NFL+Classics

As a Classicist often I have prized myself with never giving into such trivial things as Reality Shows, Sports, or other leisurely or "otium" ideals. However, being in relationship with a historian who is able to see an opportunity to learn not only personally but methodically from the popular iconography and lifestyles of today- I have learned.
 I did not watch a single game of NFL football until I was 21 years old. I matter I prized myself on, since as a proud member of academia my time was better spent reading, researching, or realizing bigger and better goals.
 However, it was one Edward Serrano that pointed out to be that NFL teams, coaches, and quarterbacks are the modern day generals similar to Ancient Rome. They are "in your face" politicians who flout their schemes, maneuvers, and victories all over the media and in the public face. I find it similar to the culture of Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars or even Augustus' Res Gestae Divi . They show the public how their victories come about and leave them idolizing players even similar to Gladiators and the Games.However, the players may be renowned for the skill, but ultimately it is the general "coach" who is remembered for several "plays" and "strategies" and not for a simple "Hail Mary." One could argue that winning the Superbowl is a modern day triumph for these "generals."





The following was written about RG3, the rookie quarterback who took the Redskin to the Playoffs.

Imagine, Mr. President, years from now. Griffin runs for governor of Texas. Who would bet against him? Highly educated, devoutly Christian, a native son, a Hall of Fame quarterback in the most football-crazed state in the union. It may seem high-flown, horse-before-the-cart kind of thinking, but if it's not in the back of Griffin's mind, why, I ask you, would he have learned Latin? Latin.


At the height of his college career, when his days were packed with football and schoolwork and charity and a girlfriend, Griffin voluntarily took an accelerated class in the language of Caesar. (Maybe he wants to be emperor. Robertus Griffinus Tertius.) Could it be that he wanted to know the language of the Founding Fathers, the language that refined and honed the genius of Jefferson and Adams?

His professor, Tommye Lou Davis, says Griffin was one of the finest students she's ever had, and the most conscientious. She remembers the first day of class. She arrived early, as always, and was shocked to find the school's star quarterback already there. It was early morning, he was coming from a two-hour workout, and yet he was waiting for her.

He then sat front and center (his seat in most classes, and in the Redskins' classroom) and methodically laid waste to Horace, Ovid, Virgil. His translations were perfect, Davis says. His declensions and conjugations sublime. And he found time and energy to tutor fellow students.

Davis describes a day when she handed back a stack of graded tests. Before opening his, Griffin turned to a student he'd been tutoring and asked in a whisper how the student had done. The student gave thumbs-up. Only then did Griffin smile, relax, check his own grade. To Davis, that was the epiphany, from the Latin epiphania. He cares, honestly cares, about others. Translation: He's not what we've come to expect from phenoms. "Robert is real," she says. "People are hungry for something real."

The whole article may be found at:RG3 and Latin

Latin for Latin Speakers

 Language is often taken for granted in this technology driven age. Students find themselves relying more and more on auto spell check, dictionaries, translating devices, and so on to aid them in their study and command of their own native language along with those they are taught or under take to learn.
  Latin is somewhat of a more difficult idea. While it is considered a dead language....dead in the sense of the lack of common day speech- it is still alive and thrives.


As the following can be seen: Septimana

Septimana Californiana, based on the lovely campus of Loyola Marymount University, is a full-immersion Latin workshop offering thought-provoking discussions, readings from Latin literature, Latin composition exercises, communal meals (most of which are included in the price), and informative lectures given by expert Latin speakers on a variety of topics. Participants will also enjoy guided tours, given in Latin, to many of Los Angeles' sights. Excursions include the Huntington Library, the Getty Center, the Long Beach Aquarium, and downtown Los Angeles.
Program Dates: July 1-8, 2013
Head Instructor: Dr. Stephen Berard, World Languages, Wenatchee Valley College.


As also can be seen are podcast from Finland: Nuntii Latini

TedED. Roman Family

TedEd.Four sisters in Ancient Rome - Ray Laurence
How did the young, wealthy women of Ancient Rome spend their days? Meet Domitia and her sister Domitia and her sister Domitia and her sister Domitia. Ray Laurence sketches the domestic life of leisure that these young girls lived, despite little recorded information on women from this otherwise well-documented era.

Ray Laurence (University of Kent):
After completing his PhD, Ray taught Roman history in four Universities (in the same week!) as a part-time sessional teacher (Durham, Manchester, Lancaster and Newcastle) before moving on to a temporary and then permanent appointment as a lecturer at the University of Reading.
Over 13 years in Reading, he taught Roman History and contributed to courses on the Classical Tradition. This included the development of the teaching of the City of Rome to both undergraduates and postgraduates. In 2005, he moved to the University of Birmingham - where he taught courses on Pompeii; Roman Italy; and contributed to the multi-disciplinary module on Cities.
He has been appointed as Chair of the Canterbury Heritage Partnership, which has been established by Canterbury City Council with a view to the development of plans relating to the future of Museums in Canterbury (including the Roman Museum) and the Coastal district (including Herne Bay Museum).
Ray has supervised PhD students to completion on a variety of topics in Roman History, Roman Archaeology and the Reception of Antiquity. He particularly welcomes PhD applicants who wish to work in his areas of research expertise in Roman Social History and Roman Archaeology.


                                        




























Courtesy :http://ed.ted.com/lessons/four-sisters-in-ancient-rome-ray-laurence

First Generation College Graduates

It’s All Greek

Cancer survivor and classics major first in family to graduate

When [you are a first-generation college student], the logic is that you’re going to go to college, study science and math and get an engineering job, and become rich,” Herr says. “Not that you’re going to read books and teach somewhere and not be rich. [My parents] have always been supportive, but they’ve always wondered why I’d go to school for 10 years if I wasn’t going to end up loaded at the end of it.”




As, a first year college graduate myself, I can completely relate to this.












Courtesy: http://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/05/its-all-greek/