Survivalism is overrated...

Tomorrow is payday. Long awaited payday that comes at the tail end of a 31day month after the month of endless driving to and from Athens. My goal for August was to ride my bike everyday as penitence for my carbon footprint I placed on Mother Earth in the month of July. Turns out I was also seeking some sort of karmic absolution for the sin of Greed, because even if I had wanted to drive, I had no gas money.
I've eaten my spoonfuls of peanut butter and prayed my morning oatmeal would hold out in my empty stomach for the 8 hour school day, but I often have gone home this month hungry with a headache. I even stashed apples, now a crazy inside joke with two of my students, so that I could save money.
I pray that September, my birthday month, will be less miserable than August and July. Finding out that my extended day pay that I didn't get from February through May may not be making its debut in my bank account until the September's pay check, only inspires pessimism. The ember that I hold for decent meals and an easy commute to work, still has some warmth. Let's pray it turns into a wild fire.

Roman Horror!

At the NJCL Convention, one of the workshops that was held was about the influence of Roman tropes that inspired modern horror films that we very familiar with today.
He cited various different themes amongst Greco-Roman literature, including but not limited to, cannibalism, vampires, the undead, demons and so forth.
One story was entitled Thyestes by Seneca. In it, the brother of Thyestes has chopped up his children and serves them to Thyestes, as well as their blood in the wine that Thyestes has been drinking. Atreus, the brother, is delighted to tell Thyestes that his children will "always be with him" while bringing forth their heads on a platter to show his brother.
There were other stories, that one is the most disturbing to me so it seemed the most appropriate to share.
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of horror movies because they inspire paranoid thoughts and make me have weird dreams. My sister, however, loves it, especially anything about zombies.
I still clearly have Gaul on the brain because I was thinking yesterday about how one would go about writing a horror movie set in Gaul involving the Romans. The Gallic religion is ripe with superstition and human sacrifice, so it could end up being a really cool mesh.
I've started jotting down some ideas, but I need still need to research some other Greco-Roman horror stories.
This topic is really starting to fascinate me, so there will definitely be more to come.

Wake Forest Inspirational Convention

My class is over for the summer at UGA. My group did our project and I even turned in my paper early (I didn't know I'd have access to wifi here). I had a short respit yesterday. My mom even stayed over Tuesday to get my cats since I wasn't able to take them to their house myself.

This trip to National Convention started for my 3 Latin babies and me at 7am. The drive, though filled with the infectious and colorful personalities, was a tedious 5 hours. I'm so sick of driving I could throw up.

After we got our room keys and other vital information to get settled in before General Assembly. Wake Forest is small enough with clear signs of where specific buildings, that it didn't take too terribly long to the dorm. My co-pilot found the map after we parked the car.

......

We've been here for almost a whole day now. My girls are at colloquia, aka a workshop, and I am taking a break before we have to meet for our 2nd general assembly.

Being here as an adult, a teacher, leaves only my imagination to wonder what it must be like to be here as a student. These kids are busy almost the entire time. Not only do they have academic tests and a quiz to test your Classical knowledge, but they have athletic and artistic competitions as well. It is truly astonishing! I must add that one of my most favorite parts is that most of the kids are self-motivated and don't require their sponsors to constantly hound them to participate.

I, unfortunately, did not have the luck to have attended a high school with a Latin program. We had Spanish. Not that Spanish isn't worth learning, it just doesn't seem to light a fire in your soul the way Classics does for these Latin students. I feel a disadvantage when I'm speaking with other sponsors or chaperones, who have their own experiences as delegates at these conventions where most of them also probably gained the passion for teaching the language in high school.

I wish there was some way that Georgia could offer Latin in every high school in the state. I'm sure some people still believe that Latin has no relevance in modern world since it's a "dead" language. Obviously, these people barely paid attention in their Spanish or French classes to realize, that Latin is the mother of all things. These people also haven't witnessed the amount of academic rigor and enthusiasm at both State and National convention to realize that these students have brought this "dead" language back to life and it is thriving!

Those of you who have children that are not in high school yet, remember that if you want your child to really be challenged academically and grow a network of friends nationwide who are just as intelligent as your child could be, sign them up for Latin.

http://www.camws.org/cpl/educators/TCAsurvey2.pdf

From Bacchus to Mercury

Memory shouldn't only be a reflection in the perfect and imperfect tenses, but also a guide for the future. When I was 14, I was en route to getting baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal church in my hometown, one of the steps that I had to participate in every week was Lectio Divina. Now my memory of the process may have slightly altered over time, but basically what you do is read a section of the Bible and with a relaxed mind, you pick out the words that stick out to you the most. It was like the Luscher color test, but with words. Because those words stick out to you, your brain and heart are trying to tell you something and it's your task to figure that out. 

Fast-forward 10 years and you have me sitting here, forever changed by this process and always aware of the power that words have over me.  Instead of reading scriptures out of the Bible, I read the ancient poems and stories from Greece and Italy. 

Bacchus and his crazed followers fascinated me first. The unadulterated creativity that he could inspire seem to rival the muses, my first literary loves. Now, I feel the shift again...to the swift-footed Mercury. He seems to permeate every page I read. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips, text about Gallic/Celtic religion and The Infinities by John Banville, center around Mercury. 

If you happen to be Greco-Roman mythology deficient and believe that Mercury is only the messenger of the gods, let me just tell you. Mercury is also the god of travelers, commerce, thieves and healing. He not only has winged shoes but also at times a winged helmet and carries the caduceus. He also guides the souls of those who have just died into the afterlife. I don't know where this inspiration will take me, like most things in life, but I have to follow. 

The wings, I think are what get me the most. 

Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens

There comes a point when scientific evidence and literary sources fail us in regards to knowing and understanding our ancestors. We can only assume what wacky and wild things went on back in the old days. So, I wonder, if the Doctor were to work with archaeologists and historians, would we know more about antiquity. I'm sure most of the time that the Doctor is saving this world and that, but if he is the master of time, would he have the ability to multi-task his way into doing both? 


How do we know that the ancient Celts and Romans weren't really involved with this? 


Dr. Who, can you spare some time? 

The Druid Path...supposedly

Today, Dr. N was on her soap-box in class, but for good reason. The particular subsection of Celtic culture that we were going over today, or at least attempted to begin was "Death and Burials." Death, without any help from Hollywood or popular culture, is intense and tumultuous...and not even for the person who's passed.
The main point that I think Dr. N was trying to get across, in reference to the Celtic culture, is that we have no certain idea about the intent of the types of burials that have been found by archaeologists and therefore must be careful to NOT make assumptions and to base all interpretation on facts.

But there's no written record, so how do we know anything for certain.

This brings me to this guy and Druids. Now, it is completely possible that some modern version of paganism has sprung up and some people, especially those in Europe, may want to call it Druidism.

Let me reiterate...THEY DIDN'T WRITE ANYTHING DOWN.

In fact, in De Bello Gallico by good ole JC, he even emphasizes in Book 6.14 that:

That practice they seem to me to have adopted for two reasons; because they neither desire their doctrines to be divulged among the mass of the people, nor those who learn, to devote themselves the less to the efforts of memory, relying on writing; since it generally occurs to most men, that, in their dependence on writing, they relax their diligence in learning thoroughly, and their employment of the memory.


So, as you watch this video, take what this guy says about Druids with a grain of salt and ask yourself, "Why didn't he mention anything about sacrificing humans or horses?"

Focus on the Finish Line

The whole point of this blog thus far has been to document the journey that I experience as I go through graduate school. So far, my focus seems to be on how I'll make it to Athens in one piece.

Today, one of my good friends was kind enough to take me to Athens on her motorcycle. Without the tortuous feeling of my right leg trying to maintain a steady balance on the gas pedal (I have no cruise control) and the arduous focus on the road, I was able to let my mind wander and enjoy the scenery. The majority of the trip to Athens from Augusta takes place on the backroads through McDuffie, Wilkes, and Oglethorpe counties. When I drive, it's just a blur of trees and tiny towns. On the back on a motorcycle, you can spot the broken stone wall near Rayle, the broken down house hidden in the only trees left in a cleared out forest and the plethora of different smells that would be otherwise filtered by air conditioning.

My mind traveled from thought to thought seamlessly. Then I began to think about the saying, "It's about the journey not the destination."

The actual journey that I have been making each day to class seems to taking up most of my mental and physical energy. So, maybe, just maybe, it's not so much about the journey for me. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things it is, but not for July 2012. Even with that, I can't wrap my head around the fact that I will be spending the foreseeable future working towards becoming a Classicist and maybe/hopefully/definitely an archaeologist.  All I see is the finish line.

It's like when I run. On an actual course, as opposed to a treadmill, most of the time I'm focusing on each mile number that I can subtract from 3.1 or 6.2. I'm not stopping to smell the flowers. When I'm running on the treadmill, I have to keep my glances upwards so I won't see how far I have gone or have to go, otherwise I'll slow down or stop.

Perhaps the strain of driving 4 hours a day is meant to make me focus more on that academic finish line, help me adapt to the blisters, bruises and pain that is bound to face me no matter what decision I make.

I think we had just crossed into Columbia or McDuffie county, when I had a "Real Jillian" moment. The veneer of emotional and internal chaos faded away and my real voice said "Why would you ever let something like that try to break you. Find a way to get through this."