#Working Classicists

[greekmythcomix]

Hey, it’s my Tumblr birthday today!

10 years making comics, 1 year on Tumblr!

Also I won an award! https://t.co/tYHMtESSyw

AND it’s the end of term on Friday! It’s a good week 😁

[lone-rhapsodist]

Quick update since I finally have some time to write.

Things at the new school are going well. It's challenging, but in a different way than I'm used to. I'm still having to manage my voice, I'm not losing it anymore but I'm still straining a bit. I'm getting better hold of my classes though, and that is a pleasure. Also, the kids are generally lovely and most of them understand when you tell them about misbehaviour or mistakes. I'm enjoying teaching some ancient Greek again after 4 years. Also, we are doing some mini-modules with Year 7 and 8 students about 'Homer and Epic' and 'Augustus and Virgil' respectively. They're still young, so we have to keep it simple, but it's a bit hard to do that when you're talking about oral-formulaic theory... Anyway, somehow we managed, and we even got to read some beautiful extended similes in translation, which left some of them quite stunned. Mission complete! So yeah, very happy with things so far.

The Classics society is going well. We had a board meeting recently, and we have our book club coming up this Monday. 3 people have confirmed they'll attend. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but for a recently formed society like ours, that's huge. I like the look of things so far. There's still lots of work to do and much room for development, but regardless, it's very promising.

As for Working Classicists, I mentioned some time ago that they had finally replied to my email. Their response was that, not only they were very happy to hear from me, but they were thinking very much along the same lines as me, as they were also about to soft-launch their own Discord server. So, they invited me to join, and they even offered me to become a Mod! I decided not to commit to that yet, but told them I would be very happy to join the server and take a look around. So far so good, there's definitely lots of lovely people there with the right kind of mentality when it comes to making Classics more accessible, inclusive etc, and it's pretty active for a new server. If they're okay with that, I might share an invite link on here, but I'll ask them first, just to be safe. There are still a few things to refine in terms of finding their form etc, but overall the server is already a beacon of hope in an otherwise desolate landscape, especially when it comes to making a Classics for the people that is also actually from the people -- for once at the forefront of the process of promoting the subject, not just subjected to it.

So yeah. Things are going well at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to get started on other, more personal projects as well. But otherwise, everything is fine. Let's hope it stays like that, and that it keeps getting better -- little by little, one step at a time.

[phoenix-joy]

Date: 12 Jul 2024 Author: George Connor Publication: Bloomsbury.com Blog OP article word count and reading time: 926, appro. 2 to 3.5 minutes Extracts below total word count and reading time: 301, appro. 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes. Hyperlinks within the extracted text are my own.

I'm a working-class student from an economically depressed background (despite living in Edinburgh) and went to school in low-attainment areas. While I have always had a passion for ancient history, myths, and other aspects of the Classical era, it is only recently that I've dared to dream I could actually do something with that love. The Open University has opened so many opportunities for me, but I know I'll have to work triply hard to take this anywhere. I hope that, some day, I can be part of the growing shift in trends.

Extract:

There can be few areas of study in the UK – or indeed overseas – which is so assailed by perceptions of class, elitism and privilege as Classics. Whether we will it or not, none of us would be fool enough to suggest the discipline isn’t weighed down by its image: private school, Oxbridge, Establishment.

...

The publicly-known Classicists we have are important because their voices and manners feed the popular consciousness of the subject. Let’s be honest, when the general public are asked about Classics they usually think you’re talking about Classical music, or – at a push – Literary Classics. They may know broadly about “ancient history” but the word “Classics” is often met with a blank face. It is arguable that the absence of Classics in most of our state schools has led to a situation where even the subject’s name is unknown in the broader population.

...

Thankfully, there are good people working through Classics for All, the Classical Association and in other organisations to make changes. Voices which were previously silenced are slowly beginning to be heard, and DEI policies in universities are now accounting for class as a protected characteristic. It is our hope that in the future this can be removed, as class will then no longer be a barrier to access.

But the struggle to make Classics truly a subject for everyone is ongoing and we are only at the start. Work is needed in schools to add Classical subjects to curricula; universities must expand state-school admissions, and begin training teachers for those state schools (a significant issue in Scotland); and institutions beyond academia must break the habit instinctively employing from the private-school/Oxbridge diaspora. Only by achieving these things can we demonstrate that a student does not need to come from privilege to explore Classics.

/end of extract

[lturnips]

Someone who doesn't know anything about greek mythology watching Kaos: yh this is probs pretty accurate

Someone who knows a fair bit about greek mythology watching Kaos: this is so inaccurate they have changed everything

Someone who had studied greek mythology watching Kaos: omg omg omg so much of this is so accurate

[johaerys-writes]

....the Iliad doesn’t have anything explicit, or even implicit, about our heroes having sex. Patroclus and Achilles sleep in the same tent, but the narrator tells us that each of the men has an enslaved woman at his side. I felt I had to respond to the reader’s possible expectations and possible disappointment in two ways. One was to discuss the Patrochilles relationship fairly extensively in the introduction and notes, and make clear the ways that it’s taken absolutely seriously, and is at the emotional heart of Achilles’ narrative arc. In the introduction, I also discuss the fact that the Iliad doesn’t treat sex as a measure of closeness or love—so the fact that the poem doesn’t tell us that Achilles and Patroclus had sex is in no way a sign that they’re less than everything to each other. The characters who do have sex in the Iliad—Helen and Paris, Hera and Zeus, and various warriors with the enslaved women whom they regularly rape—are not exactly doing so out of “love.” 

Within the translation itself, I knew that I had to convey the profound intimacy and love of Achilles and Patroclus; the reader or listener has to understand on a deep emotional level that Patroclus is Achilles’ person, and that without him, he is all but dead himself—and he also knows that his death is at least partly his own fault. You, the reader or listener, should feel his devastation.

“My friend Patroclus, whom I loved, is dead.

I loved him more than any other comrade.

I loved him like my head, my life, myself.

I lost him, killed him…. “

By the time you get to Book 18, if you don’t feel the full horror of that moment with your whole being, I’ve failed.

Excerpt from Enduring Epics: Emily Wilson and Madeline Miller on Breathing New Life Into Ancient Classics on Literary Hub

[littlefankingdom]

Things I NEED y'all to stop putting in Jason fics:

"Since Red Hood arrived, he cleaned up Crime Alley better than Batman ever has" First of all, this is not even the case in the comics, so y'all are making this up to make Jason's way "the right way". Second of all, if murdering criminals violently worked better, then that's what the cops would be doing, because, new flash, but the gov used to be way more violent, and crimes were worse, and the gov had to lower its violence, because we know it doesn't work and the gov didn't have enough good excuses to continue. If you think they are not waiting for an excuse to violently kill people, you are wrong. So, stop writing that shit, it's borderline fascist propaganda (violence is the only way to keep power/peace, so free real estate for us to kill anyone we label as criminals) You do not need to find excuses for Jason.

"Crime Alley is Jason's territory and the Bats cannot enter it without his permission" Also, not canon, never was. Are you all forgetting that Bruce's parents died in Crime Alley? That's how it got its name. It's where Batman was born. It's where Bruce goes to mourn his parents during patrols. It's an important location for the Batfam as a whole. It's where Dick thinks his siblings are not authorized to fight when Bruce is "dead"/gone because it is insulting Bruce's memory. It's the meeting points the Bats use multiple times. Batman's first night was probably in Crime Alley. Crime Alley is the mission, to make it a better place for its inhabitants is Bruce's goal. He is shown multiple times to be very protective of its people, especially in front of powerful figures (politicians/rich). As much as Bruce loves Jason, he would not give up Crime Alley. Yes, Jason grew up in Crime Alley, but Crime Alley was Bruce's before Jason was even born.

"Crime Alley hates the bats, except for Red Hood" Again, Batman has been protecting the people of Crime Alley since he started. He was the only one who fought for them against the people that hurt them, the cops not giving a fuck about the poor. Like, stop trying to paint Bruce as a rich guy disconnected from the people, that's not who he is and who he ever was (except for some storylines, but like, fuck these storylines). He has not live their struggles, but he has studied it, he cares about it. And, I can understand that not everyone in Gotham and Crime Alley likes Batman, of course. But to make children dislike Robin or NIGHTWING??? Dick's whole thing is how he is always everyone's favorite. He's an acrobat, he is flying with grace in the sky without powers, he is all smile and gentleness with children, no fucking way children don't like him.

"Dick killed the Joker for Jason." No, he killed the Joker in an act of rage and fear when he had Tim and threatened to kill him like the last one. BUT ALSO, and this is really important, DICK WAS HORRIFIED about what he had done. He hated himself and self-isolated, refused to listen to Bruce and Barbara when they tried to comfort him. This is not something he is proud of. Dick wouldn't be like "Yeah, I killed the Joker, but you know Bruce... I don't regret it." He does regret it. Bruce forgave him way faster than Dick forgave himself for killing the Joker. He would not do it again if he could, that's why it only happened once.

"Jason is mad at Bruce for being too late to save him." Nope. In Under The Red Hood, Jason literally tells Bruce he forgives him for not saving him. Jason was NEVER angry at Bruce for not saving him. Jason is mad because he thinks Bruce doesn't care about him. If Tim hadn't taken the Robin's mantle, Jason probably would have gone home, because that's what hurt him the most, the possibility that he was replaced in Bruce's eyes.

"Jason ran away because Bruce believed he killed someone" It was never explicit if Bruce did believe Jason pushed the rapist. But also, no. When Jason ran away, Bruce just benched him as Robin because he saw that Jason was hurting and needed help, and being a vigilante wasn't helping. Pls, read Death In The Family, Bruce was trying his best to support Jason and help him. Jason being violent at times is a sign, for Bruce, that Jason is hurting. He doesn't villanize Jason's actions. Don't be like DC writers and forget that Bruce knows that violence and aggression come from pain.

"The memorial is Bruce's making and Alfred hates it" WRONG, it's the contrary. Alfred made the memorial, Bruce was against it. Please, stop putting all the blame on Bruce and making Alfred perfect. Bruce hates the memorials, he hates his sons being remembered as soldiers. He put up with the memorials because it's Alfred. (I am so tired from y'all blaming Bruce for this one, omg) Also, while we are it, Alfred doesn't put up with Jason's bs. Jason can criticize Bruce, but there's a limit for Alfred.

[mollysunder]

Is it pretentious to think of Jinx as a kind of Promethean character? Jinx is defined just as much by her ability to steal from Piltover as she is by her own inventiveness and creativity.

No matter if it's a hexstone or a child's toy Jinx steals it from Piltover and brings it back to Zaun. Everytime Jinx does bring Piltovan tech to Zaun her modifications inevitably suit Zaun's needs, but each time Jinx does this, she's punished in turn.

Not exactly chained to a rock to have your liver eaten every day by an eagle, but Jinx's life is it's own elaborate punishment.

[somecunttookmyurl]

people trying to defend this classification system like "yes but" "well actually" "what if"

lads they got the dates of whole-ass eras wrong by multiple centuries, there are several objects that "could be 4th century BCE could be 19th century CE we'll never know" i think they might just be stupid

but above all you should not need higher education in classics, egyptology, archaeology, or museum studies to be able to even begin to parse the information presented

[wormholephobia]

Cave idus martias.

[meirimerens]

you know i'm very weird abt things that don't matter because just reading that sends me in a bestial frenzy like a switch flipping in my mind and i go GRRRRR FAKE FANNNN SAPPHO SPECIFICALLY WROTE IT AS SWEETBITTER γλυκύπικρος [γλυκύς (glukús, “sweet”) +‎ πικρός (pikrós, “bitter”)] IN THAT ORDERRR AND SO MUCH CAN AND HAS TO BE SAID ABOUT WHAT THIS ORDER OF SWEET FIRST BITTER THEN MEANS WITH REGARDS TO THE TRIANGULATION OF DESIRE AND THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF EROS AS A BOUNDARY THAT IS STRIVEN TOWARDS BUT NEVER REACHEDDD AAARRRGRGHHHHHH SAPPHO'S POEM LITERALLY BRINGS UP AND OUT AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT, IF NOT OPPOSITE CONCEPT AND CONCEPTUALIZATION OF DESIRE ARRRGRHRGHHH

IF YOU'RE GONNA WRITE A POEM ABOUT ONE CENTRAL PIVOTAL WORD IN A WORK WRITTEN IN LANGUAGE THAT IS NOTORIOUSLY HARD TO TRANSLATE IN ENGLISH ACCURATELY YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE BASING THE VERY ROOT AND FOUNDATION OF YOUR POEM ON SOMETHING THAT IS TEXTUALLY RELEVANT TO THE WORK YOU'RE TAKING AS INSPIRATION AGAGRGRRJRGING[being hosed down like a dog and choking on hosewater]

[bunny--manders]

Vadim is back in Plague Doctor but the writing team has yet to answer my most pressing question: Is he trained as a classicist or a medievalist

[fadeawaywithyou]

I wonder how much receipt paper is needed to write the illiad down in ancient greek...

[lone-rhapsodist]

This is the first time in weeks I am actually able to sit down and write something, and I am literally on the train to work. So you know I have barely had time to write. There is a lot going on with me, my partner, work. I can't wait for the summer to wash it all away. But in the meantime, there are problems, and they need solving, and that means lots and lots of thinking.

The only thing I really feel like sharing right now is that I have put together something to send to Working Classicists, and for once I am actually proud of my writing. I think it's very clear and to the point. I hope they'll like it.

I am also doing a lot of thinking about my Classics community project, along the lines of, what is worth doing -- what is worth keeping, and what dropping? Again, nothing specific I feel like sharing right now, but if this is to work, I definitely need to be a lot more precise with my approach. There is only so much time. I need to make sure I invest it properly.

That is all for now. I will try to give another update soon. In the meantime, thank you, and take care.

[local-queer-classicist]

In honor of my semester starting this week, I would just like to send a slightly unserious but still meaningful “🖕 fuck u 🖕” to teachers and professors who assign extra homework on Fridays because “students will have more time to work on the weekends” because no the fuck they do not. That is supposed to be the regular opportunity for tired, overworked students to rest and recharge, not your chance to pile on extra responsibilities to plow through your syllabus. This is how burnout happens. If your syllabus doesn’t allow for your students to have a weekend, you need to adjust your syllabus.

Extra and extremely serious “🖕 fuck you 🖕” to teachers and professors who assign mountains of extra work over holiday breaks. That is no longer a holiday and you fucking suck. How are people supposed to go visit family or spend time with friends or enjoy religious ceremonies or whatever they’re meant to be doing over holiday breaks if they need to write a 20 page research paper. Like come on.

IF YOUR SYLLABUS DOESN’T ALLOW FOR YOUR STUDENTS TO HAVE FAMILY, FRIENDS, OR RELIGIOUS COMMITMENTS, YOU NEED TO ADJUST YOUR SYLLABUS.

[diantha]

Was playing bg3 today and I had to legitimately stop and stand up and walk around after hearing this line. You know that clip of limmy where he hears a character in game making fun of someone for being Scottish and he’s like “is he talking to me?” That’s how I felt

[valiantvillain]

Nimona is finally coming to the screen and it makes me really wish I still had that ten-page paper I wrote in my undergrad comparing Nimona and Ovid's Scylla for a class on Ancient Greek and Roman monsters. The basic idea of the paper was puberty as a state of monstrosity. I was proud of that paper. Had pictures from the graphic novel and everything. And my professor liked it so much that he used it as an example essay for future classes.