“There is no democracy in physics. We can’t say that some second rate guy has has much right to opinion as Fermi.”
Quoted in D.S. Greenberg, The Politics of Pure Science (1967)
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged hispanic history, readings/research, science literacy
Here are two independent practice worksheets on the the Age of Exploration, the historical event that was a catastrophe for indigenous Americans and a bonanza for the Spanish and Portuguese explorers who “discovered” the Americas, and in any case gave birth to the Latin American world.
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.
“(1886-1968) Brazilian poet and essayist, Tuberculosis cut short Bandeira’s studies in architecture. While living in a Swiss sanitarium, he came into contact with several French surrealists, notably Paul Eluard. By 1914, on his return to Brazil, he had already written a book-length manuscript of poems. Although he consistently disassociated himself from any poetic movements, his work in the 1920s—particularly O ritmo dissolotu (1924) and Libertinagem (1930)—was hailed as the spearhead of Modernismo. Distinguished for its irony and tragic wit, Bandeira’s poetics advocate ‘using all the words, especially barbarisms; and all the rhythms, especially those beyond metrics.’ Apart from his unceasing experimentation with form, Bandeira introduced the Brazilian vernacular and the African folklore of his native Recife into serious poetry. His collected works, Poesia e prosa (2 vols, 1958), includes essays, art criticism, and an autobiography, as well as verse.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged fiction/literature, hispanic history, poetry, readings/research
Here at Mark’s Text Terminal chagrin has arrived with the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month 2018. As I marshall materials for material to post for the month, I find my archives nearly empty. What makes this especially embarrassing is the fact that I work in an inner-city high school with a substantial population of teenagers whose families hail from across the Hispanic world.
So some of the material that I post this month, I’m sorry to say, may in fact be a bit of a stretch in terms of relevance to the letter of Hispanic Heritage Month. This reading on the reconquista and its accompanying comprehension worksheet may indeed epitomize that stretch. In any case, however, I think these are useful documents for any high school global studies course. What do you think?
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.
“La historia me absolvera.
History will absolve me.”
Speech at trial for raid on Moncada barracks, 16 October 1953
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged hispanic history, readings/research
It’s September 15. Today National Hispanic Heritage Month begins. I interpret the month’s mandate broadly, so I’ll post materials on people and events from across the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world in the Americas.
Here is an independent practice worksheet on Aztec civilization to get the month started.
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.
About ten years ago, when I still listened to National Public Radio regularly. I heard William Powers interviewed. He was discussing a research endeavor at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy that resulted in report he titled Hamlet’s Blackberry. Over the years, I meant to read it. Then, in 2010, he expanded the original essay and published it as a book.
But the original essay, at 75 pages with the works cited page, is still available at no cost under the link, if you search “Hamlet’s Blackberry PDF, The Death of Paper.
I have a particular interest in the history of books and book lore, including changes in printing technologies, I had an interest per se in this piece of writing. For educators, I think this is a good read because it says some things we need to know about the reading and reception of texts.
And Mr. Powers is a fine stylist, so this is a quick and breezy read about a subject that is, by any measure I appreciate, quite profound.
Here is a reading on Lao Tzu and a vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that deepens understanding of the reading itself.
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.
“A film (1955) adapted by Stewart Stern and Irving Shulman from the story ‘Blind Run’ by Robert M. Lindner. The rebel of the title is a rebellious teenager whose unruly behavior culminates in a death-defying challenge in which he and a rival drive their cars full speed towards the edge of a cliff. Starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, the film acquired iconic status among the restless youth of the 1950s, Dean in particular often being referred to as the ‘rebel without a cause.'”
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
“A virtue is a trait of character that is to be admired: one rendering its possessor better, either morally, or intellectually, or in the conduct of specific affairs. Both Plato and Aristotle devote much time to the unity of the virtues, or the way in which possession of one in the right way requires possession of the others; another central concern is the way in which possession of virtue, which might seem to stand in the way of self-interest, in fact makes possible the achievement of self-interest properly understood, or eudaimonia. But different conceptions of moral virtue and its relation to other virtue characterize Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, Enlightenment, Romantic, and 20th-century ethical writing. These divisions reflect central preoccupations of their time and needs of the cultures in which they gain predominance: the humility, charity, patience, and chastity of Christianity would have been unintelligible as ethical virtues to classical Greeks, whereas the ‘magnanimity‘ of the great-souled man of Aristotle is hard for us to read as an unqualified good, Syntheses of Christian and Greek conceptions are attempted by many, including Aquinas, but a resolute return to an Aristotelian conception has been impossible since the emergence of generalized benevolence as a leading virtue. For Hume a virtue is a trait of character with the power of producing love or esteem of others, or pride in oneself, by being ‘useful or agreeable’ to its possessors and those affected by them. In Kant, virtue is purely a trait that can act as a handmaiden to the doing of duty, having no independent, ethical value, and in utilitarianism, virtues are traits of character that further pursuit of the general happiness.”
Excerpted from: Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
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