipulates, threatens, or tries to seduce others to fix the difficulties her behaviour creates. There are no poems, tales, or legends which in any way portray her differently and none which depict her in the role of the Mother Goddess. The Enduring Goddess Inanna is among the oldest deities whose names are recorded in ancient Sumer. She is listed among the earliest seven divine powers: Anu, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna, Utu, and Inanna. These seven would form the basis for many of the characteristics of the gods who followed. In the case of Inanna, as noted above, she would inspire similar deities in many other cultures. A vastly different personality from that of the traditional Mother Goddess (as exemplified in Ninhursag), Inanna is a brash, independant young woman; impulsive and yet calculating, kind and at the same time careless with other's feelings or property or even their lives. Jeremy Black writes: The fact that in no tradition does Inanna have a permanent male spouse is closely linked to her role as the goddess of sexual love. Even Dumuzi, who is often described as her `lover', has a very ambiguous relationship with her and she is ultimately responsible for his death. The fact that the Sumerians could conceive of such a goddess speaks to their cultural value and understanding of femininity. In Sumerian culture women were regarded as equals and even a cursory survey of their pantheon shows a number of significant female deities such as Gula, Ninhursag, Nisaba, and Ninkasi, among many others.

Horror fiction author H.P. Lovecraft wrote short stories, novels and novellas, including 'The Call of Cthulhu' and 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.' Who Was H.P. Lovecraft? H.P. Lovecraft was born in 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island. The horror magazine Weird Tales bought some of his stories in 1923. His story "The Call of Cthulhu" came out in 1928 in Weird Tales. Elements of this story would reappear in other related tales. In his final years, he took editing and ghostwriting work to try to make ends meet. He died on March 15, 1937, in Providence, Rhode Island. Early Life Lovecraft was born Howard Phillips Lovecraft in 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island. Lovecraft had an unusual childhood marked by tragedy. His traveling salesman father developed a type of mental disorder caused by untreated syphilis when he was around the age of three. In 1893, his father became a patient at the Butler Hospital in Providence and there he remained until his death in 1898. A sickly child, Lovecraft spent many of his school years at home. He became an avid reader, devouring works on a variety of texts. Lovecraft loved the works of Edgar Allan Poe and developed a special interest in astronomy. As a teenager, he did attend Hope High School, but he suffered a nervous breakdown before he could earn his diploma. Lovecraft became a reclusive figure for several years, choosing to stay up late studying and reading and writing and then sleeping late into the day. During this time, he managed to publish some articles on astronomy in several newspapers. Writing Career Lovecraft started out as a would-be journalist, joining the United Amateur Press Association in 1914. The following year, he launched his self-published magazine The Conservative for which he wrote several essays and other pieces. While he had reportedly dabbled in fiction early on, Lovecraft became more serious about writing stories around 1917. Many of these early works were influenced by the writings of Lord Dunsany, an Irish author of fantasy tales, as well as Lovecraft's early favorite Edgar Allan Poe. The horror magazine Weird Tales bought some of Lovecraft's stories in 1923, giving him his first taste of literary success. The following year, he married Sonia Greene. The couple lived together in New York City for two years before splitting up. After his marriage failed, Lovecraft returned to Rhode Island and began work on some of his best stories. "The Call of Cthulhu" came out in 1928 in Weird Tales, and it perhaps best illustrated Lovecraft's efforts at creating an otherworldly type of terror. Lovecraft introduced readers to the first of many supernatural beings that would wreak havoc on humankind. Elements of this story would reappear in other related tales—collectively known by many as the "Cthulhu Mythos." These later stories reflected Lovecraft's own philosophical ideals. According to American Heritage magazine, Lovecraft once wrote, "all of my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and emotions have no validity or significance in the cosmos-at-large." Death and Legacy In his final years, Lovecraft was barely able to support himself. He took editing and ghostwriting work to try to make ends meet. Lovecraft died of cancer on March 15, 1937, in Providence, Rhode Island. He left behind more than 60 short stories and a few novel and novellas, including The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Lovecraft's passing was mourned by his devoted following of colleagues and aspiring writers with whom he corresponded and collaborated. Two of these friends, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, formed a publishing company called Arkham House to promote and preserve Lovecraft's work. Since his death, Lovecraft has earned greater acclaim than he enjoyed during his lifetime. He has been an inspiration to such writers as Peter Straub, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. His stories have also served as the inspiration for numerous films, including 2011's Hunters of the Dark and 2007's Cthulhu. As King explained to American Heritage magazine, "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."

In this Literati Short we explore The oldest line in human literature... found in Mesopotamia in the tradition of the goddess Inanna whose first words uttered were “who shall come and plow my vulva?“ How did we get from that beginning to the patriarchal world we are in now? Take a trip backwards in time philosophically with the hero of 1000 faces author Joseph Campbell as he discusses our origins in the Great goddess cultures of the planet.

American fantasy and horror author Ray Bradbury is best known for his novels 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'The Illustrated Man' and 'The Martian Chronicles.' Who Was Ray Bradbury? Ray Bradbury was an American fantasy and horror author who rejected being categorized as a science fiction author, claiming that his work was based on the fantastical and unreal. His best known novel is Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian study of future American society in which critical thought is outlawed. He is also remembered for several other popular works, including The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury won the Pulitzer in 2007, and is one of the most celebrated authors of the 21st century. Early Life Author Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois, to Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, a lineman for power and telephone utilities, and Ester Moberg Bradbury, a Swedish immigrant. Bradbury enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in Waukegan, which he later incorporated into several semi-autobiographical novels and short stories. As a child, he was a huge fan of magicians, and a voracious reader of adventure and fantasy fiction — especially L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Bradbury decided to become a writer at about age 12 or 13. He later said that he made the decision in hopes of emulating his heroes, and to "live forever" through his fiction. Books and Short Stories To support himself while he wrote, Bradbury sold newspapers. He published his first short story in a fan magazine in 1938, the same year he graduated from high school. The next year, he published four issues of his own fan magazine, Futuria Fantasia. Nearly every piece in the magazine was written by Bradbury himself; he used a variety of pseudonyms to try to hide the fact that the magazine was a virtual one-man show. "I was still years away from writing my first good short story," he later said, "but I could see my future. I knew where I wanted to go." Bradbury sold his first professional piece, the story "Pendulum," in November 1941, just a month before the United States entered World War II, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Ruled ineligible for military service by his local draft board because of his vision problems, Bradbury became a full-time writer by early 1943. His first collection of short stories, Dark Carnival, was published in 1947.. In 1950, Bradbury published his first major work, The Martian Chronicles, which detailed the conflict between humans colonizing the red planet and the native Martians they encountered there. While taken by many to be a work of science fiction, Bradbury himself considered it to be fantasy. "I don't write science fiction," he said. "Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see?" Television and comic book adaptations of Bradbury's short stories began to appear in 1951, introducing him to a wider audience. Bradbury's best-known work, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953, became an instant classic in the era of McCarthyism for its exploration of themes of censorship and conformity. In 2007 Bradbury himself disputed that censorship was the main theme of Fahrenheit 451, instead explaining the book as a story about how television drives away interest in reading: "Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was." Famously prolific, Bradbury wrote for several hours every day throughout his entire life, allowing him to publish more than 30 books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, screenplays and plays. Though Bradbury won many honors and awards throughout his life, his favorite was perhaps being named "ideas consultant" for the United States Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair. Adaptation of 'Fahrenheit 451' In 2018, HBO released a film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, starring Michael Shannon and Michael B. Jordan, the latter also serving as executive producer on the project. Death and Legacy Bradbury wrote well into his 80s, dictating for three hours at a time to one of his daughters, who would transcribe his words to the page. Though curtailing much of his traveling and public appearances, he granted several interviews in his latter years and helped raise funds for his local library. In 2007, Bradbury received a special citation from the Pulitzer board for his "distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy." Bradbury died in Los Angeles on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91. He was survived by daughters Susan, Ramona, Bettina and Alexandra, as well as several grandchildren. An inspiration to writers, teachers and science-fiction enthusiasts, among countless others, Bradbury's fascinating works will be remembered for decades to come.

Richard Evelyn Byrd (25 October 1888–11 March 1957), aviator and recipient of the Medal of Honor, was born in Winchester, the son of Richard Evelyn Byrd (1860–1925) and Eleanor Bolling Flood Byrd. His elder brother, Harry Flood Byrd (1887–1966), served as governor of Virginia and as United States senator, and his younger brother, Thomas Bolling Byrd, was an attorney and orchardist. Dick Byrd, as he was usually known, received his early education at Shenandoah Valley Academy. He manifested his love of travel and adventure at the age of twelve or thirteen when he traveled alone to visit a family friend in the Philippines. Byrd continued his education at the Virginia Military Institute (1904–1906), the University of Virginia (1907–1908), and the United States Naval Academy (1908–1912). He was a fine athlete but not an outstanding student. Naval Officer On 20 January 1915 the handsome, slender young naval officer married Marie Donaldson Ames, a wealthy Boston heiress he had met during her frequent childhood visits to Virginia. They lived in Boston and had one son and three daughters. Byrd retired from the navy in 1916 with the rank of ensign after he was declared physically unsuitable for promotion because of a fragile foot that he had broken several times. Although on the navy's permanently retired list, he returned to active duty for World War I and was promoted to lieutenant junior grade retroactive to his previous service. All of his subsequent promotions required acts of Congress. Byrd received flight training and won his wings on 17 April 1918. He never saw action, but he commanded air stations in Nova Scotia, helped the navy plan the first transatlantic flight, and developed a bubble sextant to aid in aerial navigation at sea. After the war Byrd played a key role in expanding the navy's aeronautical program, for which Congress promoted him to lieutenant commander. Aviator With further naval advancement unlikely, Byrd again left the service to become an independent aviation pioneer. He hoped to find wealthy patrons, make spectacular flights, and then earn fame and fortune by writing, lecturing, and selling the rights to his adventure stories. John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Edsel Ford were the major backers of his Arctic and early Antarctic ventures. Antarctic Expeditions In 1928 Byrd mounted the first Antarctic aviation expedition, with the objective of flying over the South Pole. With two ships, three airplanes, forty-two men, and eighty-four sled dogs, he established a coastal base he called Little America. Byrd flew to the South Pole on 28–29 November 1929 as part of a four-man crew. The expedition discovered Marie Byrd Land, comparable in size to Alaska and named for the commander's wife, and two mountain ranges. It also conducted important scientific research and proved the efficacy of long-distance radio communications. Congress promoted Byrd to rear admiral, and on 21 June 1930 the commonwealth of Virginia awarded him a partially gilded sterling silver presentation sword. In January 1934 Byrd returned to Little America with a larger expedition. The one-year project featured a larger scientific program and included eight motorized vehicles. While Byrd manned a solitary meteorological outpost 123 miles from Little America, he became so ill from carbon monoxide poisoning that a tractor party had to make an epic winter journey to rescue him. He never fully recovered from this ordeal. Byrd started to form a third private Antarctic expedition but merged his enterprise with the new United States Antarctic Service. He led the expedition through its year in the Antarctic, from January 1940 to January 1941. During World War II Byrd served in several staff roles, his principal mission being to survey potential air bases in the Pacific, for which he was awarded the Legion of Merit and a Gold Star. After the war he headed two more navy expeditions, Operation Highjump in 1946 and Operation Deep Freeze in 1955, which established a permanent Antarctic base. Byrd was in the Antarctic only briefly during the postwar expeditions. Disdained by the regular navy because of his political promotions, Byrd had little independent authority in the government's expeditions and was little more than a figurehead in their later operations. World Renown Byrd became one of the most famous explorers of his generation. He publicized his adventures with many articles and four books: Skyward (1928), Little America: Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic, The Flight to the South Pole (1930), Discovery: The Story of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1935), and Alone (1938). His lecture tours were, however, never as profitable as he had anticipated. In declining health after his postwar expeditions, Byrd received the Medal of Freedom a few weeks before his death. Richard Evelyn Byrd died of heart failure at his home in Boston on 11 March 1957 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.