I would just like to say that Professor Clark is really stressing me out right now. It is just not a good thing when after making a few mistakes you feel like the professor is out to get you with a vengeance. As my classmate said tonight, "I just feel like she's waiting for one little problem to do something drastic." It's just not a good feeling. I understand how teachers can sometimes feel persecuted, ganged-up on, or just under-appreciated. What little teaching experience I have has taught me that. It is also no good to have the situation reversed (or reciprocated, although I don't see how our dear opera history professor could possibly feel persecuted).
If any of you have ever read Little Town on the Prairie, you'll know what I mean when I say I feel like Laura having trouble with Miss Wilder. My situation is on a much smaller scale, mind you, and I don't think the animosity I'm sensing is personal, but still. It feels horrible and is so frustrating. Good teachers should never be quarrelsome and petty with their students. It is their responsibility to put that aside as the mature bestowers of knowledge that they are supposed to be. If I ever become a teacher I will always strive for that goal, no matter how hard it is.
For now, all I can do is be a good student for the few days I have left.
Posted by kallipareos at 10:07 PM 3 comments
Sunday, April 13, 2008 - Exactly one month later...
I've been meaning to post, I actually started a post, and I may one day finish that post.
But just now, sitting on a warm, buttery leather couch in the Grewcock Student Union, I just had to share with you something that made me laugh. A few minutes ago, a youngish, largish looking guy walked by with his youngish, largish looking wife and their two cute little boys. "This is the hope of America, sitting here in this building" he said to his family.
I'm doing Latin. And about to be late to hear Laura sing in a Mozart Mass at her church. And over my left shoulder on the snackbar TV there is a professional bowling match on ESPN. The main tactic seems to be to knock over all the pins except the extreme right, and then wow everybody by knocking that one off with the second ball.
Posted by kallipareos at 2:27 PM 2 comments
Thursday, March 13, 2008 - Amusing
It appears I haven't been having many thoughts recently. That is an unfortunate side affect of midterms: the brain is too occupied to think. Tonight I have to write two papers, though, so I hope my creative ability kicks back in. This post can be my warm up.
And thus I justify a study break!
Having served as inspiration for my cousin, I am now inspired by her to record an amusing incident for future enjoyment. I arrived at my opera history class this morning to find the room already occupied by the charming music department secretary and a certain gentleman - a donor. He looked like a donor, old, and wearing dark pants and a dark turtleneck with a sports coat. And he had a long gold necklace with a type of pendant on it. Looking back, it might have been an amulet. Anyway, I knew that a donor would be on campus to give a "concert" this week. It ended up being at the Kappa house. Go figure. At least I didn't have to go.
But just wait. He was in the room because our class meets in the Conrad Recital hall, a very small auditorium where student recitals are sometimes held. He wanted to try out the piano. So after the secretary unlocked the piano, he sat down to play. We waited - at this point I was the only student out of our three-person class to have arrived - myself and Professor Clark. Before long, he turned to the side and asked Professor Clark's first name.
"Renee"
"Oh, Renee - your name means compassionate. I sense a spirit of compassion in you."
He then went on to explain how he just plays what he feels, from the energy he gets from the person he's playing for. That nothing goes on "up here" in his head. It just comes out in his fingers. So he played a kind of peaceful improvisation with a lot of broken chords. Nice and flowy and relaxed. I guess it sounded compassionate. Prof Clark asked him if he had tried any of the other pianos. Downstairs. He said no, not yet. He remained at the piano bench. She asked what he did for a living. He was a retired teacher, but he left that in '90 and headed in a spiritual direction. He believes we all are teachers, supporting each other's spirits. And he proceeded talking in that new-age, mystical manner. Until he turned to me.
"And what's your name?"
"Katie."
"Katie - you're playful; I can tell you have a really joyful spirit."
My piece sounded a lot like the compassion piece. Except it was thankfully shorter, which meant he finally left the room and we could finally laugh. I really wish I had a transcript. He was so serious about it! Then we learned about Richard Wagner, including the fact that his daughter-in-law was good friends with Hitler.
Posted by kallipareos at 6:56 PM 6 comments
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 -News Flash
Surprise! Google is smarter than I am. I kept staring at this phrase someone wrote on Facebook, "imeo Danaos et dona ferens" I knew it was something about Greeks bearing gifts, but I didn't recognize the first word. It wasn't in the dictionary. So I decided to Google it. That wonderful search engine immediately responded "Did you mean 'timeo Danaos et dona ferens'?" Oh...uh...yes...of course. I am excellent at detecting Latin typos. The phrase means, as you may already know, I fear even Greeks bearing gifts. (Wow, that was a lame story...but I'm leaving it.)
It is snowing again. It would be nice if Latin tutoring were cancelled tomorrow, but I kind of hope it's not. It would be bad for the kids to go more than a week without any practise.
Besides homework, which is plentiful, I am trying to organize my immediate future. My two latest and greatest leads are teaching English overseas somewhere, and enrolling in a post-baccalaureate program in classical studies. The former would be a wonderful experience and allow me to pay off school loans. The latter would let me be a student for another year (thereby putting off the repayment of loans) and give me a chance to find out if graduate school is something I'm at all interested in. Oh the possibilities!
Posted by kallipareos at 6:27 PM 7 comments
Friday, February 29, 2008 - Narnia
I thought I was getting used to living in a land where snow is commonplace, but for the past week it has been snowing...and snowing...and snowing. SO MUCH SNOW. More more more.
If rain weren't in the forcast for Monday, I would fear being trapped into Whitley by a giant snowbank. It's kind of fun. I just wish I owned a pair of snowshoes.
Posted by kallipareos at 11:52 PM 2 comments
Sunday, February 24, 2008 - Too Good
Laura requested something of interest to a broader range of readers. Well, scarcely anything is as universal as disgust at multi-talented people. Is it not so? I'm sure everyone knows at least one of these people (for example, someone who plays a musical instrument phenomenally well, and who, as you come to find out once you've reconciled yourself to the one talent, does calculus for fun and is a gourmet chef on the side). The extent to which this feeling is shared across time and space was brought to my attention while reading Cicero yesterday.
"But human beings do not like the same man excelling in a number of different fields."
--Cicero in Penguin Classic's On Government, pg. 247
Apparently even great Roman orators recognized this natural aversion to polymaths.
Posted by kallipareos at 11:11 AM 6 comments
Monday, February 18, 2008 - Everyone's Favorite Rodent?
Hillsdale College students and alumni may be interested to read these excerpts gathered here about our unofficial mascot (go to the entry dated February 17).
Posted by kallipareos at 11:12 PM 2 comments
Sunday, February 17, 2008 - A Bit of Pedantry
Do read this statement about Cato the Elder:
"His baleful charisma endures, his campaign to refashion Rome in his own image as successful today as ever." His baleful charisma...is that not just fantastic! Who says textbook writers can't have fun? A few lines later we read:
"The pernicious fictions purveyed by Cato were perforce opposed."
Such style! Note the alliterative pattern of p-sound + word, p-sound + word, p-sound + word, and the center position of Cato who is of main importance to the sentence. Too bad my paper is on ancient Roman authors. I could write just as well about Oliver Taplin, editor of Literature in the Roman World. Okay, sorry. That is all I have for today.
Posted by kallipareos at 1:50 PM 2 comments
Saturday, February 16, 2008 - Here's a thought...
Have you ever considered that perhaps every one of us is an actor, just very selective of the roles we accept?
Posted by kallipareos at 7:00 PM 2 comments
Sunday, February 10, 2008 - A Boring Post
This will be a boring post. I shall begin with the weather.
This weekend has been excruciatingly cold, the current outside temperature being 0° and the projected low -1° Farenheit. Walking more than a couple of blocks outside poses a threat to such bodily extremities as fingers, toes, and noses. I'm sure the snow is beautiful, but can hardly appreciate it due to my eyes watering from the high wind. The adverse conditions help keep life interesting. It's hard to get bored when you're fighting for your very survival.
In less than two weeks I need to
-play piano for an SAI musicale
-turn in the first Roman Lit paper
-take translation exams in Koine Greek and Latin Prose Compostion
That's all I have to say for now. I am much more interesting when I lack sleep, you see.
Posted by kallipareos at 7:04 PM 2 comments
Thursday, February 7, 2008 - Back on Track
Having detected some concern, I just wanted to reassure you, gentle reader, that I did indeed finish my homework. I even caught up in Greek, much to the relief of my professor. More to the point, I want to clarify an understandable misunderstanding. A certain commentator, whom I can only imagine to be my one-and-only cousin Anna, stated that I pulled an all-nighter "to finish homework." While I understand that some people keep the company of the stars for such noble quests as academic study, mine is a lowlier pursuit. For you see, reader, there is scarcely anything else in the world better than a few good hours to fritter away in frivolity. And that is just what I wanted - nay, needed.
Don't worry, I'll sleep soon.
Posted by kallipareos at 5:04 PM 1 comments
Post #2
Having been with Blogger all of, oh, about seven hours now, I can say that while I am greatly enjoying my return to the world of non-serious blogging, I wish there were some system to assemble all the blogs that I wish to follow (similar to Xanga's subscriptions or Live Journal's friends page). I suppose I could link them all on the side of my page, or subscribe to the RSS feed of each. But neither of those methods seems significantly different from simply bookmarking each blog. Hmm...I will have to consider this in my free time.
Update -
proposal is finished
invitations are finished
Homer is progressing
Posted by kallipareos at 10:52 AM 2 comments
Salvete
I have had quite the productive night, the fruits of which include
- browsing various galleries on deviantArt
- taking pictures of the beautiful Michigan snowfall
- figuring out the capabilities of my camera
- finding tips how to take the best night-time photographs
- checking Facebook, of course
- learning about RSS feeds
- backing up all Xanga posts from the last four years and then shutting down that blog
- starting this blog
You may or may not have noticed that this list does not include
- writing a research paper proposal
- translating 65 lines of Homer
- addressing cards for SAI
There's still plenty of time, not to fear. But aren't you glad I'm here?
Posted by kallipareos at 4:00 AM 0 comments
No comments:
Post a Comment