10/7/26 - Banned Books, Ice Cream, and Poe
Wednesday 10/7/26
Celebrate:
Balloons Around the World Day
Bathtub Day
International Walk to School Day
National Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day
National Flower Day
National Forgiveness & Happiness Day
National Frappe Day
National Inner Beauty Day
National Kale Day
National LED Light Day
National Propane Day
National Pumpkin Seed Day
Random Acts of Poetry Day
You Matter to Me Day
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Freddie Jackson, the silky smooth R&B singer who had big hits in 1985 with “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)” and “You Are My Lady,” has died. He was 69.
Jackson’s debut album, Rock Me Tonight, was released by Capitol Records in 1985, and the title track spent six weeks atop the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at No. 18 on the Hot 100. The second single from the LP, “You Are My Lady,” also made it to No. 1 on the R&B list while advancing to No. 12 on the Hot 100.
The album got Jackson two Grammy nominations, for best new artist and best R&B vocal performance.
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Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, who starred in such memorable classic films as “On the Waterfront” and “North by Northwest,” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She
was 102.
Stephen King was the most-banned author for the second consecutive year. His newest novel, “Other Worlds Than These,” comes out today.
Public schools across the US implemented nearly 12,000 book bans over the past year, a new study revealed. The bans encompassed 7,370 individual works, marking the highest total since nonprofit organization PEN America began tracking bans in 2021.
Books addressing race, sexuality, and gender identity remain among the most commonly removed materials, according to PEN’s analysis.
Texas and Florida’s combined tally accounted for around 95% of all recorded bans nationwide.
The most banned books during last year's school year were:
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
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Who doesn't like Ice Cream??
We consume roughly 19 pounds, or about four gallons, per person each year. As of April 2026, the U.S. ice cream industry generates around $7.5 billion in annual sales.
If you break it down by state favorites, Vanilla is the winner in 19.
New York's is Peanut Butter, and Pennsylvania's is Mint Chocolate Chip.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The legendary master of macabre poetry and detective fiction tragically passed away in Baltimore under mysterious circumstances in 1849, leaving behind a haunting literary legacy.
Did you know
Every year on January 19—Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday—a shadowy figure dressed in black, often wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a white scarf, would slip into Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early hours of the morning. The Offerings: He would walk up to Poe's grave, pour himself a glass of cognac (specifically Martell), drink a toast to the author, and leave behind a half-full bottle of the liquor along with three red roses arranged in a distinct pattern.
It began in 1949.
In later years, the Toaster occasionally left cryptic handwritten notes. One note left in 1998 suggested that the original Toaster had passed the tradition down to his sons ("the torch has been passed").
The original visitor stopped showing up in 2009 (Poe's bicentennial). After he failed to appear for several consecutive years, the caretaker and local historical societies officially declared the original tradition at an end, though public tributes have occasionally been staged since. To this day, the true identity of the Poe Toaster has never been officially revealed.
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