Archive for November, 2010
Dick Van Dyke = Modern Day Arion
According to Herodotus, Arion was a famous lyre player who was kidnapped by pirates and saved by a dolphin when he leapt overboard. More than 2 1/2 millenia later, Dick van Dyke (star of Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) was rescued by porpoises after he fell asleep on his surfboard and drifted […]
SUNY Albany Eliminates Classics and Other Humanities Departments
On hearing that the State University of New York, Albany eliminated five humanities departments, including classics, Prof. Gregory A Petsko from Brandeis University wrote an article addressed to the university’s president. It’s long but worth a read–especially at a time when budget cuts force us all to ask: What the worth of a college education, a […]
Kathy Gaca
(This is a bit late–apologies) Professor Kathy Gaca from Vanderbilt University delivered a talk entitled “Warfare Beyond the Battle in Classical Antiquity” at Gustavus on Thursday, October 21st. Her talk challenged the dominant notion of warfare as armed man-to-man violence, looking instead at practices that attacked women and girls. Professor Gaca is a nationally renowned scholar of women […]
Ted Turner: “Classical Snob” and “Jackass.” Or “What My Classics Major Can Do For Me”
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/major/ A New York Times piece on the real significance of a college major begins with this quote from a letter written by Ted Turner’s father: I am appalled, even horrified, that you have adopted Classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on my way home today. … I am a […]