Tag Archives: philosophy/religion

Barbara W. Winder on Knowledge and Wisdom

“As our knowledge is converted to wisdom, the door to opportunity is locked.”

Barbara W. Winder

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Flagpole Sitting

If not for the one request over the years for this reading on the daredevil stunt of flagpole sitting that was somehow in vogue in the United States in the 1920s, supply would at present exceed demand. The reading, interestingly, makes the connection between this risky and arguable peculiar activity with the unusual form of monasticism of Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic who lived in the late-forth and early-fifth centuries CE. Anyway, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends the reading.

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.

Amazon

“Amazon: In Greek mythology, a member of a race of women warriors. One of the labors of Heracles was to obtain the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte. In another tale, Theseus attacked the Amazons, and they responded by invading Attica, where they were defeated; Theseus married the Amazon Antiope. In ancient Greek art, Amazons resembled Athena (with weapons and a helmet) and later Artemis (in a thin dress girded high for speed).”

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

Helen Keller on Fulfilling One’s Destiny

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”

Helen Keller

Address to American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, Philadelphia, Pa., 8 July 1896

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Ivy Compton-Burnett

“Ivy Compton-Burnett (later Dame Ivy): (1887-1967) British novelist. She graduated from the University of London and published her first novel, Dolores, in 1911. Her second, Pastors and Masters (1925), introduced the style—employing clipped, precise dialogue to reveal her characters and advance the plot—that made her name. Her novels often dealt with struggles for power: Men and Wives (1931) featured a tyrannical mother. A House and Its Head (1935) a tyrannical father. She was created Dame of the British Empire in 1967.”

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

Margaret Mead, Famously, on Organizing for Change

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

Attributed in Christian Science Monitor, 1 June 1989

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

The Weekly Text, 3 March 2023, Women’s History Month 2023 Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Sarah

For the first Friday of Women’s History Month 2023, here is a reading on Sarah, the biblical matriarch and prophetess, with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I’ll hazard a guess that this will prove to be neither high-demand or high-interest material. Nonetheless, Sarah, as a major figure in the Abrahamic religions, is a significant landmark in women’s history.

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.

Frantz Fanon on National Liberation

“National liberation, national renaissance, the restoration of nationhood to the people, commonwealth: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas introduced, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon.”

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth “Concerning Violence” (1961) (translation by Constance Farrington)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Frederick Douglass on Patriotism

“No, I make no pretension to patriotism. So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of this country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.”

Frederick Douglass

Speech at Market Hall, New York, N.Y., 22 Oct. 1847

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church)

“African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church): African-American Methodist denomination, formally organized in 1816. It originated with a group of black Philadelphians who withdrew in 1787 from St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church because of racial discrimination and built Bethel African Methodist Church. In 1799 Richard Allen became minister of Bethel, and in 1816 he was consecrated bishop of the newly organized African Methodist Episcopal Church. Limited at first to the Northern states, the church spread rapidly in the South after the Civil War. It founded many colleges and seminaries, notably Wilberforce University (1856) in Ohio. Today it has 3,600 churches and more than a million members worldwide.”

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