Month: April 2024

Buzkashi

Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian team sport in which players on horseback try to grab the carcass of a headless goat or calf and pitch it across a goal line or into a target circle or vat. Although it is known as a popular Afghani sport, Buzkashi began as a sport of the steppes, a vast, prairie-like ecoregion of Eurasia, and remains a popular game throughout the region. Games can last for several days, and competition is fierce. How is the animal carcass prepared before a game? Discuss

Shirley Temple (1928)

A precocious performer known for her dimples and golden curls, Temple was a child actress who became America’s most popular female star and Hollywood’s top box office attraction in the Great Depression era. In 1934, she made nine movies, leaping to stardom with Little Miss Marker and winning a special Academy Award that year. She effectively retired from moviemaking in 1950. As an adult, Temple served as a US delegate to the UN General Assembly and as US ambassador to what countries? Discuss

Kinship Terminology

Kinship terms like mother and son are words used by a specific culture to describe various familial relationships. Such terminologies include words used to address members of one’s own family as well as words used to identify people’s relationships to one another. Kinship terms generally distinguish between the sexes and generations and indicate whether people are related by blood or marriage. What is the difference between “descriptive” and “classificatory” kinship terms? Discuss

First Earth Day Celebrated (1970)

The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 to promote ecological ideas, encourage respect for life on earth, and highlight growing concern over pollution of the soil, air, and water. Earth Day is now observed in more than 140 nations with outdoor performances, exhibits, street fairs, and television programs that focus on environmental issues. In 1990, Earth Day was marked by an “International Peace Climb,” in which climbers from the US, Soviet Union, and China scaled what peak together? Discuss

Henry Fielding (1707)

Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his humor and satire. He settled in London in 1729 and began writing comedies, farces, and burlesques, including Tom Thumb. Two of his satires attacked the Walpole government and provoked the Licensing Act of 1737, which initiated censorship of the stage and ended his career as a playwright. He thereupon turned to writing novels, publishing his most popular work, Tom Jones, in 1749. Why did he travel to Portugal in 1754? Discuss