Bibliophiles Unite! etc.
If you haven't already heard (and where have you been, I might ask), be sure to check Library Thing, brought to you by Tim Spalding, whose other sites, Isadore of Seville and the Ancient Library, have been discussed here before.
It's an easy-to-use online database of your books. Now you don't have to invite people to the apartment to show off your book collection. That means more beer and food for you.
On an unrelated note, I'm looking at a copy of Graham Zanker's Realism in Alexandrian Poetry, and it makes me wonder if there's anything realistic in my hope to re-read all the Greek epic I can get my hands on this week (and by epic I don't mean just 'heroic' epic).
And on another unrelated note, I have my first teaching duties this Friday, filling in at a local private school. I'll mainly be proctoring tests, thanks to the kindness and planning of the usual teacher, but I'll have my hands full with one eighth grade class dealing with the 3rd and 4th conjugations.
That I can handle. But do you have any encouraging words for a guy stepping in front a class of kids for the first time?
Magister Coke?
2 comments:
From James Hilton's Goodbye Mr. Chips:
Chips often thought, as he sat by the fire at Mrs. Wickett's: I am probably the only man in the world who has a vivid recollection of old Wetherby.... Vivid, yes; it was a frequent picture in his mind, that summer day with the sunlight filtering through the dust in Wetherby's study. "You are a young man, Mr. Chipping, and Brookfield is an old foundation. Youth and age often combine well. Give your enthusiasm to Brookfield, and Brookfield will give you something in return. And don't let anyone play tricks with you. I -- er -- gather that discipline was not always your strong point at Melbury?"
"Well, no, perhaps not, sir."
"Nevermind; you're full young; it's largely a matter of experience. You have another chance here. Take up a firm attitude at the beginning -- that's the secret of it."
Everyone who teaches Latin should try to be more like Chips.
~Andrew Mihailoff
On a practical note: IN CONGUGATIONS 4 AND 3, THE SIGN OF THE FUTURE IS LONG "E"!
On a spiritual note: Don't be afraid to display your boundless and undying enthusiasm for Latin, Greek, and classical studies. Tell them if they think "Troy" was good, wait till they read Homer and Ares, Apollos, and Aphrodite actually come down from Mount Olympus and join in the fighting! Tell them if they're really good, you'll show them some Harry Potter in Latin. What they need most right now is a reason to believe that what they are doing is cool.
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