Winter Greetings!

The beginning of the New Year saw me fretting that the Southwest Airlines computer meltdown would jeopardize my attendance at the AIA/SCS annual meeting in New Orleans. Fortunately, Southwest managed to right the ship and I was headed south before a winter storm struck Maine.

 

My fascination with New Orleans began with the APA (the American Philological Association, now called the Society for Classical Studies) meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in 1992 back when I was teaching Latin and Greek at Loyola Academy in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I managed to balance attending sessions with two fabulous tours—the architecture of New Orleans and a visit to a nearby plantation (time has taken its name from my memory). Later, in my journey to administrative leadership, I participated in an Ignatian Leadership Program for educators from Jesuit high schools. For three years, each fall, we gathered for a week in Chicago and in the spring for a week in New Orleans. The Dominican retreat house near the campuses of Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University hosted us. In addition to the opportunity to study organizational change and Jesuit pedagogy while engaging with a talented group of teachers, an appropriate amount of free time afforded us the opportunity to explore the city. Over the course of the three years, I experienced a variety of krewes and their parades, Mardi Gras itself and a wild Bourbon Street, and a very interesting voodoo tour of the city.

 

In planning for this year’s SCS, I was determined to join a tour led by Jeremy Trager, a former actor I knew from his days in Chicago and my work with Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago. Working as a tour guide for HottestHell.com has proven a terrific opportunity for Jeremy to employ his acting skills and his love of history and New Orleans. My colleague Bridget Dean and our ACL VIP friends—Sherwin Little, executive director, president Jennie Luongo and her husband Danny, and new Classical Outlook editor Phil Walsh—joined me for Jeremy’s “Walking the Devil’s Empire” tour. Jeremy proved an excellent guide and he enjoyed our group’s attentiveness. He quickly improvised when Sherwin readily answered his question about the name of the French royal family under whose aegis New Orleans was developed. We surmised most participants do not know the origin of Bourbon Street! Our group heartily recommends you do a tour with Jeremy and HottestHell!

 

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of articles about the development of an AI site that can compose answers and write papers for students. Needless to say, this presents a challenge for teachers everywhere. And one more burden! Among my duties as an associate principal, I dealt with students who had committed “academic dishonesty.” In conversations with my teacher colleagues, I would emphasize that in-class assessments serve as a ready antidote to dependence on cheating. For essays written at home and for research papers, the school provided access to Turnitin as a means of detecting plagiarism. Fortunately, a college student has created an app that detects AI-written text. Check it out!

 

As we approach the doldrums of winter, take comfort that the work you do is very special. You have chosen to mold the minds and hearts of the future. Keep up the good work!

All best,

 

This is the fourth in a series of seven stories to accompany chapters 3–9 in LNM 1. While complementary to LNM, the stories can serve all first-year Latin students.

 

 

 

 

falbus, -a, -um – white
animal, n. – animal
animālī (abl.) – animal
capere – to take, capture
cerva, -ae, f. – deer
clāmo, clāmāre, clāmāvi, clāmātum – to shout
contrā (adv.) – against
cum (prep.) – with
dux, m. – leader
gerit – he wages
gerunt – they wage
Hispānī, -ōrum – Spaniards
numquam (adv.) – never
quī (pronoun) – who
quod (conj.) – because
quōdam diē – one day
reddō, reddere, reddidī, redditum – to return
sēcrētum, -ī, n. – secret
Spanus, -ī, m. – name of a Spanish farmer

 

Editor’s Note: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers is pleased to provide this Latin story for Latin teacher subscribers to use with their own classes only. The PDF version includes a full-color illustration and caption.

 

For those using Latin for the New Millennium, Level 1, note that this Rectina story features a letter to complement the letter of Cicero to Terentia provided in adapted Latin in chapter 5. The LNM 1 workbook lesson for chapter 5 includes an imagined letter from Terentia back to Cicero.

As a Latin activity related to this story about Rectina, consider having students compose the letter Rectina sent to Pliny the Elder.

About the Author
Emma Vanderpool has taught Latin at the university, middle school, and high school levels—currently at the Springfield Honors Academy in Massachusetts. Vanderpool earned her Bachelor of Arts in Latin, Classics, and History from Monmouth College in Illinois and her Master of Arts in Teaching Classical Humanities from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She serves as a state rep for CANE, as an executive board member of Ascanius, and as an organizer for Our Voices and Lupercal. Vanderpool is the recipient of the Classical Association of Massachusetts 2021 Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics and a Distinguished Teaching Award from UMASS Amherst; she was honored as the Lincoln Laureate for Monmouth College. She has self-published ten novellae. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers is pleased to have had Vanderpool launch our novella series with Explore Latin: Aves and the first three titles for the Encounter Latin series—Augury is for the Birds: Marcus de Avibus Discit, Under His Father's Wing: Marcus de Auguribus Discit, and Princess, Priestess, Mother, Wolf: Fabula de Romulo et Remo (forthcoming).

 

 

After a three-year hiatus, the joint meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society of Classical Studies offered a hybrid gathering with both online and in-person options. Some 1,200 classicists and archaeologists descended on the Hyatt Regency New Orleans and eagerly attended sessions and caught up with friends and colleagues.

 

Bridget Dean, president of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, and Don Sprague staffed a booth bursting with B-C titles and eagerly shared new titles such as New Testament Greek: A Reading Course, Level 1 and the novella series with visitors to the booth. To celebrate the return to an in-person conference, B-C held a special book drawing. Madeline Davos of Christendom College in Virginia, won a complete set of the acclaimed 19 BC Latin Readers, a series produced in consultation with professors and edited by Ronnie Ancona and B-C's beloved Laurie Haight Keenan. Elaine Godwin of Surrey, British Columbia, won a copy of four B-C New Testament Greek texts including the brand-new New Testament Greek: A Reading Course, Level 1 and the new revision of Reading the Gospel of St. John.

 

 

 

The meeting provided a much-desired opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues. We were pleased to be neighbors with the American Classical League and enjoyed chatting with Sherwin Little and Jennie Luongo. Bridget savored meeting up with dear friends from her doctoral studies at the Ohio State University—Sam Flores, who teaches at the College of Charleston, and Chris Bungard, who teaches at Butler University. Bungard was excited about directing the Camp production of Phormio. The production used Erin Moodie’s translation. Currently teaching at Purdue University, Moodie served as a senior lecturer at OSU when Sam, Chris, and Bridget were students. Chris, who is a specialist in Roman theater, is the author of the B-C novella series about theater. Bridget also enjoyed seeing Anthony Kaldellis and Carolina Lopez-Ruiz, professors of hers at OSU, now at the University of Chicago. Lopez-Ruiz served on Bridget’s dissertation committee. As is his custom, Dwayne Roller, OSU professor emeritus, visited the booth to greet Bridget. It’s always a joy to see Dwayne and hear about his latest book project. Author and longtime B-C friend Ronnie Ancona also stopped by the booth.

 

The Hyatt Regency drew an interesting collection of people—classicists and archaeologists attending the conference, folks setting up for the Miss Universe Pageant that took place a week later, and fans of the Pelicans and Saints sports teams. The hotel is located right beside the basketball stadium and Caesars (sic) Superdome.

 

Bridget and Don joined longtime B-C collaborator Jim Keenan, retired papyrologist who taught classics at Loyola University Chicago and husband of retired B-C editor Laurie Haight Keenan, for dinner Friday night. They enjoyed a lovely dinner at Saint John in the French Quarter and following dinner, caught the walking parade that celebrates the birthday (January 6) of Joan of Arc. Saturday night, while Bridget joined her OSU friends for dinner, Don met up with Connie Rodriguez, who retired early from Loyola University New Orleans and now teaches Latin at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans. B-C was pleased to gift Connie with the bookcase bought for use at the conference.

 

B-C looks forward to AIA/SCS 2024 to be held in Chicago and hopes for a repeat of this year’s mild winter.

When Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers developed Lumina, we provided basic FAQs about using the online content. Since Lumina’s debut in 2018, we have enabled more advanced functionality—teachers can now select from a number of customized grading options! In this eLitterae column, we will share some tips about new Lumina features. FAQs will continue to be added based on teacher feedback.

 

Every Lumina exercise has the feedback option, which is found in the Teacher’s View of the Lumina exercise.

 

 

 

Every Lumina exercise has the “Change Score” option, which is found in the Teacher’s View of the Lumina exercise.

 

 

 

If you would like to request a live online meeting to learn more,
email Lumina@ bolchazy.com.

  

 

 

This offer is valid for one (1) copy per title, prepaid, no returns.

Bolchazy-Carducci's New Novella Series:
Great Gifts for the Young Latin Learner
in Your Life