CultureQuest®, originally a totally volunteer effort by Mensa members, is like a breeze that blows away the mushroom cloud that seems to descend on the brains of those who work in wage-slave jobs. In 1989, Becky O'Neal and The Joyce Lundeen of Central Oklahoma Mensa (COM) took E.D. Hirsch Jr.'s concept of cultural literacy, turned it into a contest for members of their local group, then spread it regionally, and ended up giving Mensa a legendary, annual national event rather than some of Mensa's more trivial pursuits.

This year's CultureQuest (CQ) will be held on April 10th. Those who are already on a team will find the following good practice; those who are not might be persuaded by the following to join a team next year. Remember that if the words "Calvin and Hobbes" bring to immediate mind only a boy and his tiger, you might be bordering on cultural illiteracy.

For your enjoyment, Going Forward offers selected questions from the very first, unnumbered CQ that only members of COM have seen before now. How many can you answer — correctly?

  1. The natural environment forced early New Englanders to turn to all of the following except …
    1. fishing
    2. fur trading
    3. gold mining
    4. trade and commerce

  2. A declining stock market is referred to as a ______ market.


  3. Name the four time zones of the lower 48 states.


  4. An animal that feeds entirely or mainly on plant materials is called what?


  5. What is the legend associated with the albatross?


  6. Name the artist who painted "Guernica."


  7. A cappella is a specific type of music. What is the meaning of a cappella?


  8. According to the poet Carl Sandburg, what came in on little cat feet?


  9. Match the author to his work:

    10. A. A Doll's House a. Kant
    B. Candide b. Machiavelli
    C. Critique of Pure
         Reason    		 c. Ibsen
    d. Voltaire
    D. Faust e. John Stuart Mill
    E. The Prince f. Solzhenitsyn
    F. Utilitarianism g. Dante
    G. Being and
         Nothingness    		 h. James Baldwin
    i. Goethe
    H. Gulag Archipelago j. Sartre
    I.   Go Tell It On The
         Mountain    		  
     
  10. During the 17th century in the United States, the chief source of labor supply came from
    1. slaves
    2. indentured servants
    3. Indians
    4. prisoners of war
    5. Germany

  11. How many Zodiac signs are there? Name half of them.


  12. The legend of King Arthur is so famous you should have no trouble naming:
    1. his sword
    2. the location of his court
    3. his wizard
    4. his archenemy
    5. the object of his quest

  1. The order of the development of transportation facilities in the U.S. was:
    1. roads, canals, railroads
    2. railroads, roads, canals
    3. canals, roads, railroads
    4. roads, railroads, canals

  2. Put the following events in ascending chronological order, oldest first:
    1. solar water distillation
    2. Binet intelligence test
    3. mass production
    4. wheelbarrow
    5. gas stove
    6. potter's wheel
    7. printing press
    8. airplane

  3. Name the item described in each selection below. The word "iron" should appear in each answer. We leave it to you to iron out the rest.
    1. Prussian military decoration
    2. archaeological term for a cultural phase of civilization
    3. barrier of secrecy created by Russia
    4. mysterious state prisoner during the reign of Louis XIV
    5. Margaret Thatcher

  4. Name eight of the eleven states that seceded from the Union.


  5. Renaissance, Rococo, and Romanesque are art styles. Put them in chronological order of their appearance, oldest first.


  6. In each of the groups below, name the narrowest common denominator.
    1. O'Keefe,Sargent, Frankenthaler
    2. ibex, aurochs, petrel
    3. Ernest Bloch, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland
    4. John Smyth, King Henry VIII, George Fox
    5. Auguste Comte, George Berkeley, Jeremy Bentham
    6. John Tyler, Franklin Pierce, Martin van Buren

  7. During the 1840s, the U.S.A. explained its right to expand by a two-word phrase. Name it.

    — Becky O'Neal

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