October 2010
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Excavation Class - Ostia Antica →
September 2010
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“In wretchedness I lie here, gripped by longing
Lifeless, with bitter pains sent...”
– Fragment 193, by Archilochus, earliest known lyric poet, from the Aegean Islands. Wrote between 675-640 BC.
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Ten reasons to go to UW-Madison
athenaergane:
Humans vs. Zombies
Our mascot is a large omnivorous weasel.
The Statue of Liberty is too heavy to walk on our lake.
We occasionally have snowball fights instead of class.
One of our campus buildings is riot-proof.*
Obama visited.
We have a view of Lake Mendota.
We have effigy mounds on our campus (needless to say, our Anth department is BAMF).
We have several LARPing clubs...
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The Return of Odysseus
When Odysseus finally does get home he is understandably upset about the suitors, who have been mooching off his wife for twenty years, drinking his wine, eating his mutton, etc. In a similar situation today he would seek legal counsel. But those were different times. With the help of his son Telemachus he slaughters roughly one hundred and ten suitors and quite a number of young ladies, although...
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THE ONE WHO ULTIMATELY EATES MY FOOD
thebellyrulesthemind:
SIDI GIRL
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Bradbury's →
Went to Bradbury’s this afternoon with athenaergane. The sweet and/or savory crepes are so damn good.
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athenaergane:
“To successfully attack the city, a warrior would have needed to dismount from his chariot and climb into and out of the ditch, all the while dodging arrows shot by the defending Trojans; it would then have been necessary to run through 1200 ft. of terrain and subsequently scale a stone wall over 27 ft. high. This made the city practically impregnable.”
—
Assessing the Evidence...
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“What shapes galaxies and keeps them from flying apart?
There’s that...”
– Agha Shahid Ali, excerpt from “Of It All” from Call Me Ishmael Tonight
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“Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.”
– Thomas Jefferson (via katherinekim)
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“Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”
– Thomas Jefferson (via jaknel)
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“Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;...”
– Max Ehrman, Desiderata
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Spent the evening looking over a number of graduate school departments and their faculty. Resigned to the fact that I’ll be shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for application fees, because I’ll be applying to not a few places to improve my odds of getting in.
I’m cold and tired and this process is making me feel ill. Save for the point at which I was looking over...
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“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees...”
– Carl Sagan (via thingsofconsequence)
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If I Were...
(via:sisterspock)
If I were a month, I’d be August.
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday.
If I were a time of day, I’d be after dinner.
If I were a celestial body, I’d be Orion.
If I were an animal, I’d be a lion.
If I were a direction, I’d be Northeast.
If I were a liquid, I’d be black tea.
If I were a gemstone, I’d be amber.
If I were a tree, I’d be a pine.
If I were a flower, I’d...
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“For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.”
– Carl Sagan (via sisterspock)
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Discovering ancient Pompeii with iPad →
Interesting, but I’m a bit old-fashioned.
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This week’s form for English 307- Abecedarian. Making things difficult for myself by not only following the “ABC…” rule for the first letter of each line, but then having the last letter of each line correspond with “ZYX…”
Currently using an astronomy glossary for my poem and entitling it “For Carl.” I’m such a nerd so cool.
ETA: Is the...
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Went to see one of my history professors today,
to talk about grad school. I hadn’t had a one-on-one conversation with this man previously; had two Roman history courses with him, seen him around department events. Headed to his office with a couple questions, expected generic answers, some encouragement to go and look shit up myself, wasn’t sure if I could get a recommendation letter from him. Went in, he asked me about my other...
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“The ditches could not have collected water running downhill in an attempt to...”
– -Jablonka and Rose: “Late Bronze Age Troy: A Response to Frank Kolb”
… well, duh.
(via athenaergane)
Shhhh I haven’t read these articles yet… Spoiler alert!
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“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
– Vincent Van Gogh (via rosarlene)
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k, getting off tumblr and google maps and getting to work. time to write up the record of how many instances of decapitation or other head trauma occurs in the Aeneid and Odyssey. also: tend to poetry workshop reviews, review Iliad, read Rose and Jablonka articles for Troy… and then maybe draft personal statements for grad school aps. heu misera sum.
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Favorite Gelateria in the World →
K2 Gelateria
2 scoops with/without fresh cream for 1 euro. Best stracciatella and pistachio ever, in addition to about 20 great other flavors. A small place, of course no Della Palma. But it will remain my favorite. Had it near every night while at Instituto. Enjoyed it walking on the boardwalk, heading down the road to Il Chiosco di Stabia, or for a different drink, to one of the many spring-fed...
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Castellammare di Stabia →
On the switchback road up the the Vesuvian Institute, looking out onto the city. Walked up and down this way many a time to/from the circumvesuviano, Il Chiosco, Kappa Duo Gelateria, the boardwalk, etc.
(Interwebs and satellite imaging, you are destroying my productivity.)
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Ponte Sisto →
Ponte Sisto- also best on a lovely Friday night, standing over the Tiber enjoying gelato.
Everything had a golden hue by the street lights, the water, the stone of the bridge, Romans milling about, that company I cherished. The city lights pollute the night sky, drowning out the stars, and usually I rail against it, but that night that which was illuminated, that filled my vision, was all that...
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Fontana del Gianicolo →
This fountain was its best at night, walking after gelato, standing at the rail looking out over Rome, lit by more streetlight than starlight.
(p.s. Google maps, can I bake you a cake or something, I love you so much)
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I’m taking a creative writing workshop this semester: English 307, Poetry in Forms. This week’s assignment: 20 lines of blank verse. I’m writing a poem about Troy (kind of). And it includes some Latin— though it’s iambic pentameter, not dactylic hexameter; it’s throwing me off.
Am I able to keep one of my classes non-Classics related? Evidently not.
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The River of Heaven
itsfullofstars:
That’s how the japanese call the Milky Way: 天の川 (amanogawa), the River of Heaven.
A brief list of our galaxy’s names in different cultures:
Latin: Via Lactea = “Milky Way”, translated from Greek.
Icelandic: Vetrarbrautin = “The Winter Way.”
Swedish: Vintergatan = “Winter Street”, because it is more visible during the winter in Scandinavia and looks like a snowy street.
...
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