Month: June 2022

Yo-Yo Ma

World-famous American cellist Yo-Yo Ma was born in France to Chinese parents in 1955. A musical prodigy, he gave a public recital in Paris at age six and his first performance at Carnegie Hall at age nine. He later attended the prestigious Julliard School of Music and ascended rapidly to the highest rank of international soloists, winning the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978. What became of a centuries-old cello valued at $2.5 million that Ma accidentally left in a New York City taxi in 1999? Discuss

tribe

low man – On an actual totem pole, it is really the most important man in the tribe. More…

tribe – From Latin tribus, it may refer to the three divisions of early Romans, the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans. More…

tribunal – Originally referred to a seat or raised platform for judges, from Latin tribunus, “head of a tribe.” More…

cannibal – When Columbus was trying to find the Spice Islands, he was told of a tribe of man-eating natives in Cuba and Haiti called Caribs (from which we get Caribbean) or Caniba (Columbus’ rendition of the name); the word canib, meaning “brave and fierce,” became cannibal, meaning “anthropophagite,” a person who eats human flesh. More…

Earthquake Devastates Port Royal, Jamaica (1692)

In the 17th century, Port Royal was the capital of Jamaica and a popular destination for pirates to store and spend their treasure, earning the city a seedy reputation. On June 7, 1692, a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the city, causing a large portion of it to sink into the Caribbean Sea. Between 1,000 and 3,000 people—a significant percentage of the city’s population—were killed in the disaster. What nickname have archaeologists since given the city? Discuss

Holland Festival

Holland (the Netherlands) decided in 1947 to have a single festival focused on three major cities—Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague—that would cover a wide range of artistic and cultural activities and at the same time draw top international artists to the Netherlands. Nowadays the festival is centered in Amsterdam in June with nearly 150 programs. The festival offers not only performances of orchestral and choral works but opera, ballet, contemporary music, dance, theater, and film as well. Discuss

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917)

Brooks was an award-winning poet whose compositions, written in a variety of forms, deal with the experience of being black and often of being female in America. Her 1949 book of poetry, Annie Allen, received a Pulitzer Prize, the first ever awarded to an African American. In 1994, she was named the National Endowment for the Humanities Jefferson Lecturer, one of the highest honors in the American literary world. How old was Brooks when her first poem was published? Discuss

Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname of the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster in London. Famous for its accuracy, the clock rings in the new year in England. Originally, only the Great Bell—the largest bell in the tower—was called “Big Ben,” but eventually, the moniker was applied to the clock itself and then to the entire tower. In 2012, the iconic British landmark was officially renamed Elizabeth Tower, in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Who is generally accepted as the real-life “Ben”? Discuss