Rebecca [Blaine] Harding Davis

Posted on March 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Rebecca [Blaine] Harding Davis: (1808-1889) American author. Davis was one of the earliest American realists, known for her attempts to deal in fiction with the life of industrial workers, the problems of black Americans, and political corruption. Her first success was as a muckraker with Life in the Iron Mills, published in the Atlantic Monthly in April, 1961. This was followed by Margaret Howth (1862), a novel set in an Indiana milltown. Waiting for the Verdict (1868) was a story about racial bias; John Andross (1874) was a tale of political corruption. She also raised a large family and, from 1869 to the mid-1870s, was an associate editor of the New York Tribune.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Cultural Literacy: Helen Keller

Posted on March 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

OK, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Helen Keller. This is a full-page worksheet (which could be pared down to a half-page very easily) with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions. This is a basic biography of an important American woman.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Ruth Benedict

Posted on March 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Ruth Benedict originally Ruth Fulton: (1887-1948) U.S anthropologist. Born in New York City, she received her PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1923 and taught at Columbia from 1930 until her death. In Patterns of Culture (1934), her most famous work, she emphasized how small a part of the range of human behavior is elaborated or emphasized in any one society. She described how these forms of behavior are integrated into patterns or configurations, and she supported cultural relativism, or the judging of cultural phenomena in the context of the culture in which they occur. In The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946), she applied her methods to Japanese culture. Her theories had a profound influence on cultural anthropology.” 

­­­­­­­Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 14 March 2025, Women’s History Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Benazir Bhutto

Posted on March 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

For the second Friday of Women’s History Month 2025, the Weekly Text from Mark’s Text Terminal is this reading on Benazir Bhutto along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. You may recall, if you are of a certain age, that she served twice as Prime Minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.

She was, alas, assassinated in 2007.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Dorothy Parker Schools a Young Playwright

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

“A young playwright, who Mrs. Parker felt had been copying her themes, described his most recent to play to her as follows: ‘It’s hard to say—except that it’s a play against all isms.’

Mrs. Parker added, ‘Except plagiarism.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Cultural Literacy: Gloria Steinem

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Gloria Steinem. This is a half-page worksheet with a long, compound, one-sentence reading and one comprehension question. A spare, and I do mean spare, introduction to this important 20th century figure.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Helena Petrovna Blavatsky: (called Mme Blavatsky, 1831-1891) Russian-born spiritualist, medium, magician, and occultist. Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society. She wrote Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), influential books of occult lore. She toured India, Europe, and the U.S., developing and preaching her doctrines. The poet William Butler Yeats was profoundly influenced by her work.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Cultural Literacy: Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who authored the famous, if insipid, saying “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.” Her biography is quite rich, and she was apparently prolific.

This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. A spare, but effective, introduction to a poet who, I’ll hazard a guess, is largely forgotten–which arouses the question: is any poet remembered today?

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Lydia Maria Child

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Lydia Maria Child originally Lydia Maria Francis: (1802-1880) U.S. abolitionist. Born in Medford, Massachusetts, she wrote historical novels and a popular manual, The Frugal Housewife (1829), and founded the first children’s periodical, Juvenile Miscellany. After meeting William Lloyd Garrison in 1831, she became active in abolitionist work. Her Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833) was widely read and induced many to join the abolitionist cause. She edited the National Anti-Slavery Standard (1841-43) and made her home a stage on the Underground Railroad.”

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Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 7 March 2025, Women’s History Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Harriet Tubman

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

OK, we’ve rounded to corner to March, during which Mark’s Text Terminal, conforming to the latest consensus, observes Women’s History Month. The first Weekly Text for this month is this reading on Harriet Tubman along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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