November 13, 2020
Day 318 of 366

November 13th is the 318th day of the year. It is Sadie Hawkins Day in the United States, a folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp’s classic hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner. The comic strip inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, which are based on the premise that women ask men for a date or dancing.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Indian Pudding Day and World Kindness Day.

Historical items of note:

• In 1841, James Braid first witnessed a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually called hypnotism.
• In 1850, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Lewis Stevenson was born.
• In 1851, the Denny Party landed at Alki Point before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle.
• In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
• In 1940, Walt Disney’s animated musical film Fantasia was first released on the first night of a roadshow at New York’s Broadway Theatre.
• In 1948, actor John de Lancie was born.
• In 1953, actress Tracy Scoggins was born.
• In 1955, actress, comedian, and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg was born.
• In 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott.
• In 1969, Scottish actor Gerard Butler was born.
• In 1971, actor Noah Hathaway was born.
• In 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murdered his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror.
• In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.
• In 1995, the seventeenth James Bond film, Goldeneye, was released.
• In 2013, Hawaii legalized same sex marriage.

November 13th is World Kindness Day.

World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs. It is observed in many countries, including Canada, Australia, Nigeria and United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Notably, Singapore, Italy, and India also observe the day.

The purpose of World Kindness Day is to highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness which binds us. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition which bridges the divides of race, religion, politics, gender and zip codes.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.