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Braschi-Quarenghi

Benedictine and Franciscan Monks: Forgotten Inventors

   Usually, when we think of religious orders, these things come to mind: a cloister, an abbey, a library, prayer in solitude, detachment from the world… All this in the cradle of a period defined as "dark" by historiography up to Romanticism: the Middle Ages . In this period the monks - especially the Benedictines of the various orders - were the custodians of Judeo-Christian but also classical culture, since thanks to their patient and meticulous transcriptions as scribes we have received almost all of the Greek and Latin works which we study today. Today we are grateful to them first of all for this.   However, many do not know that many products - material and immaterial - that we consume and use every day, come from monks who, using their ingenuity nourished by a profound spirituality, invented them due to practical necessities.    Personally, I find it amazing!    Let's begin…   The heavy plow   Plows were a primary agri...

Zendaya: A Global Star





Hi everyone, do you like cinema? I love it, and today I want to talk about an actress who became very famous in a very short time: Zendaya.


Nowadays, at 26, she already boasts a career that took her colleagues twice as long to achieve. She isn’t only an actress but also a dancer and singer. She started her career thanks to Disney. Everyone is waiting to see her again in her next big-screen projects, "Dune 2" and a Luca Guadagnino film. Meanwhile, she enchanted the audience in the cult series "Euphoria" or in the film "Malcolm & Marie," unexpected wonders with Anne Hathaway. Very serene next to her boyfriend Tom "Spider-Man" Holland, on set as in life, she is definitely experiencing a golden moment. For the record, fans have renamed them "Tomdaya."

 


She’s very protective of her private life, but do you want to know 10 curiosities about her?

"Failed" in kindergarten

 Her mother, Claire, confessed to Vogue US that she made her repeat kindergarten because she was shy and stayed quiet in the chair all the time, without ever talking to the other children. Funny enough, to follow in the footsteps of her teacher parents, if she hadn't become an actress, she would have undertaken a career as a teacher. 

 


No meat, please!!! Zendaya has been a vegetarian since the age of 11. It is her personal choice that comes from her love for animals. Her favorite? The rice salad, naturally with brown rice.


Matter of bites

The actress was born without teeth, and this makes it easier for her to bite into ice creams with the upper part of her palate. She confessed it with a lot of self-irony during an interview, considering it one of her greatest talents. 

 

Basketball star

As a child, her parents enrolled her in basketball lessons to instill team spirit and a sense of competition, so today she still considers herself a tomboy. 


 

Not only Zendaya

Her parents call her Marie, her friends Daya or Big Head, but for everyone, she remains Z. A letter, a legend. Part of the name has African origins and means "to give thanks" in Shona, a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.


She also wrote a book

In 2013, she wrote the book "Between U and Me," where she becomes a kind of life coach with motivational advice.


Feminist and activist

 She doesn't like receiving orders or Photoshop retouching, which is why she posts the original photos. And, it's no coincidence that she often does her makeup for her events. She marched in the streets for women, defends animal rights, and fights for equality; in fact, she is an AIDS Ambassador for the United Nations. She chose a vegetarian diet to safeguard the planet. 

 



Barbie themed

 In 2015, Mattel dedicated a limited edition Barbie to Zendaya that recreated her look with dreadlocks in the white mermaid dress designed by Vivienne Westwood.


The idol as a girl and the love of today

When she was still a very young Disney Channel actress, she often confessed to having had a crush on Channing Tatum. As a child, it was her forbidden dream. Today her great love is Tom Holland: the two made their relationship official in 2021, but they met on the set of "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in July 2016. But there are many clues that would trace the beginning of their story back to before officialdom.

  



Potterhead

A few years ago, she revealed in an interview that she watches a Harry Potter film a day, driving everyone around her crazy.




Today’s Blogger

Hello, everyone! I’m Isabel Baiocchi; I am 15 and I’m in the third year at high school. I'm glad to take part in this project because it’s interesting and truly amazing! This blog is giving me the opportunity to improve my writing skills in English while dealing with topics I love.


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Benedictine and Franciscan Monks: Forgotten Inventors

   Usually, when we think of religious orders, these things come to mind: a cloister, an abbey, a library, prayer in solitude, detachment from the world… All this in the cradle of a period defined as "dark" by historiography up to Romanticism: the Middle Ages . In this period the monks - especially the Benedictines of the various orders - were the custodians of Judeo-Christian but also classical culture, since thanks to their patient and meticulous transcriptions as scribes we have received almost all of the Greek and Latin works which we study today. Today we are grateful to them first of all for this.   However, many do not know that many products - material and immaterial - that we consume and use every day, come from monks who, using their ingenuity nourished by a profound spirituality, invented them due to practical necessities.    Personally, I find it amazing!    Let's begin…   The heavy plow   Plows were a primary agri...

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