A good day

Yesterday was a good day. It was a crazy busy one for Daniel - appointments, two tests, classes, covering shifts at the studio - but he made it through! One of those tests was to test out of having to take a preliminary lecture in the history of audio engineering, and he passed!!! This is particularly exciting not only because it is one less class he has to take, but also he can start taking actual hands-on audio classes next semester. Go Daniel!

Also, I made all my arrangements for the American Philological Association conference in Philadelphia this January! (Yes, I know, I'm a nerd!) I was looking over the schedule just now, and I'm really excited about it. There are several panels on ancient near eastern topics and late antiquity, which have been capturing my interest this semester. And two of my friends from ASU will be there, and it will be great to catch up with them!

So, it's officially paper time, and I'm quite nervous about it. I have a paper due this coming Friday, and I'm having a total block on it. It's for "Ancient Origins of Religious Conflicts", which is primarily a history class, and I've never really written a "history" paper. I write papers on specific texts, which may incorporate other people's interpretations of historical events as they pertain to the texts, but I've never written a paper like that myself. It's hard! Events have a never-ending amount of causes and repercussions, and connections to current events, so which do you choose to include? Alas! :)

My paper for Latin seminar will be much more fun, and more up my alley. I'll be discussing the use of descriptive language in different authors' tellings of the Hylas myth (Herakles' "squire"/pederastic love interest). Most specifically I'll be looking at how non-narrative elements such as descriptions of sights and sounds have a narrative function. My paper topic for Greek seminar is still in the works, but I have an idea and need to ok it with my professor. I want to look at the Greek construction of the Persians as Other and Enemy, and how that specific construction was used later in antiquity for propaganda and polemical works - specifically, how Augustus used it to characterize his battles against Antony, and how Philo used it to characterize Egyptians and not Romans as responsible for the first pogroms and violence against Jews in Alexandria.

Okay, so have I bored everyone yet? Sorry, there's just not much else on my mind right now except school work! That, and looking forward to seeing everyone in Arizona a Christmas time.