How Wassily Kandinsky's synaethesia changed art

The artist, celebrated in today's Google doodle, created the world's first truly abstract paintings

Wassily Kandinsky's 148 birthday is celebrated in today's Google doodle.

Russian-born artist Wassily Kandinsky is widely credited with making the world's first truly abstract paintings, but his artistic ambition went even further. He wanted to evoke sound through sight and create the painterly equivalent of a symphony that would stimulate not just the eyes but the ears as well. He removed all recognisable subjects and objects from his art around 1911, but he also achieved a new pictorial form of music.

Kandinsky is believed to have had synaesthesia, a harmless condition that allows a person to appreciate sounds, colours or words with two or more senses simultaneously. In his case, colours and painted marks triggered particular sounds or musical notes and vice versa. The involuntary ability to hear colour, see music or even taste words results from an accidental cross-wiring in the brain that is found in one in 2,000 people, and in many more women than men.

Synaesthesia is a blend of the Greek words for together (syn) and sensation (aesthesis). The earliest recorded case comes from the Oxford academic and philosopher John Locke in 1690, who was bemused by "a studious blind man" claiming to experience the colour scarlet when he heard the sound of a trumpet.

The idea that music is linked to visual art goes back to ancient Greece, when Plato first talked of tone and harmony in relation to art. The spectrum of colours, like the language of musical notation, has long been arranged in stepped scales, so it is still unclear whether or not Beethoven, who called B minor the black key and D major the orange key, or Schubert, who saw E minor as "a maiden robed in white with a rose-red bow on her chest", were real synaesthetes.

There is still debate whether Kandinsky was himself a natural synaesthete, or merely experimenting with this confusion of senses in combination with the colour theories of Goethe, Schopenhauer and Rudolf Steiner, in order to further his vision for a new abstract art.

Sceptics have dismissed synaesthesia as nothing more than subjective invention, like a bad case of metaphor affliction - after all, anyone can feel blue, see red, eat a sharp cheese or wear a loud tie. Recently, however, a group of neuroscientists has been able to prove that synaesthetes do indeed "see" sound. A series of brain scans showed that, despite being blindfolded, synaesthetes showed "visual activity" in the brain when listening to sounds. Now all that is left is to find the gene that may be responsible.

Despite the lack of medical proof for Kandinsky's synaesthesia, the correlation between sound and colour was a lifelong preoccupation for the artist. He recalled hearing a strange hissing noise when mixing colours in his paintbox as a child, and later became an accomplished cello player, which he said represented one of the deepest blues of all instruments. Sean Rainbird, curator of Tate's forthcoming Kandinsky exhibition, says, "My feeling is that he was quite a natural at it. To have painted the largest work he ever made, Composition VII, in just three days, shows that this language was quite internalised."

Kandinsky discovered his synaesthesia at a performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin in Moscow: "I saw all my colours in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me." In 1911, after studying and settling in Germany, he was similarly moved by a Schoenberg concert and finished painting Impression III (Konzert) two days later. The abstract artist and the atonal composer became friends, and Kandinsky even exhibited Schoenberg's paintings in the first Blue Rider exhibition in Munich in the same year.

If Kandinsky had a favourite colour, it must have been blue: "The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural… The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white." Despite his theories that the universe was in thrall to supernatural vibrations, auras and "thought-forms", many of which came from arcane, quasi-religious movements such as theosophy, Kandinsky's belief in the emotional potential of art is still convincing today. Our response to his work should mirror our appreciation of music and should come from within, not from its likenesses to the visible world: "Colour is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many strings."

Kandinsky achieved pure abstraction by replacing the castles and hilltop towers of his early landscapes with stabs of paint or, as he saw them, musical notes and chords that would visually "sing" together. In this way, his swirling compositions were painted with polyphonic swathes of warm, high-pitched yellow that he might balance with a patch of cold, sonorous blue or a silent, black void. Rainbird describes how the artist used musical vocabulary "to break down the external walls of his own art".

After 1910, he split his work into three categories: Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions, often adding musical titles to individual pictures such as Fugue, Opposing Chords or Funeral March. He also conceived three synaesthetic plays combining the arts of painting, music, theatre and dance into Wagnerian total works of art or Gesamtkunstwerks, which were designed to unify all the senses.

Kandinsky undoubtedly led the European revival in synaesthesia but there are many other examples of sonic influence in modern art, from Munch's The Scream and Whistler's Nocturnes and Harmonies to Ezra Pound's cantos and T S Eliot's quartets. Yet Kandinsky's curious gift of colour-hearing, which he successfully translated onto canvas as "visual music", to use the term coined by the art critic Roger Fry in 1912, gave the world another way of appreciating art that would be inherited by many more poets, abstract artists and psychedelic rockers throughout the rest of the disharmonic 20th century. Here then are Kandinsky's guidelines so that you can visit Tate Modern and experience synaesthesia for yourself: "Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and… stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to 'walk about' into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?"

Students develop nail polish to detect date-rape drugs

When’s the last time you got a manicure that could also prevent date rape?  

The likely answer is never.But four college students claim they’ve come up with a way to do just that.

Undergraduate students at North Carolina State University – Ankesh Madan, Stephen Grey, Tasso Von Windheim and Tyler Confrey-Maloney – created a nail polish called “Undercover Colors” that changes color in the presence of common date rape drugs like Rohypnol, Xanax, and GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid).

To see if one of the drugs has been slipped into her drink, a woman has to stir it with her finger. Not exactly discreet (or good manners, or very hygienic), but arguably more stylish than similar inventions, like these coasters, cups and straws, that do the same thing.

“We wanted to focus on preventive solutions, especially those that could be integrated into products that women already use,” Madan told Higher Education Works in June. “All of us have been close to someone who has been through the terrible experience [of date rape], and we began to focus on finding a way to help prevent the crime.”

Critics says the clever concept and good intentions don’t add up to a product that actually empowers women.

The blog Feministing pointed out that date rape drugs “are not used to facilitate sexual assault all that often. While exact estimates vary, it’s safe to say that plain old alcohol is the substance most commonly used in drug-facilitated rape.”

“Well-intentioned products like anti-rape nail polish can actually end up fueling victim blaming,” wrote Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress. “Any college students who don’t use the special polish could open themselves up to criticism for failing to do everything in their power to prevent rape.”

The nail polish is yet another item to add to a growing list of gimmicky-seeming precautions that includes anti-rape underwear and pepper spray cameras which do little more than “delude” women into believing they’re safe from sexual violence, Feministing observed.

Another problem with the polish is that it distracts from real solutions to the problem. “I think a lot of the time we get focused on these new products because they’re innovative and they’re interesting, and it’s really cool that they figured out how to create nail polish that does this. But at the end of the day, are you having those tough conversations with students, and particularly men, who are at risk for committing sexual assault?” Tracey Vitchers, the board chair for Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER),told ThinkProgress. “Are you talking to young men about the importance of respecting other people’s boundaries and understanding what it means to obtain consent?”

Writing for Salon, Jenny Kutner questioned whether profits should be reaped from rape prevention. “Is this really a market we should continue to applaud entrepreneurs’ (notably male ones) tapping into? Or might these resources be better allocated trying to teach people not to rape?”

Still, others are enthusiastic about the idea. Earlier this year the four materials science and engineering majors won first place and took home $11,250 at NC State’s Lulu eGames, a student competition that which challenges students to design working solutions to real-world problems.  They also scored $100,000 from an investor who saw their product demo at the K50 Startup Showcase.

Hurricane Arthur loses strength

Hurricane Arthur has weakened in strength after hitting North Carolina's barrier islands overnight, causing thousands of homes to lose power.

The US National Hurricane Center said the maximum sustained winds dropped to 90mph (145km/h) as it pulled away from North Carolina and moved offshore.

It was downgraded to a Category One storm on Friday morning.

Thousands of people were forced to abandon their 4 July plans and there are now flooding fears.

Towns all along the state's coast have rescheduled Independence Day events and fireworks, and some cities further north up the East Coast held their festivities a day early.

The storm is expected to arrive in Nova Scotia, Canada, on Saturday after first passing east of New England.

At its peak, winds of 100 mph caused power cuts in 20,000 homes as Arthur came ashore at 23:15 local time (03:15 Friday GMT) over the southern end of the Outer Banks, which are a 200-mile string of narrow barrier islands.

At the time, Robin Nelson, who lives with her husband and two sons in Newport, was speaking on the phone to CNN and she described how her house - in the path of the eye of the storm - clattered in the winds.

"It's howling pretty good here," she said. "You can hear it coming across the sound."

Most of the power cuts were in Carteret County, but power was restored to 4,000 households by daybreak. There were fierce winds and horizontal rain.

The National Hurricane Center said the first hurricane of the Atlantic season had caused powerful tidal surges and dumped 15cm (6ins) of rain.

There have been no reports of major structural damage so far.

The islands are susceptible to high winds, rough seas and road-clogging sands, prompting an exodus that began on Wednesday night.

Thousands left the area, and ferries and highways were packed.

BET Awards 2014: Nicki Minaj may have dissed Iggy Azalea in acceptance speech

Nicki Minaj may have thrown some serious shade at fellow female hip hop star Iggy Azalea during the BET Awards Sunday.

The "Starships" singer, 31, took the stage at the Nokia Theater to accept her fifth consecutive win for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, beating out the Australian newcomer whom many considered the favored pick.

In a rambling speech — and not mentioning Azalea, 24, by name — Minaj talked proudly about her ability to write her own music.

"This is always very, very emotional for me," Minaj said. "Because this is my fifth year winning this award and I don't take it for granted. I really don't … I thank god that I've been placed in a position to do something and represent women in a culture that is so male-driven … But my point is, what I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is, that when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it."

The Queens-born rapper took the moment to strike a diva pose before continuing — and clarified that her comment was not to be taken as shade towards anyone, but many took it as a dig at Azalea — who is rumored to have several ghostwriters on her music.

"No, no, no shade," Minaj continued. "I used to sit in the studio with (Lil Wayne) and I would literally take sometimes three, four days to write a verse. And he was like, 'No, you can't be taking days to write no verse, you gotta write your verse right here in the studio.' And that's why I love him 'til this day. Because he pushed me to push my pen, and I'm still one of the only emcees that's out here spitting metaphors and making you think. And I really don't even care if I get my credit or if I don't. I don't look at myself as a female rapper, because I know what I do."

The rapper went on to herald BET as a "big" and "different" institution for black people, but then her rant took a serious turn.

"I just wanna say that, the other day, literally I didn't tell anyone this, I really thought I was about to die," Minaj said.

"Like I was saying my prayers to die. And I didn't even wanna call the ambulance because I thought well if I call the ambulance, it's gonna be on TMZ. And I would rather sit there and die. And it made me realize, I don't care what anybody gotta say. I'ma do me. I'ma do me."

Before she left the stage, the "Beez in the Trap" rapper took what bloggers and social media users consider another shot at Azalea.

"I hope and pray that BET continues to honor authenticity," she concluded. "And that's all I'm gonna say about that."

Azalea, who performed her hit song "Fancy" on stage with rapper T.I., has not responded to the apparent jab.

World Cup 2014: a colourful carnival of football that could be the best ever

Sometimes, it is the little moments from these tournaments that linger in the memory. The night this week, for example, when a group of 20 or so Mexicans made their way along Copacabana, past all the battered old camper vans parked on Avenida Atlântica, calling in at every open-air bar along the strip to gesture they wanted total silence. It took some doing but eventually they managed it. They were bare-chested, clutching beer cans, rocking the Red Hot Chili Peppers look, and once they had everyone’s full attention they shattered their own silence. It was the loudest, most impassioned rendition of the Himno Nacional Mexicanotheir audience may ever hear.

That stretch of sand has become a kaleidoscope of different coloured flags and football kits over the past few weeks. A lot of the vans, with Chilean ribbons fluttering from the aerials and windows, have navigated their way across the Andes. Others have come from Argentina, decked out in the colours of the Albicelestes and hired out as self-catering hotels. Kids from the favelas offer bags of nuts and home-made caipirinha. Street-sellers hawk Neymar tops. It’s always Neymar. There are even dogs in Rio de Janeiro wearing Neymar jackets.

Goalposts rise from the sand and it does not take long, watching those games of four-against-four, one-touch headers and volleys, back and forth over the nets, to understand what happened to David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers when Manchester United came here in 2000. Some of the locals challenged them to a game. “Me, Gaz, Becks and Scholesy,” Phil Neville recalls. Four England internationals who finished their careers with a combined 325 caps. “We got beat 21-6.”

Brazil, with its “pais do futebol” banners, has certainly lived up to expectations even if, every so often, there are still reminders of the other side to this tournament. At the Maracanã the other day, they could be seen scrubbing off the latest wave of anti-Fifa graffiti from the side of the stadium.

Then there are the vast numbers of riot police who suddenly appear in the side streets when Brazil are playing. The security outside the Copacabana Palace hotel, where various Fifa officials have been staying, tells its own story. Brazil play Chile in Belo Horizonte on Saturday in the first of the knockout matches and nobody here can be sure what will happen if Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team are eliminated from their own competition.

For now, though, there is a happy feel to the World Cup and it is shaping up to be the tournament the sport wanted. There was always going to be wonderful colour and energy at the home of jogo bonito but a great tournament needs great football before anything else and this one will be a classic if the vibrancy of the group stages extends to the next fortnight.

When Jan Vertonghen put the ball past the South Korean goalkeeper, Kim Seung-gyu, in the Arena Corinthians on Thursday, it took the number of goals to 136. In South Africa four years ago, it was 101 at this stage. In 2006, it was 117. There were 130 in 2002 and 126 in 1998, when the current format began and the final number, 171, was the highest goal-count in the history of the competition. At the current rate, this tournament is well on course to establish a new record.

It has been the tournament when Thomas Müller, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben have confirmed their reputations, James Rodríguez has fully announced himself on the highest stage and Lionel Messi has set about trying to end the argument once and for all about whether he warrants his place alongside Maradona and Pelé as football’s elite.

Everybody knew Messi had the gifts to make Argentina formidable opponents. What we have seen so far is hard evidence that he intends to sprinkle his authentic greatness on the tournament. He still might not emulate the mind-bending brilliance of Maradona in 1986 – who could? – but he is face to face with the best chance he will ever get and so far he has played like someone who understands this is his time.

Six of the eight South American teams have made it through to the knockout stages, in keeping with the lesson of history when the World Cup is held on this continent. By winning their groups, Argentina and Brazil have also conjured up the possibility of the dream final on 13 July.

Argentina face Switzerland in São Paulo on Tuesday, with Belgium or USA to follow in the quarter-finals, and Alejandro Sabella’s team will take some stopping. Brazil have also played with distinction, though perhaps too reliant on one man bearing in mind that gem of a line from Tostão this week. Brazil, he said, had two strategies. “First, give the ball to Neymar. Second, give the ball to Neymar.”

Fortunately for Brazil, Neymar has played as though oblivious to the pressures, to the extent that it has begun to feel like his fitful first season for Barcelona must have been a trick of our imaginations. All the same, Brazil will have their work cut out to reach the quarter-finals bearing in mind the part Chile have already played in Spain’s downfall and that defining headline – “The End” – in Marca last week.

Only six of the 13 European teams who began the competition are still here, which is probably the spread that might have been anticipated even if few would have imagined Greece and Switzerland making it through rather than Spain and Italy.

Of the five African sides, meanwhile, Nigeria and Algeria have reached the next round, but three wins from a combined 15 games is a revealing statistic. There was something wonderfully entertaining about that passage of play after Ghana had taken the lead against Germany in Fortaleza last weekend and started showboating to the soundtrack of the crowd’s olés.

Equally, their tournament ended in enough chaos to reinforce the theory that African football has found it harder closing the gap than they might have hoped, or expected, when Roger Milla was wiggling his hips by Italian corner flags back in 1990. In fairness, they could probably say the same of the England team.

Looking ahead, there is the potential for a France-Germany quarter-final in Rio on Friday if they can overcome the two remaining African nations. Holland will have to hope they did not peak too soon with their dismantling of Spain, but look a good bet to reach the last four. Louis van Gaal’s team take on Mexico in Fortaleza on Sundaytomorrow and the winners will face Costa Rica or Greece in the final eight.

Holland’s performances so far certainly epitomise the spirit of the competition, in stark contrast to what happened in 2010, when they lost the plot and the final. Again, the refereeing has been erratic, but not as ghastly, perhaps, as might have been suspected after the way the Japanese official, Yuichi Nishimura, scarred the opening game between Brazil and Croatia.

That just leaves Luis Suárez and his apparent determination to leave this World Cup with a streak of notoriety, following on from Harald Schumacher in 1982, Frank Rijkaard in 1990 and Zinedine Zidane in 2006, and meaning a decent windfall for the 100 or so people who were tempted by 175-1 odds and placed bets on the Uruguayan biting someone.

The front page of O Globo on Friday was taken up with a long-range shot of Suárez, on his hotel balcony, tearfully embracing a member of Uruguay’s backroom staff and the headline Partiu! (Gone!). In several newspapers worldwide, including the Guardian, the main picture showed tourists on Copacabana queuing up by a billboard of Suárez, teeth bared, to mock up photos of him biting various parts of their bodies.

The people of Uruguay will not be trying to lever off the halo they have fastened to Suárez’s head and their complaints will go up in volume again if they cannot get past Colombia at the Maracanã on Saturday to face the winners of the Brazil-Chile tie. Yet there is already the sense that the rest of the tournament is ready to move on. Too much has been happening elsewhere.

The World Cup has been having too much fun to be fixated on someone as light in the head as he is on his feet.

Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn dies

Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame outfielder who spent his entire Major League Baseball career with the San Diego Padres, has died after a multiyear battle with salivary gland cancer. He was 54.

"Major League Baseball today mourns the tragic loss of Tony Gwynn, the greatest Padre ever and one of the most accomplished hitters that our game has ever known, whose all-around excellence on the field was surpassed by his exuberant personality and genial disposition in life," MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

Gwynn -- known for slapping singles between third base and shortstop in his 20-year career with the Padres -- had 3,141 hits and a .338 batting average. He also was a 15-time All-Star. In 2007, Gwynn was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with Cal Ripken.

"He was beloved by so many, especially the Hall of Fame family, for his kindness, graciousness and passion for the game," Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement. "Tony was one of baseball history's most consistent hitters and most affable personalities. He was an icon for San Diego Padres fans, never more evident than on Induction Day of 2007, when tens of thousands of Tony's most appreciative fans filled Cooperstown for his Hall of Fame speech. We extend our deepest sympathies to Alicia and the entire Gwynn family."

"I am deeply saddened to learn that Tony Gwynn has lost his courageous battle against cancer," Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said in a statement. "Since his diagnosis, Tony displayed the same tenacity and drive in his fight against this horrible disease that he brought to the plate in every at bat of his Hall of Fame career."

Gwynn was known as "Mr. Padre" during and after his career in the majors. The team retired his No. 19 jersey in September 2004 at Petco Park. In the spring of 2005, the street on which the stadium is located was named Tony Gwynn Drive in his honor. There's also a statue of Gwynn at Petco Park, which was unveiled in 2007.

After Gwynn retired from the Padres in 2001, he became the head baseball coach for San Diego State University, his alma mater.

He was diagnosed with cancer almost a decade later. In March, Gwynn took a medical leave of absence while undergoing cancer treatment, but he had recently signed a one-year extension with the Aztecs.

San Diego State tweeted Monday, "Our hearts are heavy today. RIP Tony Gwynn. Thoughts to the entire Gwynn family and SDSU Baseball family."

As a collegiate baseball player, Gwynn was an All-American at San Diego State. He also played basketball while growing up in Long Beach and arrived at San Diego State as a highly recruited point guard in 1977.

He played basketball for the Aztecs for four seasons and baseball for three seasons, garnering all-Western Athletic Conference honors in both sports. According to San Diego State's athletics website, Gwynn remains the only athlete in WAC history to be honored as an all-conference performer in two sports.

Baseball still runs in the Gwynn family. Gwynn's son, Tony Gwynn Jr., followed in his father's footsteps and currently is an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies.

"Today I lost my Dad, my best friend and my mentor," Gwynn Jr.tweeted on Monday. "I'm gonna miss u so much pops. I'm gonna do everything in my power to continue to... Make u proud!"

Maya Angelou, celebrated US poet and author, dies aged 86

Maya Angelou, the American poet and author, died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday. She was 86.

Her son, Guy B Johnson, confirmed the news in a statement. He said: "Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension.

"She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love."

Johnson said Angelou "passed quietly in her home" sometime before 8am on Wednesday.

Bill Clinton, at whose inauguration Angelou read her On the Pulse of the Morning, said in a statement: "America has lost a national treasure, and Hillary and I a beloved friend."

Angelou’s failing health was reported as recently as Tuesday, when she canceled an appearance honoring her with a Beacon of Life Award because of “health reasons”. The ceremony was part of the 2014 MLB Beacon Award Luncheon, in Houston, Texas, part of Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Games.

Last month, forced to cancel an appearance at a library in Arkansas, she wrote: "An unexpected ailment put me into the hospital. I will be getting better and the time will come when I can receive another invitation from my state and you will recognize me for I shall be the tall Black lady smiling. I ask you to please keep me in your thoughts, in your conversation and in your prayers."

Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, in St Louis, Missouri, in 1928. She described in an NPR interview how her brother's lisp turned Marguerite into Maya.

She survived several personal trials: she was a child of the depression, grew up in the segregated south, survived a childhood rape, gave birth as a teenager, and was, at one time, a prostitute.

She wrote wrote seven autobiographies, including the 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and was a playwright, director, actor, singer, songwriter and novelist.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was an indictment of the racial discrimination she experienced during her childhood. "If growing up is painful for the southern black girl," she wrote, "being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult."

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has had a wide appeal, particularly to younger female readers and continues to appear on school and university reading lists in the US and the UK. 

In 1993, she read On the Pulse of the Morning at President Clinton's first inauguration, a performance that made the poem a bestseller. The poem celebrates the diversity of ethnic groups in the US, and calls on the nation to leave behind cynicism and look forward to a new pride in itself, and a new dawn for the country.

Clinton on Wednesday said he would "always be grateful for her electrifying reading ... and even more for all the years of friendship that followed."

Angelou was a long-time Clinton supporter. One month before his inauguration, she told the New York Times: “Since the election, I have found it easier to wake up in the morning,” and “there seems to be a promise in the air.”

And her loyalty to Hillary Clinton has been steadfast, even as Barack Obama campaigned to be America's first black president.

“I made up my mind 15 years ago that if she ever ran for office I’d be on her wagon. My only difficulty with Senator Obama is that I believe in going out with who I went in with,” she told the Guardian.

Actors, writers, directors, activists and politicians shared thankful and mournful notes in response to Angelou’s death.

JK Rowling called her "utterly amazing"; Lena Dunham thanked Angeloufor "your power, your politics, your poetry. We need you more than ever."

Angelou had lived in North Carolina since the early 1980s, when she became a professor at Wake Forest University, a private liberal arts college. A statement from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem called Angelou "a national treasure whose life and teachings inspired millions around the world".

The mayor of Winston-Salem, Allen Joines, said the town would probably remember Angelou best for her commitment to health and theatre.

She supported the founder of the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, and eventually became its first chairperson in 1989. In 2012, the Maya Angelou Women’s Health and Wellness Center opened in the city. A street in Winston-Salem is named after Angelou.

Despite her many accomplishments, the mayor said small moments seemed to touch the poet.

In April 2008, the town threw Angelou an 80th birthday party. Despite entertainers and speakers present at the party, the mayor said, “The thing that seemed to touch her the most was a group of little kids.”

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Memorial Day

Memorial Day is not all sunshine and hot dogs — it's a day for remembrance. Here, TIME presents some little-known facts about the start-of-summer holiday

As we noted two years ago, Memorial Day isn’t just an excuse to take a long weekend and loaf around eating grilled meats — although those are certainly among the reasons to love the holiday. So before you head out to your barbecues and pool parties, here are some facts about everybody’s favorite summer kick-off holiday.

1. It was originally called Decoration Day

To honor the deceased, soldiers would decorate graves of their fallen comrades with flowers, flags and wreaths. Hence Decoration Day. Although Memorial Day became its official title in the 1880s, the holiday wouldn’t legally become Memorial Day until 1967.

2. It wasn’t always celebrated the last Monday of May

After the Civil War, General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, called for a holiday commemorating fallen soldiers to be observed every May 30. But due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971, Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May to ensure long weekends. Some groups, like the veterans’ organization American Legion, have been working to restore the original date to set the day apart and pay proper tribute to the servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives defending the nation.

3. It’s legally required to observe a National Moment of Remembrance

In December 2000, Congress passed a law requiring Americans to pause at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day to remember and honor the fallen. But this doesn’t appear to be common knowledge, or if it is, by 3 p.m. most people seem to be too deep into a hot dog-induced food coma to officially observe the moment.

4. James A. Garfield delivered a rather lengthy speech at the first Memorial Day ceremony

Of course then it was still called Decoration Day, and at the time, Garfield was a Civil War General and Republican Congressman, not yet a President. On May 30, 1868, he addressed the several thousand people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery. “If silence is ever golden,” Garfield said, “it must be beside the graves of 15,000 men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.”

5. Several states observe Confederate Memorial Day

In addition to the national holiday, nine states officially set aside a day to honor those who died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War: Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. The days vary, but only Virginia observes Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of May, in accordance

6. Waterloo, New York is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day

According to the town’s website, in 1966 Congress unanimously passed a resolution to officially recognize Waterloo as the birthplace of the holiday. However, it remains a contentious debate, with other towns, like Boalsburg, Pa., claiming the title of “Birthplace of Memorial Day” as well.

7. More than 36 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home this Memorial Day

At least, according to AAA estimates. That’s the highest total since the recession. with the federal observance of Memorial Day.

Obama Marks Memorial Day With Call for Better Veteran Care

Obama, whose administration is currently investigating allegations that Veterans Affairs facilities delayed care for needy veterans, said better support was needed for those who had fought for their country

President Barack Obama paid tribute to America’s fallen members of the armed forces at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Monday to mark the Memorial Day holiday.

Obama, who returned hours earlier from a surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan, pledged again to end the war there by the end of the year and called for better support for America’s veterans, a nod to the recent troubles that have plagued the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who has faced calls to resign since it emerged that VA medical facilities had reportedly falsified records to cover up long waits for care, was in attendance.

“We must do more to keep faith with our veterans and their families,” the President said. Those who had fought for their country, he added, must “get the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserve.”

Obama stopped short of directly addressing the issue, but in aninterview airing Monday afteto take care of these men and women and their families who sacrificed so much,” said Hagel, who still backs Shinseki. “Let’s see what happened, why it happened, how it happened. Then we’ve got to fix it.”

At Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, Obama also repeated his statement made in Afghanistan on Sunday that the U.S. was at a “pivotal moment” in Afghanistan, reiterating his pledge to pull out most troops by the end of the year.

“By the end of this year, our war in Afghanistan will finally come to an end,” he said.

Obama spoke at Arlington on its 150th anniversary, and harked back to its creation amid the Civil War.rnoon with CNN, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the idea of veterans on secret waiting lists being denied care “makes me sick to my stomach.”

“Because it is a clear responsibility we have as a country, as a people, to take care of these men and women and their families who sacrificed so much,” said Hagel, who still backs Shinseki. “Let’s see what happened, why it happened, how it happened. Then we’ve got to fix it.”

At Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, Obama also repeated his statement made in Afghanistan on Sunday that the U.S. was at a “pivotal moment” in Afghanistan, reiterating his pledge to pull out most troops by the end of the year.

“By the end of this year, our war in Afghanistan will finally come to an end,” he said.

Obama spoke at Arlington on its 150th anniversary, and harked back to its creation amid the Civil War.

“We declared upon this hill a final resting place for those willing to lay down their lives for the country they loved,” he said.

Heads-up! Stargazers on alert for rare, possibly epic meteor shower

 When the sky falls, you'd think people would run for cover.

Not tonight.

If the clouds cooperate, skies all over North America will light up between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET Saturday in a rare sight that's excited everyone from space geeks to insomniacs to regular folks.

"I AM SO PUMPED FOR THE METEOR SHOWER TONIGHT OMG,"tweeted one woman.

Actually, these meteors aren't necessarily falling on the Earth. Rather, it's the Earth that's moving through the debris of Comet 209/P Linear.

Whatever the reason, experts say this one-night-only phenomenon known as the May Camelopardalids could produce a huge light show -- or be a dud. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted that some forecasters are predicting about 100 meteors per hour, while others have much higher expectations, predicting more than 1,000 meteors per hour.

It's not like there's a lot of history to say which way things will go.

"We have no idea what the comet was doing in the 1800s," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "The parent comet doesn't appear to be very active now, so there could be a great show or there could be little activity."

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Still, the mere prospect of a big light show is enough to get people up in the middle of the night -- if they go to sleep at all -- to take it all in. CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris noted that this is the first time in a generation that Earthlings can see a new meteor shower.

This cosmic event has been years in the making: NASA announced in 2012 that Earth would encounter debris from this comet -- which also rotates around the sun -- crossing our orbit this weekend.

The meteors should radiate from a point in Camelopardalis, a faint constellation near the North Star that's also known as "the giraffe," Cooke said.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory recommends that those who want to see the show find a spot away from city lights, give themselves time to adjust to looking at the night sky and use their own eyes (no binoculars necessary) to enjoy the view.

The best place to watch the shower will be east of the Mississippi River or in California. The worst may be parts of the Plains and Northeast, where rain and cloud cover is possible. If you're in Europe, Africa, Asia or South America, don't even bother to look.

Several people tweeted about what they'll be wishing on, while others wished for someone with whom they could enjoy the occasion.

"Meteor shower tonight!!!!!" read one post. "Everyone turn off lights, go outside, put down blankets, cuddle up and enjoy!!!!

But not everyone is comfortable with the spectacle, it seems.

"Everyone wants me to watch the meteor shower," tweeted one woman, "but I think he deserves his privacy."

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