Tag Archives: professional development

Term of Art: Semantic Knowledge

Posted on October 25, 2024 | Leave a comment

“semantic knowledge: Data stored in long-term memory regarding general information and concepts.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Copy Editing

Posted on October 18, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Copy Editing: The reading and correcting of manuscripts before setting of type, usually entailing attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, style and format consistency, and factual particulars such as names and places mentioned. Noun: copy editor; Verb: copy edit. ALSO COPY READING”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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12 Signs of the Zodiac

Posted on October 18, 2024 | Leave a comment

Aries (Ram) * Taurus (Bull) * Gemini (Twins) * Cancer (Crab) * Leo (Lion) * Virgo (Virgin) * Libra (Scales) * Scorpio (Scorpion) * Sagittarius (Archer) * Capricorn (Goat) * Aquarius (Water Carrier) * Pisces (Fish)

The Zodiac is a very old concept, which has impregnated our thought patterns for thousands of years. In essence it was the observation of the sun’s circular path through the heavens (as viewed from the earth) and the division of this into twelve equal sections of 30 degrees to make a complete circuit of 360 degrees. Like so much of our world, the start date is spring, the vernal equinox of 21 March, so Aries (21 March-20 April) must always start the cycle.

The symbols chosen by the Sumerian astrologers and their imaginative pattern-making of sacred shapes from the most prominent stars passed seamlessly into Babylonian, Egyptian, Hindu, and Greek thought—notably through the teachings of a pair of well-traveled Greeks, Eudoxus of Cnidus and from the Egyptian-Greek scholar Ptolemy, whose Almagest colonized the imagination of both Islam and Christendom.

But just to read the Sumerian names is to stand in witness of an impressive piece of 5,000-year-old living continuity: Luhunga (Farmer) is Aries; Gu Anna (Bull of Heaven) is Taurus; Mastabba Bagal (Great Twins) is Gemini; Al-Lul (Crayfish) is Cancer; Urgula (Lion) is Leo; Ab Sin (virgin land) is Virgo; Zib Baanna (scales) is Libra; Girtab (Scorpion) is Scorpio; Pabilsag (soldier) is Sagittarius; Suhurmas (goat-fish) is Capricorn; Gu La (‘Great One) is Aquarius, the water bearer during the winter rains; and Dununu (fish cord) is Pisces.

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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The Labyrinth of Solitude

Posted on October 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

“The Labyrinth of Solitude (El laberinto de la soledad, 1950; tr 1961): A book by Octavio Paz. This penetrating essay on Mexican history has probably been more widely read and is thus more influential than any of Paz’s other essays or poetry. In search of the meaning of the Mexican and, by extension, the Latin American experience, Paz singles out the conquest of the Indians by Spanish invaders as the moment the true Mexico became isolated and obscured by masks. Silence, dissimulation, machismo, hermeticism, violence, and the cult of death are the masks adopted by the Mexican to disguise his fundamental historical solitude. Paz argues, however, that solitude has become a universal part of the human condition and that all men, like the poet himself, must become conscious of this condition in order to find, in the plentitude of love and creative work, a glimpse of the way out of the labyrinth of solitude.

In the revised and supplemented edition of 1985, Paz clarifies his view of Mexican culture and history, and deals with U.S.-Mexico relations. He also reexamines the dichotomy between the “two Mexicos,” the “developed” and the “underdeveloped,” and finds that the distinction is itself an imposition of the former upon the latter. He discusses the “other” Mexico as not only a tradition and a culture, but as representing a philosophical “Other,” like the other within.

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

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Spanish Language

Posted on October 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Spanish language: Romance language spoken in Spain and in large parts of the New World. It has more that 332 million speakers, including over 23 million in the U.S. Its earliest written materials date from the 10th century, its first literary works from c.1150. The Castilian dialect, the source of modern standard Spanish, arose in the 9th century in north central Spain (Old Castile) and spread to central Spain (New Castile) by the 11th century. In the late 15th century, the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and Aragon merged, and Castilian became the official language of all Spain, with Catalan and Galician (effectively a dialect of Portuguese) becoming regional languages and Aragonese and Leonese reduced to a fraction of their original speech areas. Latin-American regional dialects are derived from Castilian differ from it in phonology. Spanish has almost completely lost the case system of Latin. Nouns and adjectives show masculine or feminine gender, and the verb system is generally regular, but complex.”

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

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Alcides Arguedas

Posted on September 26, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Alcides Arguedas: (1879-1946) Bolivian novelist, historian, and diplomat. Although Arguedas spent many years in Europe, especially in France, where he was Bolivian consul, his best-known writings reflect his abiding concern with the problems of his homeland. He is remembered primarily for three works, each in a different field. Pueblo enfermo (1909) is a pessimistic and controversial analysis of Bolivian society. One of the most famous of the Indianist novels, Raza de bronce (1919) describes the exploitation of Bolivian Indians by inhuman landlords. Arguedas’s most enduring work may be his five-volume Historia de Bolivia (1920-29), which covers that country’s history from 1809 to 1872).”

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

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Acapulco (de Juarez)

Posted on September 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Acapulco (de Juarez): Seaport, southwest Mexico. Situated on a deep semicircular bay, it has the best harbor on Mexico’s Pacific coast. It was discovered by Hernan Cortes in 1531, and a settlement was founded in 1550. Until 1815, it was a main depot for Spanish colonial fleets going to East Asia, and especially to Manila. It has become a major international resort for tourists attracted by its scenic beauty, climate, and excellent beaches.”

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

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Jose Martiniano de Alencar

Posted on September 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Jose Martiniano de Alencar: (1829-1877) Brazilian novelist. Probably Brazil’s finest romantic novelist, Alencar is known for his idealized portraits of Indians and for his deep feeling for the Brazilian landscape. His most popular novels are O Guarani (1857) and Iracema (1865; tr Iracema, The Honey Lips: A Legend of Brazile, 1886), both of which deal with love between Indians and whites.”

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

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Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens

Posted on September 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens: (1908-1973) Socialist president of Chile (1970-73). Of upper-middle-class background, Allende took a degree in medicine and in 1933 helped to found Chile’s Socialist Party. He ran for president unsuccessfully three times before winning narrowly in 1970. He attempted to restructure Chilean society along socialist lines while retaining democracy, civil liberties, and due process of law, but his efforts to redistribute wealth resulted in stagnant production, food shortages, rising inflation, and widespread strikes. His inability to control his radical supporters further alienated the middle class. His policies dried up foreign credit and led to a covert campaign by the United States Central Intelligence Agency to destabilize the government. He was overthrown in a violent military coup, during which he died by gunshot, reportedly self-inflicted. He was replaced by General Augusto Pinochet.”

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

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Conundrum

Posted on September 13, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Conundrum (noun): A riddle involving disparate things and whose answer involves a pun; problem or perplexing phenomenon; quizzical matter.

‘It’s the social reformers and novelists who create these artificial conundrums; they want to see their rotten literature; they want to make us forget that the only interesting and important part of the business is what nobody talks or writes about.’ Norman Douglas, South Wind”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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