Now, I'm afraid that I'm misinforming some of you. Some of you don't know quite how big of a deal I am. (Narcissistic, I know.) (Hey, another classical allusion!)
Again, I'm kidding, but I'm a little serious. Not about the fact that I'm a super big deal, but I think some of my friends from college or more casual acquaintances, or anyone who's stumbled across this by accident (doubtful, I know) really don't know exactly where I'm coming from with this entire enterprise.
First, I understand that a classics blog can be seen as foolish. By definition, everything that I'm talking about is old news. I counter that by saying that, if you believe that, you definitely didn't read the last post.
Second, however, I've said nothing of my background, or even why the hell I'm studying something that has no viable career options except for translator, teacher, or specialist on a History Channel special about perverted Roman emperors (of which there are many). As I've learned, you need to know the past in order to move forward. So, without further ado, my past. (Or the recent past, anyway.)
I started Latin on a whim. As an 8th grader, I'd heard stories of the crazy Latin program at our local high school, and was fed up with mediocre Spanish teachers. Not only was our Latin program actually crazy (see incredibly dangerous chariot races), it was highly effective, and was a consistently growing language program with a large amount of people who continued after they completed their required 2 years of language. Which is weird, because Latin's dead, right?
Junior year, in the midst of the usual college list existential crisis, I found out something very important about myself: I am a teacher. Now, this sounds cornier than Kansas in August, but I've seen teachers who can turn a class from a chore to a haven and somewhere I loved to be. I was lucky to have a series of english teachers who were really good at electrifying a class in this way. So, having decided this, I also realized that I was hot shit at Latin in addition to loving the class, so I may as well throw Latin teacher into the mix.
Because I am an insufferable dork, I jumped at the opportunity to join a small classics themed pilot program that was the brainchild of my crazy Latin teacher called the "Classics Academy."
Best decision of my life.
Over the course of my senior year, I learned how to speak my mind. I was deeply steeped in the classical tradition, devouring the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Oresteia, the Aeneid (translated from the Latin in one of the most protracted, painful experiences in my life), bits of Ovid, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, modern takes like Mourning Becomes Electra by O'Neill. The mission statement of the program was to connect the classics to our real and everyday lives, and each of the nine members of our fledgling program created a final thesis on this topic.
My thesis? A retelling of the Trojan War from Odysseus' perspective. I'm not going to lie, I have always had a massive crush on Odysseus, and as we dug into the epics, I was struck by what stories were missing or incomplete. As my friends relaxed during the infamous "second semester senior" slack off mode, I frothed at the mouth attempting to finish my meticulously researched and cross referenced (with my stack of mythology books and primary texts). The sick thing about this is that I enjoyed writing, even though it was sucking my lifeblood as my friends reveled in their college acceptances and lack of work. Masochistically, I loved looking up that warrior's epithet for the third time because it was 2 AM and I'd forgotten it again.
Worth it. Brief recountings of mine and my wonderful incomparable academy-mates and best friends' projects can be found here, but there is nothing that can describe how it felt to stand up in front of a packed room of people and be in total command of my subject. I had become the expert. I knew more about the Trojan War than any other person in the room, including my Latin teacher, the sole exception being my beloved mentor, Ms. Laudadio, who just so happened to have a doctorate in Mythology. And throughout the process, the Greek and Trojan warriors and their wives and children became essential to my being. I am permanently dyed. You cannot separate Meghan the person from Meghan the classics major.
Fast forwarding to now, I am a classical civilization major at Boston University. I'm beginning the confusing process of getting a dual degree with our School of Education so that I will be able to teach English (hopefully) right out of school in 2015. I'm learning Ancient Greek, reading and re-reading the old texts, and browsing through my coffee-stained Robert Graves The Greek Myths when I feel the need to look up alternate accounts of Orestes' return to Argos.
And I like it that way.
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