UPDATE - April 29, 2011

QUIZ!!!

1. I was born September 14, 1849 and died February 27, 1936. I was a Russian physiologist primarily interested in physiology and natural sciences. Through my study of the digestive function of dogs, I discovered the conditioning reflex. Who am I?
A) Ivan Pavlov
B) B. F. Skinner
C) John Watson
D) Edward Tolman

2. I initially wanted to be a writer, but eventually became a psychologist and one of the leaders of the behaviorist movement. I rejected the concept of free will, instead suggesting that all behaviors are conditioned. Who am I?
A) B. F. Skinner
B) John Watson
C) Ivan Pavlov
D) Edward Tolman

3. This former Roman slave escaped from a school for gladiators, then started a revolt with 90,000 soldiers under his command. He had an effective run, but eventually Crassus and Pompey wiped his forces out and killed him. He's better known because he was the subject of a 1960 film by Stanley Kubrick. Who was this leader of the revolt?
A) Cicero
B) Marcus Antony
C) Pontius Pilate
D) Spartacus






4. This man was the lead defendant in the case of United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad in 1841. In the 1997 Stephen Spielberg movie "Amistad", he was played by Beninese actor Djimon Hounsou. Who was this African illegally sold into slavery?
A) Dincã
B) Cinqué
C) Dred Scott
D) Malinche

5. This man was captured by Algerian pirates in 1575 and spent five years as the property of the viceroy of Algiers. Later ransomed, he went home to Spain and began working on his writing, eventually giving the world one of its novel-length masterpieces, "Don Quixote". Who was this author and former slave?
A) William Shakespeare
B) Miguel de Cervantes
C) Gabriel Garcia Marquez
D) Chinua Achebe

6. I was the youngest of six children and was very close to my father, a rather well-known psychologist. While I never earned a higher degree, I made numerous contributions to psychology and psychoanalysis, including creating the field of child psychoanalysis and describing the ego's defense mechanisms. Who am I?
A) Anna Freud
B) Melanie Klein
C) Sandra Bem
D) Mary Whiton Calkins

7. My interest in identity began early in life. At temple school, I was teased for being tall, blond, and blue-eyed, while my grammar school classmates rejected me for my Jewish background. I later learned that my biological father had abandoned our family and that the man I thought was my father was actually my stepfather. I spent some time wandering around Europe before becoming interested in psychoanalysis. My contributions to psychology include a theory of psychosocial development and my concept of the identity crisis. Who am I?
A) Albert Bandura
B) Abraham Maslow
C) Carl Rogers
D) Erik Erikson

8. This woman was owned by Thomas Jefferson, and bore him six children, four of whom survived to adulthood (though there is some controversy about the DNA evidence). What was her name?
A) Sally Hemings
B) Hagar
C) Harriet Tubman
D) Margaret Garner

9. This man was the slave of Iadmon of Samos. Later released, he mingled with the rich and famous of ancient Greece (even living in the court of Croesus). Today he is known for his stories of animals, each of which gives a moral meant to teach men. Who was this creator of fables?
A) Agamemnon
B) Thucydides
C) Aesop
D) Homer

10. This former slave, freed by the American Civil War, became an educator. He was the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute, and stayed in that position until he died in 1915. Who was this author of "Up From Slavery"?
A) Samuel C. Armstrong
B) W. E. B. Du Bois
C) Booker T. Washington
D) Henry Huttleston Rogers

11. BONUS - I failed in business in ’31.
I ran as a state legislator and lost in ’32.
I tried business again in ’33 and failed again.
My sweetheart died in ’35.
I had a nervous breakdown the next year in ’36.
I ran for state elector in ’40 after my health improved.
I was defeated for Congress in ’43, defeated again for Congress in ’48, defeated when I ran for the Senate in ’55, and defeated for the vice presidency of the US in ’56.
I ran for Senate again in ’58 and lost.
I decided to try, again. I ran for the presidency of the United States and won.

UPDATE


Last weekend was pretty crazy. It was Holy week last week. My a capella group was asked to sing for a Maundy Thursday event (we didn’t). I Joined a liturgical pray group for a Good Friday morning reflection. I took the day off, and then went to Good Friday service at night. Saturday we held an Eggstravaganza in the park near my home. I hung out with a good friend, Bianca, in the afternoon, caught up with Min on her birthday, and then attended a Holy Saturday Night Vigil at a Greek Orthodox church from 12 – 2 AM. Then I woke up to serve at 3 Easter Sunday services after which I went to a Greek Easter Brunch and played some Greek Easter games. Whew!

My church sends people out on international mission trips each year and really wants to see everyone go on one. We have a team going to Greece in a month so they wanted to attend the Greek Orthodox service and have the Greek meal. It was an interesting experience. One of my favorite writers is like me in that he’s experienced many different denominations of Christianity, and we both take the best of each one. I like the reverence and awe I find in Catholic/Episcopal/Anglican churches. I learn about an excitement and zeal for God from Protestants. The Orthodox traditions, along with awe and veneration, remind me of the mystery of God. Those are simple examples as I could talk even more about specific sects which teach me about service, emphasize the Holy Spirit, envelope mysticism, or promote hope more than others. You get the point.

All in all, it was a great Lent season for me. Lent, if you don’t know, is the period after Mardi Gras starting from Ash Wednesday and going to Palm Sunday (though some might say Easter Sunday). I’m usually one who reflects at night. But one thing I’ve been doing is slowing down the pace of life in general which affects how and when I eat, how much I seek to find out the time, how attached I am to the internet and the phone, and how much I engage with nature. So I start each day with some stillness, quiet, meditation, reading, contemplations, study, journaling, prayer, reflection, etc. I’ve found that, for me, it affects me better if my day starts that way than if it ends that way (and hopefully it can do both). I have a wonderful job that allows me to slow down like that and not have to wake up super early. I take walks each day beyond the walking I do throughout the city. And I usually do it alone because a lot of people here walk too fast. It’s been quite nice slowing down. And it’s in slowing down that I’m able to see and hear. It was then that I knew what I must do with the professor who was harassing me.

Another things I’ve learned in the slower pace is to see sacredness in all things and in all acts. So instead of just practicing my faith, I’m learning to faith my practices. I used to see email as a challenge or an obstacle keeping me from having an empty inbox at the end of each day. So I would hurry to answer an email forgetting that the main reason I love email so much is that it lets me communicate with people far away with whom I otherwise wouldn’t communicate. So now I’ve gone back to being completely ok with a large inbox and cherishing each actual email replay as a point of contact, a chance at relationship, and an extension of community. Back to the basics.

Holy is the dish and drain
The soap and sink, and the cup and plate
And the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile
Showerheads and good dry towels
And frying eggs sound like psalms
With hits of salt measured in my palm
It’s all a part of a sacrament
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the busy street
And cats that boom with passion’s beat
And the checkout girl, counting change
And the hands that shook my hands today
And hymns of geese fly overhead
And spread their wings like their parents did
Blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep

To chase some wild and elusive thing
Holy is the familiar room
And quiet moments in the afternoon
And folding sheets like folding hands
To pray as only laundry can
I’m letting go of all my fear
Like autumn leaves made of earth and air
For the summer came and the summer went
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the place I stand
To give whatever small good I can
And the empty page, and the open book
Redemption everywhere I look
Unknowingly we slow our pace
In the shade of unexpected grace
And with grateful smiles and sad lament
As holy as a day is spent

And morning light sings “providence”
As holy as a day is spent

--Carrie Newcomer