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Could you use a love poem today? Who couldn’t? This one is by Jane Attanucci and is from The Writer’s Almanac. It’s called “Falling.”

I’ve fallen many times:
the usual stumbles
over secret schoolgirl crushes,
head-over-heels for teen heartthrobs.
I loved them all.

I’ve fallen so many times:
tripped down the aisle
over husband, daughter, son.
Madly and deeply,
I love them all.

I’ve fallen again and again:
new friends, a mentor, a muse,
numerous books, a few authors,
four dear pups and a stranger, or two.
I loved them all.

I’ve fallen farther,
fallen faster,
now captivated, I tumble—
enthralled with my grandchildren.
I love them each, ever and all.

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Owl Chatter dedicates that poem to Zayde Hank Shrager, alav hashalom, who had a couple, and then some more, and then a few more. He’s the one who told me, before I had any, that grandchildren are one thing that isn’t overrated. He got that right. Miss you Buddy.

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Alex Haley was born on this date in 1921 in Ithaca, NY. He lived to the age of 70. He dropped out of college and joined the Coast Guard, eventually becoming their Chief Journalist. After that, he conducted interviews for Playboy. In that capacity, he interviewed Ali, MLK, Jr., Miles Davis, and others. His interview of Malcolm X turned into the book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

In the 60’s, Haley began researching his genealogy and traced his family back to Gambia, where he interviewed tribal historians. But he felt removed from the experience of the people who were captured and sold into slavery. “I asked myself, what right had I to be sitting in a carpeted high-rise apartment writing about what it was like in the hold of a slave ship?” he said. So he booked passage on a Liberian ship bound for America, and slept on a board in the hold wearing nothing but his underwear.

Ten years of travel and research resulted in Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which covered seven generations of his family starting with a slave in the 18th century. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and the TV adaptation became the most-watched show in history, at that time.

On the darker side, Haley paid out $650,000 to settle a plagiarism charge by Harold Courlander (3 million in today’s dollars), admitting material from Courlander’s book was used in Roots. And some of Haley’s research was found to be fudged. Haley and his work have been excluded from the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, despite his status as the best-selling Black author in the U.S. 

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Which reminds me — get this — you know Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn? Sure you do. Well, it turns out the theme is not by Haydn! We’ve been duped!! So was Brahms!

Brahms composed the work on a theme entitled “Chorale St. Antoni,” which he found in a wind ensemble composition attributed to Haydn. Naturally, Brahms credited it to Haydn. However, music publishers in the early nineteenth century often attached the names of famous composers to works by unknown or lesser-known composers, to make the pieces more saleable. Subsequent research concluded that the wind piece does not fit Haydn’s style and it remains without clear attribution. Brahms’ piece is sometimes referred to as the Saint Anthony Variations today.

In any event, here’s a bunch of hacks from Germany fumbling their way through the damn thing. Towards the end, several of the female cellists tear their blouses off — otherwise, it’s a complete waste of time.

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Not much to chatter about in the puzzle today. The clue for 50A was “Name of three czars of Bulgaria,” and the answer was BORIS. Who? Czar Boris? That doesn’t ring any bells. And there were three of them. Rex said he had the first two letters: BO, so he starting thinking of 5-letter names that started with BO and quickly dismissed BOBBY. I don’t know — Czar Bobby sounds cool.

The (tough) clue at 69A was “Fodder for a literature test,” and the answer was PASSAGES. I might have clued it: “Nasal _________.” At 36A, “Sole employer,” was COBBLER. (Get it? — think sole of a shoe.) And “Continental, e.g.,” was the clue for LINCOLN. When I was eleven (1961), they looked like this. Hop in, Babe.

See you tomorrow — speeding off now.