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Many thanks to Sir Ian McKellen for appearing in our Honors class today. It's not every day we get to hear the voice of Gandalf and Dumbledore read from The Odyssey by Homer - and "In the One-Eyed Giant's Cave," no less. A little taste of what it might have been like to hear the bard himself telling stories in ancient Athens...

The Odyssey

“Poets recited and sang stories for audiences at the courts of city leaders and at festivals. A poet could actually improvise a tale in the six-beat rhythm of Greek verse if he knew the plot of his story.”

That helps explain how audiences would be so engaged by a man simply telling a story. 

No surround sound, no IMAX, not even any costumes or props. 

Just an amazing story.

Questions

A question for the brilliant minds in Section 201: What was it like to live on a mountainous peninsula at the "center of the world" thirty centuries ago?


Meanwhile, honors students are asking: Where do I stand on "the Homeric question"?

we're underway!

The Theatre and Temple of Apollo at Delphi

Kind of an unusual start to the second semester... no school Monday, snow day Wednesday, off day for Section 201 on Thursday. It's hard to get into any kind of rhythm when our schedule is so erratic.

In any case, here's the week in review.

Welcome to all the new students in 201! All of you got your blogs up and running, so the grading will begin. There are a couple new faces in Honors, too, and you are also up to speed in BlogWorld.

We're beginning with Ancient Greece. The in-class reading covered p. 118- 126, and you have been taking notes in your notebooks. I've just gotten started presenting a fairly comprehensive Google SlideShow on Greece, which you can access here and in the Land of Linkin' section of my blog. Feel free to preview this if you're curious, but it's not required.

Reminder: the notes you take in class should be entered into YOUR blog. You can edit them, transcribe them, transform them, just so they make sense to YOU. You blog every time the class meets, and the blog should be posted by midnight that night (deadline for Friday blogs is 11:59pm Saturday night).

That's it for now. Send questions or comments to rschick@johncarroll.org. See you Monday!