Now is the time for drinking...

As archeologists inch ever closer to finding the tomb of Cleopatra, take another look at Horace's wonderful Odes I.37, more commonly known as his "Cleopatra Ode." Cleopatra, from the beginning, has been a figure hard to get one's head around.

Notice how, despite its initial hatred toward the prisoner (who's unnatural for any number of reasons, not the least of which is her being a woman) and genuine joy about her capture, by the end the poem reflects a respect for an honorable enemy who faces defeat (well, just like a man).

XXXVII. Nunc Est Bibendum. (translated by John Conington)

Now drink we deep, now featly tread
A measure; now before each shrine
With Salian feasts the table spread;
The time invites us, comrades mine.
'Twas shame to broach, before to-day,
The Caecuban, while Egypt's dame
Threaten'd our power in dust to lay
And wrap the Capitol in flame,
Girt with her foul emasculate throng,
By Fortune's sweet new wine befool'd,
In hope's ungovern'd weakness strong
To hope for all; but soon she cool'd,
To see one ship from burning'scape;
Great Caesar taught her dizzy brain,
Made mad by Mareotic grape,
To feel the sobering truth of pain,
And gave her chase from Italy,
As after doves fierce falcons speed,
As hunters 'neath Haemonia's sky
Chase the tired hare, so might he lead
The fiend enchain'd; SHE sought to die
More nobly, nor with woman's dread
Quail'd at the steel, nor timorously
In her fleet ships to covert fled.
Amid her ruin'd halls she stood
Unblench'd, and fearless to the end
Grasp'd the fell snakes, that all her blood
Might with the cold black venom blend,
Death's purpose flushing in her face;
Nor to our ships the glory gave,
That she, no vulgar dame, should grace
A triumph, crownless, and a slave.

The GOOD news is that my older daughter...

...has just won the 2009 Law Day Essay Contest (in the grades 6-8 division), sponsored by the Connecticut Bar Association!

Her essay on why students' cell phones should be barred from middle schools won her 4 tickets to a New Britain Rock Cats game, the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at their May 1st baseball game, and the publication of her essay in Connecticut Lawyer magazine.

The BAD news is that it's only a matter of time before various faculty members from a local university circulate a petition declaring such an idea an infringement of free speech and an offense against humanity.

"Edward R. Murrow, Woodward and Bernstein, and Mark Twain would have had cell phones in middle school," they would cry. "And, besides, we don't like the writing in CT Lawyer nearly as much as in Le Monde."

O tempora, o mores.

A headline from the sports pages of the New Britain Herald reads:

"Moses not upset about being in New Britain"

which begs a biblical subtitle like:

"Elijah and Hosea less sanguine about Farmington"

I bet this'll actually catch on eventually (i.e., the NESTER protest not the Holster one)

In light of this recent memo:

The CCSU Riflery & Marksmanship student club will be conducting a weeklong protest, April 20 through April 24, by wearing empty holsters on campus. Their purpose is to protest “state laws and school policies barring licensed citizens from carrying concealed handguns on campus.” As a point of fact, the University is committed to both State Executive Order #16 and the Student Code of Conduct, which prohibit guns in the workplace and on campus.

The students’ protest is of course a protected expression of their First Amendment rights. I am notifying the campus only because an empty holster could be mistaken for a holstered weapon and could cause undue alarm. This could easily happen, for example, if one of the students happens to place his or her cell phone in the holster.

Student Affairs staff have been meeting with the club regularly. Information about the protest, from the president of the Riflery & Marksmanship club, has been posted on Pipeline. And as part of the protest, the Riflery Club will be holding an open forum on Monday, April 20, at 2:30 in the Clock Tower Room, Student Center.

Mark Warren McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President
Marketing & Communications
Central Connecticut State University

*************************************************************************************************

I sent out this one:

The CCSU Empty Nester (EN) club will be conducting a weeklong protest by carrying empty nests on campus. Their purpose is to protest "the really crappy economy's forcing students to return home and screw up their parents' lives (again).”

As a point of fact, the University is committed to its motto, "Start with a Dream, and Just Finish Already," which really encourages new grads to get jobs but, more importantly, their own apartments.

The protest is of course a protected expression of their First Amendment rights. I am notifying the campus only because an empty nester could be mistaken for an unloving parent and could cause undue alarm. This could easily happen, for example, if one of the EN-ers happens to say, quite pointedly, "But...but...but...we don't want to have to move the treadmill out of your old room and back to the basement! Besides, we sold your bedroom set to buy the treadmill."

Student Affairs staff and family counselors have been meeting with the EN-ers regularly. The import of the protest can be judged by the number of Viagra TV commercials that suggest, when the kids are gone, quite often mom and dad are hard at it.

And, as part of the protest, the EN Club will be holding a workshop on "How to Change the Locks Without Hiring a Locksmith" on Friday, April 24th, at 2:30 in the Key Office, East Hall.

Gilbert Warren McGigliotti, Ph.D.
Wannabe Vice President of, well, Anything They’re Willing to Throw My Way
Central Connecticut State University

POST HOC, ERGO HOC?

A sign in front of a local Roman Catholic church:

On Easter, Christ conquered death

On April 25, Bingo returns

A Day (and a half, or so) in the Life of a Blue Devil Spirit Award Winner

Thursday, 16 April

7:24 AM Arrive at Work

7:30-8:05 AM Read/respond/initiate emails

8:10-9:45 AM Help staff table at the Student Union Board of Governors' (SUBOG) Commuter Breakfast outside Willard and DiLoreto Halls

9:50-10:50 AM Advise students about Fall pre-registration, address a student complaint, confer with other offices and English faculty, more email

10:55-11:15 AM Shut down SUBOG table

11:20 AM-3:30 PM Finalize DEC files for final two faculty reviews of this academic year, respond to faculty concerns about various issues, advise students, more email

3:50-6:30 PM Attend "A Night at the Museum" events as part of The University Museum Community Collaborative (UMCC) at the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA)

6:50-9:00 PM Go home, eat dinner

9:15 PM- 12:30 AM, Friday, 17 April Back at CCSU to serve as judge, along with the University President and VP of Student Affairs, at the Devil's Den at 10 PM's annual "Talent/No Talent Contest"

12:50 AM Arrive at home

6:50 AM Respond in the affirmative when wife asks if I'd prefer her to drive older daughter to school

7:55-9:15 AM Wake up, drive younger daughter to school, and arrive at work

9:30 AM-12:00 PM Email, advising, etc...

12:00-1:30 PM Monthly Media Board Meeting

1:30-3:15 PM More advising, email, and more departmental business (good and ill)

3:30 PM Call it a week and pick up younger daughter

The most depressing thing about all this CCSU Recorder stuff...

...is that I didn't get to revel in my return to the musical stage Wednesday night at the International Dinner at Holmes Elementary School.

Celeste, our daughter, had signed up to bring something representing her mother's French heritage, ratatouille, and sing a song Frere Jacques.

Well, Celeste, Mom, and I (big sis was off at a play rehearsal) go onstage (not just in cafeteria, like we all assumed), and sing Frere Jacques, first in the original then the English version. We were a smaller version of the von Trapps.

We acquitted ourselves well, I think.

Anyone have a video?