March 18, 2008

Happy (belated) St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

I decided to volunteer to work Monday breakfast, and I’m quite glad I did. While I was eating breakfast, one of the other workers started talking about the history of Irish step dance. I told her that I was also an Irish step dancer, and the two of us both started reminiscing about competing and practicing. We started to talk about actually forming a club for former Irish dancers that want to practice, and maybe also having a beginner’s lesson or two. There are a lot of feiseanna in Massachusetts, so we might even be able to compete. I am extremely glad that I worked that shift and met Erin! Yes, Erin and Colleen – I don’t think it’s possible to have two more Irish names than that!

In Latin on Monday, Professor Vodoklys emphasized the fact that we need to be more particular in our translation of the Aeneid. That made me think of one time earlier in the semester when he corrected my translation of a section in Pro Archia. I had translated the word dimicationes as a fight or a conflict. He corrected me and said that the more accurate translation would have been “an armed conflict in which two men fight with two drawn daggers.” So, to all future Latin students of Professor Vodoklys, remember that dimicationes has a much, much deeper meaning than just a fight or a conflict.

I spent most of my St. Patrick’s Day with Katie, Jess, and Ashley in the Classics Fitzgerald Library. The three of them found this logic computer game, so we were all sucked into that for a good hour or two. When 7:00 came around, I headed off to an Irish Step lesson. Yes, I taught Irish step on St. Patrick’s Day. I swear – I don’t think that there will ever be a St. Patrick’s Day when I’m not dancing.

Tuesday was an intellectually taxing day. There is no other way to word it. In FYP, we discussed John Locke’s “Second Treatise on Government,” and we spent a good twenty minutes analyzing why Thomas Jefferson included life and liberty, two of Locke’s three main arguments, in the Declaration of Independence, but replaced property with “the pursuit of happiness.” In International Relations, we debated whether or not the modern post-Westphalian international structure is soon to be replaced. In US Intelligence Community, we argued the morality and the legality of some of NSA’s past actions, namely data mining. Each of my three professors would play devil’s advocate and shoot back the exact opposite view of what we all said to see how we would respond. I rewarded myself for still being able to think at the end of the day by watching a movie.

Even though I was just home about a week and a half ago, I’m going home tonight for Easter break. It’s going to be a short break, but it’ll be nice to spend some time in Georgia where it is in the 60’s. When I get back from this break, I have five full weeks of classes left in my Freshman year of college. Then, I have a week of finals. I cannot believe that this year has gone by this quickly. It almost doesn’t seem fair that it’s going by this fast!

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