Classics and the Western Canon discussion

Our tea room (you may consider it a coffee shop if you wish, but I prefer tea, and as the moderator I get to name it, so there! [g:]) is open for off-topic discussions of anything you find of interest.

Things like the deer and fawn that I watched coming up the boathouse path while I was washing my breakfast dishes. They browsed around the front of the house, the fawn coming up to within a few feet of the front porch, then browsed around the other side of the house and off into the woods.

We have at least two resident mothers, one with one fawn, one with twins. I know some people think they're a huge nuisance, but I find them beautiful animals to watch, and we just adapt by planting anything we don't want them to eat behind six foot high fencing.

Your views sound amazing! I remember in your introduction you mentioned all of the creatures you might see from your office--what a fantastic distraction!

I covered a story today for the paper I wanted to share. Alex's Lemonade Stand is an organization that raises money for childhood cancer research. A title company in my town hosted a lemonade stand in honor of the organization, cheerfully giving out lemonade and asking for donations. Most gave between $1 and 5, but I learned that at least two had given $50 per cup. It's so refreshing and inspiring to hear little things like this. And, the lemonade was delicious!

Do you have much trouble with the ticks the deer bring? Where I live, the ticks are ferocious. Recently, after a really great walk on a trail in a conservation area, I came home to find that although I had been covered from head to toe, complete with hat, socks and sneakers, one managed to embed itself into me. Removing it was not easy, although I have all the recommended tools and followed all the recommended suggestions. What followed was a three week course of antibiotics.
Now when my kids come with their dogs, I shudder to think what else they will bring back with them from their hikes in the woods.

No deer here, although we had them --too many of them-- at our last house. They ate everything! And there are plenty of deer just up the road from here, they just don't have easy access to our particular neighborhood.

Rabbits, squirrels, coyotes & the occasional raccoon are the wild four-legged mammals around here.

We (my boyfriend, lab and I) are getting ready to head up to his family's cottage for the weekend. I pay a lot of money to have my dog protected from fleas, ticks, etc. and luckily have not had any issues with him - but thanks for the reminder to check! Of course, the good luck may be due to the fact that we don't venture into the thick woods very often.

The cottage is on a large private lake that is in the process of being turned into a wildlife preservation, which I think is fantastic. No jet skiis or loud waterboats, and if you wake up early enough to can hear the loons and great blue herons.

The dogs have been protected from the ticks with some kind of meds that either make the ticks die or make them leave their bodies. I worry that when they leave them they will find me once again!
We used to have very scrawny red fox around here but they are gone now and the small creatures that inhabited my yard, have begun to return. For a long time there were no chipmunks, squirrels or rabbits scurrying about.
There is often a beautiful yellow bird sitting outside my kitchen window in the magnolia tree but today there is only a mist rising above the pond outside my door. The sun has been absent for so long that I am beginning to lose faith in Ra. I keep praying for an end to this dreary weather, but no answer from him yet!
My kids wanted to swim in the pool since although it is actually raining, it is warm, but the heater has a tough road to hoe with this weather and the water is still too cold. The hot tub seems to be the only answer.
Luckily this is good reading weather!

ooh, thank you, from your mouth to g-d's ears!

We haven't seen Ra around these parts for a week or so. Which is fine with me, because the alternative at this time of year is for it to start to be blast furnace hot.

We don't have serious tick problems, but do have a few. But so far neither Lyme disease nor Rocky Mountain spotted fever have made it onto the island, so they're just an annoyance, not a danger.

We do have a fox which wanders around our peninsula, but doesn't show up here very often since we strengthened the chicken yard fence.

Our weather was hot for us (up to 88) for a few days, but now is back to beautiful normal (sunny and high 60s to low 70s, which is a nice temperature with the sun pouring into the living room). SeaTac Airport, the official weather station for Seattle, has shown no measurable rain for 23 days, and there's no rain coming soon. We're going to be close to making or breaking the record of 29 consecutive May-June days with no measurable precip.

Well, here it has rained everyday since June 4th. The five day forecast says rain everyday except Saturday, through the 17th. It has been nothing if not cool and damp!
I can't remember a year when the weather has been this unpleasant. It is a tourist destination so it is really bad for the shopkeepers.

thewanderingjew wrote: "Well, here it has rained everyday since June 4th. The five day forecast says rain everyday except Saturday, through the 17th. It has been nothing if not cool and damp!
I can't remember a year when ..."

Did you ever say where "here" is?

Hmmm, no, I don't think I ever did.
"If you're fond of sand dunes, and salty air
Quaint little villages, here and there
You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod"
You will be happy to note that this morning, true to the weatherman's word, it is Saturday and sunny here at the Cape. Now if only the rest of his weather report was wrong!

Everyman wrote: "We don't have serious tick problems, but do have a few. But so far neither Lyme disease nor Rocky Mountain spotted fever have made it onto the island, so they're just an annoyance, not a danger. ..."

Shhhhhh! Don't let them know that it doesn't rain every day in Western Washington, Everyman.

Today is beautiful. The birds are singing, the water is calm, the temperature is a perfect 68 degrees, my family is out on the boat for the first time this season, the dog has stopped barking and I have lunch duty. Life is sublime. I guess there really is a G-d, Margaret.
twj

thewanderingjew wrote: "I guess there really is a G-d, Margaret."

Or at least an Apollo. Or a Ra. [g:]

thewanderingjew wrote: "Today is beautiful. The birds are singing, the water is calm, the temperature is a perfect 68 degrees, my family is out on the boat for the first time this season, the dog has stopped barking and I..."

I guess you wouldn't like it here very much, we have two well defined seasons, the dry and the rainy, rainy is from may all the way through november... I love rain for some reason, I guess I have to, or I'd just go crazy.

Where is here? I used to live in Minnesota. There we had four seasons, winter, winter, winter and road repair.
In spite of the weather it was a wonderful place to live. The people were fantastic. They had great values and a great attitude towards life.

Yes I guess road repair comes after rainy season.. I live in Costa Rica

Well, i haven't been there but I have heard it is a wonderful place to live. One of my friends used to go there to scuba dive, I think. Does that sound right? Aren't there beautiful rain forests also?

Yes, scuba diving sounds just about right. And yes, incredible rain forests, volcanoes, beaches, all just withing a few minutes or hours from each other. It is a wonderful place, I'm very grateful for being born here, whatever it was, fate or destiny, it is my "free will" to still be here.

I agree with you but I will take it one step further. I think I am the master of my fate.

Patrice wrote: "Also, I've been listening to a Teaching Company tape called "The Western Literary Canon in Context". It was on sale last month so I went ahead and ordered it. I haven't gotten up to Sophocles yet but I think the lectures are very interesting anyone in this group would enjoy them."

Amazing you should mention that. I had my joint birthday party this evening with my twin daughters (my birthday is in late May, but when they went off to college they couldn't get home for it, so we decided to do birthdays together, and have ever since), and less than two hours ago I opened that same set as one of my birthday presents! I haven't started to listen to it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

The Teaching Company lectures are almost universally excellent. I know some others here also know them, but some may not.

It was definitely written in the wind.

I haven't heard about the Teaching Company, what is it exactly?

Elky wrote: "I haven't heard about the Teaching Company, what is it exactly?"

They offer lecture series by top university professors in a wide variety of disciplines. There are several keys to using them.

One, they offer an absolute guarantee, and mean it. If you don't like a course, return it for a full refund. I have done this twice, with no hassles at all. As they say, if you don't consider a course great, they don't want you to keep it.

Two, unless you are in Bill Gates's economic class, only buy courses when they are on sale. The list prices are very high, I think because they don't want to have to stock all their course all the time. Every course goes on sale at least once a year; if you find a course you want but it isn't on sale, wait, and it will be -- and on request they will send you an email when it is. Each sale course is marked as such, and there is a tab on the home page for courses that are on sale.

I have used mostly their literature, philosophy, and history courses. I don't care personally for Greenberg (I think), who does most of their music courses, which is one of the two I returned. I really like Elizabeth Vandiver, who does many of their classics courses. The Shakespeare courses by Saccio are absolutely superb.

Even though I don't care for physics that much, their Physics in Your Life course with Richard Wolfson is an absolute delight. Physics without mathematics. Tons of fascinating demonstrations. I highly recommend it even for (especially for!) the non-scientific mind. (And if it's not for you, return it.)

Many of these course can probably be borrowed from libraries or interlibrary loan.

That's the Teaching Company in a nutshell.

I don't know if this helps but I found this website.

I found this too.
http://www.teach12.com/teach12.aspx?a...

Wow, now I'm intrigued... I'll have to ask for one for my birthday, thanks a lot for the info, I'll definetly check out the website.

Patrice wrote: "I've just returned from seeing "My Life in Ruins". Roger Ebert gave it a horrible review but on this cool and rainy day I thought it might be worth going just to spend 2 hours in Greece. Greece i..."

I've been wanting to seet that movie. A vacation in Greece sounds like just what I need, even if it is only two hours!

First - Dawn! Hello to a fellow US Midwesterner! I actually work just outside Chicago - it's nice to see others from the area in this group.

Second - whomever started the topic regarding "The Teaching Company," you are my new hero. I could see myself spending way too much time and money on these courses, particularly the history courses. Dawn, I covet your accessibility to the Chicago library - my local library only has a small handful of these.

Perhaps it can be a treat for myself - if I successfully keep up with 3 books in a row, I get to purchase one of these courses. And when they go on sale, they really go on sale!

Paula wrote: "Dawn, I covet your accessibility to the Chicago library - my local library only has a small handful of these. "

There's always interlibrary loan.

Patrice wrote:

Someone told me that you can download some of these courses on-line. Don't ask me how, I buy them myself.



"

You download them (audio) from the website. teach12.com
They're quite a bit cheaper that way. You can also download the outline book. I download it to my Kindle.

I started using Audio Download from the Teaching Company on MAC a few months ago. Video or DVD is unavailable as a download. The website provides helpful questions and answers about TC called FAQs. The Audio Download comes as MPEG4 or MP3. The former uses bookmarking with ITunes and IPod; the latter does not bookmark with other devices. The purchased course is available in the heading DOWNLOADS on the TC homepage. Click it and up pops the guidebook icon and the lectures. Open the guide and save to your computer's Documents Folder or to elsewhere if you desire. The lectures can be downloaded singly or in groups. They can also be saved. On a MAC, drag the downloaded lecture(s) from the Finder into your Audiobooks on ITunes.

Everyman wrote: "Paula wrote: "Dawn, I covet your accessibility to the Chicago library - my local library only has a small handful of these. "

There's always interlibrary loan.

I know - I looked into that before I posted your message. I checked w/ my local library - they aren't fans of going across state borders and warned that ILLs can take 2-6 weeks. Trust me, I'm not new to ways of acquiring books and other related materials :)

Paula wrote: "I checked w/ my local library - they aren't fans of going across state borders and warned that ILLs can take 2-6 weeks."

Hmmm. I'm glad my library is a bit more enthusiastic about ILL than that. While we're asked only to have four ILL requests active at any one time, right now I have two books from libraries in Washington, one from a library in Connecticut, and one from a library in Texas. (I tend sometimes to ask for some fairly esoteric books!) We have one librarian whose sole job it is to get ILL books for patrons (and respond to ILL requests from other libraries), and she's very good at it! Just from what I can remember, I've also had books just this year from Oregon, Nebraska, and Ohio.

Various libraries restrict what they will lend from their collections (some, for example, won't lend books that have been borrowed by their patrons two or three time in the past year, figuring that they will be wanted locally) and in some cases one library will put a given book in non-circulating reference while another library will have the same book in circulation. So one can never tell. But if I didn't have a good relationship with our ILL librarian, and direct access to the OCLC catalog, I would be spending a lot more money on books!

Hi everybody,

I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading and participating in all the discussions for Oedipus Rex, I've learned so much from all the different points of view... I was really looking forward to reading don Quijote with all you but I am already behind on the schedule and will be even more since I'm going on a trip next saturday, I'm going to Israel for a few weeks and then London for about 5 days, so by the time I come back I don't think I'll be able to catch up. I will definitely be reading the discussions since I read the book a few years ago, but maybe not participating and I definitely looking forward to the next book and being part of the discussions again.

:)

Elky wrote: I'm going on a trip next saturday, I'm going to Israel for a few weeks and then London for about 5 days,

Ooooh! Have a great time, Elky. I love both places.

Everyman wrote: "Paula wrote: "I checked w/ my local library - they aren't fans of going across state borders and warned that ILLs can take 2-6 weeks."

Hmmm. I'm glad my library is a bit more enthusiastic about I..."

When you receive an interlibrary loaner, how long can you keep it? Do you return it to your local library or do you have to mail it back?

Elky wrote: "Hi everybody,

I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading and participating in all the discussions for Oedipus Rex, I've learned so much from all the different points of view... I was really ..."

Why don't you take the book along "for the ride"? The plane flights are so long DQ can entertain you. Are you going for business or pleasure? They are both fabulous places to visit. There are so many wonderful things to do and see. Is this your first visit? Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Yes it's my first time!!!! I'm soooo excited :) and I'm going for pleasure, I was thinking of taking it along but since I already read it some time ago and am reading a couple of books (The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Princess Margot by Alejandro Dumas) I thought of finishing those two first and then just check in on your discussions. That's for sending all your happy thoughts!!! :)

Laurele wrote: "Elky wrote: I'm going on a trip next saturday, I'm going to Israel for a few weeks and then London for about 5 days,

Ooooh! Have a great time, Elky. I love both places."

Thank you!!!

Elky wrote: "'m going to Israel for a few weeks and then London for about 5 days,"

What a wonderful experience! But no need to give up your Spanish connection. Since you've read DQ fairly recently, you can still add any comments and we'll look forward to enjoying them. Heck, maybe you'll have time to stop of in LaMancha for a day or two!

thewanderingjew wrote: "When you receive an interlibrary loaner, how long can you keep it? Do you return it to your local library or do you have to mail it back?"

It depends on the lending library. Some are for fairly short terms -- two or three weeks. Others can be for longer -- I've had them as long as eight weeks. Our library gets them with a due date and processes them and calls me to come pick them up, and they have a due date to our library which is usually several days before the lending library wants them back. But it's sometimes possible to renew them -- again, depends on the lending library.

I return them to my library, which sends them back home. It's all at no cost (well, at the cost of my library taxes, which are not inconsiderable, but no additional cost).

thewanderingjew wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Paula wrote: "I checked w/ my local library - they aren't fans of going across state borders and warned that ILLs can take 2-6 weeks."

When you receive an interlibrary loaner, how long can you keep it? Do you return it to your local library or do you have to mail it back?

"

Actually, I became a "Friend" of a local state college library. They charge $35/year, and you get to check out all of their regular materials. You get the book for two weeks, but can renew online indefinitely, or until a student specifically requests your book. Another bonus is that when they have used book sales the 'friends' get special access the day before the public gets in.

When I've done ILL through libraries, they typically have loaned the book for the same amount of time they would loan you a regular book. Sometimes a non-college library will not let you renew an ILL book, sometimes they don't - it just depends on whether or not a local patron wants the book.

I have often found that the best way to speed up an ILL request is to let the library know about the closest libraries that own the book (see worldcat.org). That way they don't need to spend time searching, they can just put through the request. However, I'm in a small(ish) town, and the funding for the library in general is rough, so transporting books isn't high on their cost priorities.

Also, for an ILL, you pick it up and return it to the local library where you submitted the request. Hope that helps!

Thanks, for the information, Paula.

Thanks to those who kept an excellent discussion of DQ going while I was having to deal with some unexpected issues. I hope to be back to full steam in a few days; meanwhile, keep the great comments coming!

Patrice wrote: "Go! And let me know what you think!"

I did see the movie and I really enjoyed it. It was very funny and the scenery was amazing! I felt like I'd spent a couple of hours on vacation.

Magic Words

I fought windmills with Don Quixote;

I am Sancho.

I rafted down the river as Huck Finn

and eluded Javert with Jean Valjean.

I lived through Napoleon's invasion of Rusia

and threw myself under a train because of Count Vronsky.

I am Hester Prynne, Mrs. Ramsay and Carol Milford;

I might be Babbitt.

I lived in China as Wang Lung.

I felt the existential angst of Raskolnikov.

I lived in a one room hell with Garcin.

I also lived on Tortilla Flat

and traveled with the Joads along Route 66...

You think I could exchange my soul for 30 pieces of silver

and a pension plan?

No!

You think any material pleasure

the world or man has to offer can

reach my soul?

I would just as soon hang myself from a tree

and let my guts spill out

rather than be a sellout...

So,

I will have a Mojito with Hemingway,

fill my pockets with rocks,

walk into the river Ouse...

And live forever.

By: Dianna Penn 2009

Very nice! :)

Thank you :)