prid. Non. Nov. MMII

In Aula Classica Universitatis Viridis Montis

The VCLA/UVM Annual Fall Newsletter

Omnibus Collegis s. d.

Greetings one and all! NOTE: If you're reading this via email and know someone who might be interested, please feel free to forward this annual update on the activities of the Vermont Classical Languages Association and the UVM Department of Classics.

This year's VCLA Meeting was held, October 25, 2002‹a glorious sunny day‹at the Montpelier High School Library. Heartfelt thanks to Donna Merriam for organizing this year's meeting, and, vicarioulsy, to Mary Ann Redmond (who was unable to join us) for hosting it.

Present at this Annual Meeting of the VCLA were Z. Philip Ambrose (UVM), Jacques Bailly (UVM), Noralee Cartier (BHS), Mary Anne Chaffee (Essex Jct HS), Beth Champagne-Ingpen (homeschool, St. Johnsbury area), Martha Dalton (St. Albans), Marge Drexler (Middlebury Union HS), Jessica Evans (UVM), Leanne Goulette (CVU), Erik Kenyon (UVM), Susan Essex Luce (Rice), Donna Merriam (Lamoille Union), Alice O'Hearn (Chester HS), Travis Puller (UVM), Cheryl Rostad (Woodstock Union Jr/Sr HS), Sherry Stubbins (Rutland Area Christian School), Cliff Timpson (BFA, St. Albans), Mark Usher (UVM).

New faces among the above: Susan Essex Luce, the new Latin teacher at Rice, Beth Champaign, representing homeschoolers in the St. Johnsbury area, Sherry Stubbins, who teaches Latin at the Rutland Area Christian School, and Travis Puller, a new graduate student in Classics at UVM.

Program: This year's theme was "Latin Lives!," a show and tell of sorts in which teachers shared their favorite classroom activities. We were treated toMexican hat dancing as a mnemonic for the pluperfect endings (idea courtesy of Cheryl Rostad, and nimbly demonstrated for us by Leanne Goulette). Cheryl herself showed us how she uses David Macauley's video Roman City to great effect. Marge Drexler walked us through some fun, yet thought-provoking etymology worksheets. Sherry Stubbins entertained us with a Latin version of "Go Fish" (ad piscinam) that sharpens students' knowledge of principal parts. Karen Couillard taught us all how to use togas in and out of the classroom. Cliff Timpson, a veritable ludorum magister, demonstrated how language games developed for teaching modern languages are easily applied to the teaching of Latin (alea iacta est!). Mary Ann Chaffee reported on the effective use of Latin proverbs in the classroom, and on how she and Cynthia Bognolo (Havover) orchestrated memorable visits to each other's AP Latin classes last year. Noralee Cartier convinced us all of the importance of map exercises in the teaching of Latin. Pingite‹a Latinated version of Pictionary‹was the topic of Leanne Goulette's presentation (How to play it, how to overcome organizational challenges in large classes) . She also showed us personalized coins‹complete with Latin inscriptions‹that were minted by her students. Leanne also passed around some Latin tidbits one can find on everything from Newman's spaghetti sauce, to Hollywood scripts, courtesy of media watchdog, Judy Miles. Alice O'Hearn, with fond memories of Brady Gilleland and a UVM course in etymology, spoke about incorporating word origins into her teaching and class projects. Beth Champagne-Ingpen spoke of her positive experiences working with homeschoolers, and of her teaching assistant, Asinus, a teddy-bear donkey that is especially good with younger students. Donna Merriam brought this illuminating session to a close with a portfolio full of student projects, including pictures of her yearly recreation of the quake on Mt. Vesuvius. (For those who always wanted to know, the secret to a successful classroom eruption is to tip the peak of the thing to one side.) Little did we know that, as she spoke, Mt. Etna was actually in the process of erupting, as perhaps you have since heard on the news.

Business Meeting: Leanne Goulette announced plans to expand and improve the VCLA webpage with an eye to recruiting new members and officers. Jacques Bailly agreed to put together a VCLA Listserv whereby members can communicate easily and globally by email. (Hence the electronic posting of this newsletter!) There was much discusssion about the duties of officers and the need for "new blood" in the ranks. In particular, there was a plea from Treasurer Donna Merriam for someone to step forward and take over that position. Donna has graciously‹indeed, heroically‹agreed to stay on until a volunteer can be commandeered, and assured us all that it is not an arduous task. (So, if you're willing, please contact Donna.) It was universally felt that the duties of all officers could be better defined, and there was talk of reworking our outdated by-laws to clarify these responsibilities. Recent officers agreed that, given the size of the organization and the small pool of candidates for these leadership positions, some duties could be streamlined, and it was thus decided to share the duties of Program Chair amongst the President, Vice President, and Treasurer.

The following officers were elected:

President and Co-Program Chair: Cliff Timpson (ctimpson@bfa.k12.vt.us)
Vice President and Co-Program Chair: Noralee Cartier (nuala@hotmail.com)
Treasurer and Co-Program Chair: Donna Merriam (Lamoille UHS, 736 VT 15 West Hyde Park, VT 05655-0304)
Representative to CANE: Leanne Goulette (Leanne@cvuhs.org)

Financial Report: Treasurer Donna Merriam reported a healthy balance in the VCLA fiscus and urged payment of dues (merely $5.00). If you have not paid your dues for the current year, please send them to: Donna Merriam, Lamoille Union High School, 736 VT 15 West, Hyde Park, VT 05655-0304

Here's a link to The VCLA Directory of Members.

Please send any changes, corrections or additions to Ms. Jeanne Valley, 802-656-3210, or email to jpvalley@zoo.uvm.edu (NOTE: email addresses are especially important to have for the VCLA Listserv)

CANE News:

The 97th Annual Meeting of CANE will take place March 21 and 22, 2003, at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. For further details about this and about the 21st Annual CANE Summer Institute go directly to the CANE webpage.

The CANE Student Writing Contest: The topic for 2002-03 is "Women in the Ancient World." See the August issue of the NECJ or the CANE webpage for guidelines. Note: Cash prizes of $50, $30, and $20 are awarded by the VCLA to the best three submissions from Vermont. The deadline for submission of entries is December 15. Please send submissions to Leanne Goulette, Champlain Valley Union High School, 369 CVU Road, Hinesburg, Vermont 05461 (Leanne@cvuhs.org).

The 27th Annual Vermont Latin Day:

Date: Friday, April 11, 2003

Place: Patrick Gymnasium, UVM, Burlington

Theme: Mores Gentium Mundi (a.k.a MGM), a celebration of ethnic diversity and multiculturalism in the Roman world (both Republic and Empire). Participating schools will choose, like last year, on a first-come, first-serve basis from a list of tribes (e.g. Gauls, Etruscans, Carthaginians, Nubians, Goths, Egyptians, Jews, Vandals, Britons, Germans, Picts, Greeks [sic!], Scythians, etc., etc.) Skits will be historical, ethnographic, or mythological vignettes in which one's tribe figures prominently. Latin materials may include the ethnographic portions of Caesar and Sallust, Tacitus' Agricola and Germania, selections from Livy, and other readings. More information will be forthcoming after the Planning Meeting (see below).

Planning Meeting for Latin Day 2003: Saturday, December 14, 2002, 10 am-12 noon, at the Department of Classics, UVM, Burlington, 481 Main Street, Room 207 (Telephone 802-656-3210). Please come! Bagels, cream cheese, coffee and tea provided. (You may park behind the building.)

Possible themes for Latin Day 2004 (to be finalized at the Dec. 14th meeting, so please come, and come with ideas!): De Agricultura (myths, facts, techniques, and products of Roman agriculture, and the physical landscape of the ancient Mediterranean); Disiecta Membra Poetarum, or "Mad-libs" on fragments of drama and myths in which, given a kernal, students supply the rest of the story.

The Vermont Sight Translation Contest, generously sponsored by Professors Robert Rodgers and Barbara Saylor Rodgers, is open to all Vermont students of Latin from public or private schools. The Contest pays cash prizes for sight translation of Latin texts at two levels: the Junior Level, for students with one or two years of Latin, and the Senior Level, for students with three or four years of Latin. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes may be awarded at each Level, of $100, $75, and $50 respectively. Teachers should let the Rodgers know by mid-January if anyone in their school is interested in taking these exams. Packets with texts and instructions will be sent out to participating schools by February 1st. Exams are to be completed and returned by the first week in March. Winners will be honored at Latin Day on April 11th.

News from the Department of Classics at UVM:

The Department is delighted that Brian Walsh (PhD Fordham) is back with us this year as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Brian is an energetic and innovative teacher, who is doing exciting things for language teaching with technology. He is also busy revising his dissertation (a study of Livy's representation of dictators) for publication and has begun work on a thematic index of Cicero's letters. Robert Rodgers is on sabbatical and has recently delivered his manuscript (a critical edition and commentary of Frontinus, On Aqueducts) to Cambridge University Press‹a work 25 years in the making‹and is beginning a new project on an historical poem from the time of Charlemagne. Barbara Rodgers returned from sabbatical this year and continues to work in the garden, on humanitas in Cicero, and has just finished a piece of source criticism about Sulla. Jacques Bailly continues his ongoing work on the Euthyphro, theTheages, and on Socrates' divine sign. He has also posted several of his students' commentaries on the UVM Classics Website. The link is "UVM Commentaries on Latin Letters." The commentaries include complete vocabularies, copious grammatical notes, and brief introductions. (NOTE: Jacques is also trying to organize dramatic performances of Greek and Latin poetry in Greek and Latin for the late Spring, which he would be happy to bring to VCLA members' classrooms. If you're interested, please contact Jacques directly: jbailly@zoo.uvm.edu.) Phil Ambrose, Chairman of the Department again this year, is working away on his new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and will present a paper on Euripides' Cyclops and Alcestis at a Satyr Play conference in Cincinnati this February. (His summers, however, continue to be spent in Asciano, a country town near Siena.) Mark Usher expects to be on sabbatical next year, where he will continue work on his "oralist" commentary on Homer, and will begin writing a libretto for an opera by John Peel based on the Iliad. His children's book, A Child's Socrates (illustrated by William Bramhall), will appear with Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the Fall of 2004.

News from Students at UVM:

Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer continues her excellent work this year in our M.A. program. She's writing a thesis on birds in Ovid. Two undergraduates from last year, Jessica Evans and Erik Kenyon, have stayed on to complete their M.A. degrees. Jessie is teaching a section of Latin 1, and is interested in the interaction of early Christianity with Classical culture. Erik, in addition to his keen philological and philosophical interests, is an accomplished organist. Travis Puller and his wife, Melody, both of them musicians, have come all the way to Burlington from Idaho, Travis to work on the M.A., and perhaps a thesis on Homer. Classics major Andrew Siebengartner has managed to garner some prestigious honors and prizes in recent months, including travel awards from UVM and Eta Sigma Phi to tour Cumae with the Vergilian Society and to study oral Latin with Father Reginald Foster in Rome. Andrew will write a College Honors thesis for us this year entitled "Patrii Sermonis Egestas: Did Cicero Beat the Critics?", a study of Cicero's translation of Greek words. Alexis Ressler, another Classics major, and student-athlete extraordinnaire, will also write an Honors thesis, hers a study of the representation of health in the Latin correspondence of Cicero, Seneca, Pliny, and Marcus Aurelius.
Here follows a list of the undergraduate students enrolled in courses in Greek and Latin. Some of them were yours, and for them we thank you: