Hey y'all!
Happy first day of classes!
I got an e-mail last night from a friend of mine recommending this webcomic about life in Ancient Rome. I haven't read very much of it yet, but it looks interesting. It's called "SPQR Blues" and you can find the first one here. There's a little tiny bit of Latin in it, but the majority is written in English.
~Rachael
Monday, August 27, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Begin at the Beginning and go on till you come to the End; then stop.
Dear all,
This famous quote by Lewis Caroll has been very much in my mind today as I am getting in gear to start two classes tomorrow, beginning and intermediate Latin.
Our lives are a series of small and big beginnings and ends, unexpected gifts and painful losses. But the perennial beauty and stability of the Latin language, its forms cascading from case to case, from person to person, from tense to tense, provide something solid to grasp on, something to hold onto as you expand and refine your education and your understanding of the world. And your journey in Latin is parallel to mine, because no matter how many times I have taught these two courses, I am always startled and taken by it as if it is the first time I am laying eyes on a Latin text. In short, what I am trying to say is that in Latin there is no beginning, middle, and end. There is only a constant beginning, the endless fascination of the novice. I really hope I can convey this to you throughout the year, as you yourselves will continue to inspire me.
So, for the logistics, and for those of you who are joining in: here is a space for you to post random thoughts about our class (beginning and intermediate), about how Latin informs your understanding of English, or your other courses; post also anything related to the Roman world that peaked your interest (browse previous postings for examples). We all post under the same nickname so you will have to sign your posts (but that is not mandatory). I do not filter the postings, so use the honor code: no profanities or explicit language (unless you are posting Latin grafitti!), and no last names because we will get hits on google and that is annoying. Blog on then, and have a great semester y' all!
EM.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
hi
I do not want to go to school. I've been working my butt off since the end of last semester and I just don't feel like I have to energy to do this one more time. I don't want to fight for parking spots, find my new classroom, meet my new teachers, meet new people I'll never see again...I'm over USF and I just need to get this semester over with.
I do want to continue my education, but not at this point on time. I'm going to try to get into the Mass Com graduate program next fall..but in the spring and summer semesters...I'm not dealing with it.
I need to move. As my livejournal friends know, things at home are horrible and I need to graduate and move on. ASAP! I want to live alone but I may not be able to afford it for a while...we'll see..
UGH, such a sad entry..well life hasn't been so hot lately and that's the long and the short of it.
Hope you guys are looking forward to school more than I am. :)
Stacey Bedard
I do want to continue my education, but not at this point on time. I'm going to try to get into the Mass Com graduate program next fall..but in the spring and summer semesters...I'm not dealing with it.
I need to move. As my livejournal friends know, things at home are horrible and I need to graduate and move on. ASAP! I want to live alone but I may not be able to afford it for a while...we'll see..
UGH, such a sad entry..well life hasn't been so hot lately and that's the long and the short of it.
Hope you guys are looking forward to school more than I am. :)
Stacey Bedard
Thursday, August 23, 2007
So...?
Am I the only one who is kinda-sorta freaking out that classes start on Monday? ... 'Cause I am... I'm excited about it 'cause we're all going to see each other again, but freaking 'cause I don't think I'm ready for my last undergraduate semester... It feels like I have so much to do before Monday, but in reality, it's not that much. I'm getting my hair cut on Sunday (say goodbye to the super-long hair!), I'm picking up my parking pass tomorrow, and I should get my Latin 3 text in the mail very soon (I hope!).
And to make things slightly worse, I was just trying to remember simple things in Latin and I'm only remembering little bits and pieces... Methinks I need to get out last year's text books and review this weekend... possibly, a lot!
Still, can't wait to see you all on Monday! Enjoy the weekend!
~Rachael
And to make things slightly worse, I was just trying to remember simple things in Latin and I'm only remembering little bits and pieces... Methinks I need to get out last year's text books and review this weekend... possibly, a lot!
Still, can't wait to see you all on Monday! Enjoy the weekend!
~Rachael
Saturday, August 18, 2007
question about Latin 1
Hey Prof M!
Not sure when you might check this since it's between the summer and fall semesters, but... My oldest friend in the world (I've known her since she was 6 and I was 8; it's like we're sisters) will be attending USF for her MA in Creative Writing starting this semester. She needs to take a foreign language (not for grad credit, but in preparation for a PhD) and she's decided she wants to take Latin. Of course, after hearing what I had to tell her, she says she can't take Latin 1 with any other prof, but of course, your Latin 1 class is totally full. I assume that your advice for her would be for her to show up on the first day of class and hope that people don't show up or drop the class so she can maybe get in? I told her that I'd ask, so I am...
~Rachael
PS - I hope you're enjoying your break from teaching. :D
Not sure when you might check this since it's between the summer and fall semesters, but... My oldest friend in the world (I've known her since she was 6 and I was 8; it's like we're sisters) will be attending USF for her MA in Creative Writing starting this semester. She needs to take a foreign language (not for grad credit, but in preparation for a PhD) and she's decided she wants to take Latin. Of course, after hearing what I had to tell her, she says she can't take Latin 1 with any other prof, but of course, your Latin 1 class is totally full. I assume that your advice for her would be for her to show up on the first day of class and hope that people don't show up or drop the class so she can maybe get in? I told her that I'd ask, so I am...
~Rachael
PS - I hope you're enjoying your break from teaching. :D
Friday, August 10, 2007
I'm an aunt! Yay!
Sharing some of my excitement... My niece, Sophia Autumn, was born August 8th, and I got to see her for the first time last night. Here's a picture:
Better ones will be shared after I'm home again. Yay!
Both Sophia and my sister Lara are in perfect health and doing just fine after what Lara is sure was the most difficult day of her life... My biological mother, Susan, who has given birth to five children, remains unimpressed. LOL!
Better ones will be shared after I'm home again. Yay!
Both Sophia and my sister Lara are in perfect health and doing just fine after what Lara is sure was the most difficult day of her life... My biological mother, Susan, who has given birth to five children, remains unimpressed. LOL!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
An Outpost of Alexander Found in Persian Gulf
Hey everybody!
It's Rachael, just checking in again. I'm still in Virginia. I'll be back in Tampa sometime before school starts, although I still haven't figured out exactly when. Hope all is well for everyone out there.
A friend e-mailed me this article yesterday and I thought I would share...
Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered
By Neil Arun
BBC News
Alexander the Great's awe-inspiring conquest of Asia is drawing archaeologists to a desert island off the shores of Iraq.
Greek government experts are going to Failaka - a Gulf outpost of Alexander's army, now governed by Kuwait.
The island's bullet-holed buildings tell of a conflict still fresh in people's memories - Saddam Hussein's brief occupation of Kuwait in the early 1990s.
Beneath the sun-baked sands of Failaka, archaeologists hope to unearth the secrets of an earlier conquest - a settlement established by Alexander's general, Nearchus, in the 4th Century BC.
The excavations will focus on the ruins of an ancient citadel and cemetery, the general secretary of the Greek culture ministry, Christos Zahopoulos, told the BBC News website.
Earlier work by French archaeologists has uncovered the remnants of a temple to Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, as well as several Greek coins and idols.
'The first globalisation'
According to Michael Wood, the author of a book on Alexander, the period after the conqueror's death saw Hellenistic culture take root across a broad swathe of land, from India to Egypt.
He cites the example of Uruk, a site near Basra in southern Iraq, where inscriptions have been found bearing the names of the local ruling class.
The names, Wood says, are a hybrid of ancient Babylonian and Greek titles - and they date to several hundred years after Alexander's death.
Alexander's conquest of Asia also accelerated commerce in his colonies, giving rise to what Wood describes as "the first globalisation".
Failaka's position, at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates pour into the Gulf, means it would have been ideally placed to exploit this economic boom.
Mr Wood says the Greek team's findings may reveal more of how the ancient civilisations of the Gulf thrived on trade with their contemporaries in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
The Greek archaeologists will begin their excavations in November, Greece's culture ministry says. Much of the work will be centred around the site of the ancient town of Icarea.
According to Mr Zahopoulos, the team will also carry out restoration on artefacts and ruins that have already been unearthed.
Civilian flight
Alexander was born in 356BC to the king of Macedon, in northern Greece.
By his early thirties, he had conquered much of the ancient world, from Egypt to India.
He died at the age of 33 of a high fever in Babylon, in what is now Iraq.
Failaka's name is thought to descend from the Greek word for outpost - "fylakio."
Before the Greeks arrived, the island had been inhabited by the Bronze Age Dilmun civilisation.
By the time Saddam Hussein's troops invaded in 1990, the island had become the longest continually-inhabited site in Kuwait.
Most of the civilian population fled for the mainland during the Iraqi occupation. Few have returned.
Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2007/08/07 09:58:47 GMT
© BBC MMVII
It's Rachael, just checking in again. I'm still in Virginia. I'll be back in Tampa sometime before school starts, although I still haven't figured out exactly when. Hope all is well for everyone out there.
A friend e-mailed me this article yesterday and I thought I would share...
Alexander's Gulf outpost uncovered
By Neil Arun
BBC News
Alexander the Great's awe-inspiring conquest of Asia is drawing archaeologists to a desert island off the shores of Iraq.
Greek government experts are going to Failaka - a Gulf outpost of Alexander's army, now governed by Kuwait.
The island's bullet-holed buildings tell of a conflict still fresh in people's memories - Saddam Hussein's brief occupation of Kuwait in the early 1990s.
Beneath the sun-baked sands of Failaka, archaeologists hope to unearth the secrets of an earlier conquest - a settlement established by Alexander's general, Nearchus, in the 4th Century BC.
The excavations will focus on the ruins of an ancient citadel and cemetery, the general secretary of the Greek culture ministry, Christos Zahopoulos, told the BBC News website.
Earlier work by French archaeologists has uncovered the remnants of a temple to Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, as well as several Greek coins and idols.
'The first globalisation'
According to Michael Wood, the author of a book on Alexander, the period after the conqueror's death saw Hellenistic culture take root across a broad swathe of land, from India to Egypt.
He cites the example of Uruk, a site near Basra in southern Iraq, where inscriptions have been found bearing the names of the local ruling class.
The names, Wood says, are a hybrid of ancient Babylonian and Greek titles - and they date to several hundred years after Alexander's death.
Alexander's conquest of Asia also accelerated commerce in his colonies, giving rise to what Wood describes as "the first globalisation".
Failaka's position, at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates pour into the Gulf, means it would have been ideally placed to exploit this economic boom.
Mr Wood says the Greek team's findings may reveal more of how the ancient civilisations of the Gulf thrived on trade with their contemporaries in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
The Greek archaeologists will begin their excavations in November, Greece's culture ministry says. Much of the work will be centred around the site of the ancient town of Icarea.
According to Mr Zahopoulos, the team will also carry out restoration on artefacts and ruins that have already been unearthed.
Civilian flight
Alexander was born in 356BC to the king of Macedon, in northern Greece.
By his early thirties, he had conquered much of the ancient world, from Egypt to India.
He died at the age of 33 of a high fever in Babylon, in what is now Iraq.
Failaka's name is thought to descend from the Greek word for outpost - "fylakio."
Before the Greeks arrived, the island had been inhabited by the Bronze Age Dilmun civilisation.
By the time Saddam Hussein's troops invaded in 1990, the island had become the longest continually-inhabited site in Kuwait.
Most of the civilian population fled for the mainland during the Iraqi occupation. Few have returned.
Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2007/08/07 09:58:47 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Latin Theme Tattoo
One of my favorite movies is The Boondock Saints, and the main characters have latin themed tattoos on their hands: Justice and Truth
I was talking to my friend the other day who is a tattoo artist, and I asked him if he had ever tattooed latin words or phrases on someone. He said that he had, a few times actually, and that they have become more popular in the last couple years. This is one that he had done a few months ago.
Also latin themed tattoos are popular with celebrities. Angelina Jolie has one: it says ""QUOD ME NUTRIT ME DESTRUIT" meaning "WHAT NOURISHES ME ALSO DESTROYS ME."
I thought that was kinda cool
Corey Sloan
I was talking to my friend the other day who is a tattoo artist, and I asked him if he had ever tattooed latin words or phrases on someone. He said that he had, a few times actually, and that they have become more popular in the last couple years. This is one that he had done a few months ago.
Also latin themed tattoos are popular with celebrities. Angelina Jolie has one: it says ""QUOD ME NUTRIT ME DESTRUIT" meaning "WHAT NOURISHES ME ALSO DESTROYS ME."
I thought that was kinda cool
Corey Sloan
Quiz Question
Dr. M.,
Maria and I were reviewing verbs today and we noticed that on the test you gave today (8-8-07) you gave us the word divido. In the key you said the perfect stem was divisi, which it says in the back of the book. However, in the shaded box of chapter 32 it says the perfect stem is dividi, which is what we studied and therefore used to answer the quiz today. Which is it? Will our quiz grades be effected?
Thank you,
Lauren D and Maria B.
Maria and I were reviewing verbs today and we noticed that on the test you gave today (8-8-07) you gave us the word divido. In the key you said the perfect stem was divisi, which it says in the back of the book. However, in the shaded box of chapter 32 it says the perfect stem is dividi, which is what we studied and therefore used to answer the quiz today. Which is it? Will our quiz grades be effected?
Thank you,
Lauren D and Maria B.
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