Summer Latin Institute - Weekend 1A

Today is my first day off from the Summer Latin Institute. Slept till after 8:00 a.m.

Yesterday, DAY 5, included morning drills as usual, and optional lunchtime grammar review and sight reading as usual, but no new grammar in the afternoon. Instead, we reviewed for Monday's exam by doing some verb synopses and sight-reading some sentences designed to illustrate all the main grammatical forms and constructions we studied during the week.

Afterwards, we had a little wine and cheese reception for all of our students, Latin and Greek alike. We let our hair down (except for Carlos, who had all of his shaved off on Thursday night), drank, nibbled, and chatted. Interestingly, all of my conversations with students ended up being about Pedagogishness-type material—the plight of the humanities, the current state of academia and public education, the future of humanistic endeavor. And it was not I who pushed the conversation in those directions; these are the issues our students are interested in, even passionate about. 

Came home about 6:00 p.m. and took a little nap on the living room sofa while All Things Considered played on the stereo and I waited for Jason to come home. A few minutes after 7:00, our friends Hugh and Alex arrived, and after a couple of IPAs from the local deli, we went to dinner at Do or Dine, one of several artisanal eateries that have sprung up around our Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in the past couple of years. After dinner, Jason and I drove Hugh and Alex back home to Astoria, and then we came home and went straight to bed. Today I hope to go for a run and find some time to sit with Jason in a local cafe and do the New York Times Sunday crossword.

Of course, my phone will be on all weekend; students are studying for their first Latin exam.

More soon... 

Note: The opinions expressed in this blog entry are those of the blogger, and do not represent the opinions of the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute, its students, faculty, or administration.