Well readers, this has been another fascinating week. The economic crisis we are facing is coming to a head. One proposal has been shot down, and another one is being decided today. Regardless of what happens, we are in the throes of history folks! To keep you from biting your fingernails, This Week in History has a dating service, famous photographers and O.J. Simpson to keep you occupied. Lets not waste another minute!

September  29, 1650: Henry Robinson opens his office of Addresses and Encounters- the first documented dating service in Threadneedle Street, London

Everybody knows the secret to a great date is to be yourself, and to have a fantastic bottle of wine. Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French wine county by Robert V. Camuto. Just be sure to limit yourself to one glass, otherwise there might not be a second date!

September 30, 1962: Mexican American labor leader Cesar Chavez founds the United Farm Workers.

Cesar Chavez  is a famous activist, a hero to the Mexican people, and a leader to the rest of the world.
Have no fear though; we have a few of these kinds of people in our generation as well. Samira Bellil, born in Alergia, was raped at fourteen and rather then silent like so many women in her community, she spoke out against her attackers and got justice through the French legal system. You can check out her story in To Hell and Back: The Life of Samira Bellil by Samira Bellil.

October 1, 1939: After a one-month siege of Warsaw, hostile forces entered the city.

War is not the only thing to mark Warsaw. If you spoke to Gary Gildner, a former teacher at the University of Warsaw, and coach of the baseball team, the Warsaw Sparks then you might see a very different city. Check out The Warsaw Sparks: A Memoir by Gary Gildner  for the whole story.

October 2, 1949: Annie Liebovitz, American photographer is born.

    Often through art, especially photography, we are allowed to see the world through new lenses. This is the beauty of it. Now while Ms. Liebovitz focuses her skills on photographing famous people, the photographers in The Wide Open: Prose, Poetry, and Photographs’ of the prairie edited by Annick Smith and Susan O’Connor, are focusing on the beauty of America’s prairies. Don’t miss it!

October 3, 1995: O.J. Simpson found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.

    Prison writing by inmates, guards, teachers, and chaplains has long since been a tradition analyzed 
by critics and scholars. Now while O.J. Simpson wrote his book “If I Did It." outside the big house, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been a bestseller if he had written inside. Either way, check out Jail Sentences: Representing Prison in Twentieth Century French Fiction by Andrew Sobanet for more on this remarkable genre.

Thanks for joining us readers! Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you Tuesday with another installment of Tuesday Trivia.