Archive for 2008Page 4
Festival of Dionysus IV
On Saturday, May 3rd students performed skits from Greek and Roman drama in celebration of Dionysus, ancient theater, the coming of spring, and the arrival of friends and family for Honors Day. Distinguished judges Will Frieiert, Henry McCarthy, and Steve Reese, who arrived all the way from the St. Olaf College awarded first prize to […]
New/Old Bust of Caesar
Read all about it here PARIS – Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France’s Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known. The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers […]
Lavinia speaks
A new novel about Lavinia written by Ursula Le Guin has just come out. Read Salon’s reviewhere. “Oh Lavinia,” says the ghost of a poet to the title character of Ursula K. Le Guin’s new novel, “Lavinia,” “You are worth ten Camillas. And I never saw it.” The ghost is Virgil, the great Latin poet […]
Politics and the Olympics: Fire and Fascism
Read Mary Beard on the fascist origins of the Olympic torch relay and the political nature of the Olympics even in ancient times. Hardly any commentator stops to mention that this silly torch ceremony has nothing to do with the ancient Greeks, and was really invented to be a magnificent shot in Leni Riefenstahl’s movie […]
Before ‘300’ There Was ‘The Warriors’
From the New York Times: As reflected on this Sunday’s letters page, readers took us to task after Colson Whitehead — in his March 2 back-page essay, “I Write in Brooklyn. Get Over It” — called Walter Hill’s 1979 youth-gang cult film “The Warriors” “a glorious B-movie version of “The Odyssey.” Whitehead, of course, is […]
Tibetan Protest in Olympia
The ancient Greek site of the Olympics, which serves as a starting point for the Olympic torch relay is the scene of modern day political protest. read the article here watch the video here
Comedy Last Month
Plautus has been in the Gustavian air this past month. The drama department at Gustavus put on a production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum on the last weekend of February and the first weekend of March. The play was hilarious and a smashing success–especially the Feb 29th performance, which […]
Hercules in the Kitchen
An interesting article on the history of African-American chefs at the White House. Read it here. Some kitchen stories are complicated — full of mystery and missing pieces … “Hercules and Hemings” is one of these stories. In this piece, Hidden Kitchens turns its focus to the president’s kitchen and to some of the first […]
Fancy Footwear
From this blog about Rome. Make your own! Click here for more information.
Dancing with Vergil
Read about Mark Morris’ new dance production of Dido and Aeneas here. Mark Morris’s “Dido and Aeneas” is that remarkable rarity: a work of modern art that looks as though it has come down to us through the ages.