WISDOM IS A WOMAN WHO LOVES ONLY WARRIORS

title is from The Genealogy of Morals…I personally try to steer clear of modern literature. I'd rather hang with Emperor Caracalla

Immersing myself in the kultur of knowledge. Last weekend was the 28th annual Crusades conference. Heard more about Karolus Magnus and William of Tyre that I could handle…but did bear witness to interesting Muslim travel chroniclers, and their perceptions of the Latin East.

Really shows you that France and England is simply not where it's at.

Where is it at? I dunno. I'm interested in what is unfortunately another worn out area of study: the venerable committee for those interested in the Decline and Fall of Rome.

Whatever man, I'm American. By that I mean that Americans are not steeped in the old marble busts of historians that permeate European scholarship. Does that even make sense? I am bleary-eyed. I refuse to sleep. I only wait to wake up. OK. SO. The idea is that Americans, at least for some of us, after having thrown out our TV's and secluded ourselves to a remote locale and studied a while, are still able, at least more so than Europeans, as it were, to think outside of the box.

cf., Steve Jobs, who admonishes us not to “listen to dogma”, which he defined as “living us the results of other peoples' thinking”

see also: John Coltrane
see also: The Constitution of the United States of America and the Federalist Papers
see also: Hip-Hop (esp. Biggie Smalls)
see also: Jackson Pollack
see also: William S. Burroughs

obviously ingenuity is not sequestered to the American amphitheatre. And all this coming from one who barks at you to read the classics.

I'll show you yet!

I am D-LEERIOUS and really can't read about Frederick II right now – he started the first state university in Sicily in the early 13th century. The first European university established?

I believe it is the university of bologna, sometime around the 1020's perhaps?

IMHO – the first and only university that meant anything was Plato's Academy.

I'm going to start wearing a toga. keep your eyes peeled for a large barbarian type dressed in white bath towels in manhattan and the boogie down.

Studying Medieval History

Back to school, back to school, to prove [ye gods] that I am not a fool…

Walked into coll-ege today in a perfect mood. Beautiful day…ahhhhh!

What a gorgeous day in mid-town. Then up to Columbia for a quick peek at the work they are doing in Manhattanville. Seems no-one minds. Then up to Fordham where I engaged in a debate with someone about how Christianity is “science fiction”.

The Bible is a great humanistic text. But I dunno about the whole 'religious imperative' thing.

With Gravity,

COEMGENVS

i'm going to go listen to nigel wharburton explain EUDAIMONIA to me once again.

ΥΑΜΑΣ / ΧΕΝΟΔΟΧΕΙΟ

returned in one piece. many photos on facebook. easter sunday went well. drank with my irish relatives. decided i shall move to europe with a plan. always must have a plan. went down to new brunswick; one of my childhood friends now works as a pre-school teacher. was always listening to “freestyle” by biggie smalls during my trip:

“gettin' back to the black
rhinocerous of rap”

THE BLACK RHINOCEROUS OF RAP. good stuff.

HURRY

UP

PLEASE

ITS

TIME.

vivant omnes virgines. facules formosae

Hey, buddy!

“long live the virgins
easy and beautiful!” – been re-considering this gaudeamus igitur song…so weird

OK. Well then…..

i will be in turkey for the next week or so. can't speak a single word of Turkish. Going to have to use the international language of love.

A bit more on Doughty

A few more swigs of Doughty's G.Del. and I admit there is merit to the album – like in his use of naval vocabulary

like when he uses “stevedores” – people who lug cargo from ship to shipyard

other notable words – gimcrackery, roustabout, abscond, feckless

well feckless isn't all that out there, but word to the fact that he puts it into a pop song. Also think it's hilarious that “taking a new route” has been his most commercial album yet. But put that to rest for now.

“like stapling jell-o to a wall” – a professor's comment to a grad student about how well argued his thesis was.

wakey wakey eggs n' bakey

OK. Maybe need to plan for my trip to Istanbul and Athens. I hope I can get to Ephesus and Delphos. I can't wait to officially step foot onto Asian soil.

Late4antquity is going to go read the NYTimes.

tres cosas hoy

3 major topics today from late4antiquity

1. Lecturing.

Gave a first presentation on Monday; Early Byzantine Warfare Strategy…I toiled incessantly throughout the weekend….non-stop-stop…10AM – 4AM for three days straight. But I produced a quality lecture and I think Lienhard, Bilof and Conant, the three best lecturers I've ever personally received, would be proud.

Dr. Bilof – a russian scholar, introduced me to Western Civilization in high school
Dr. Conant – during my undergraduate years, introduced me to Roman and Early Medieval studies
Fr. Leinhard – this year demonstrated for me what 30 years of studying a topic can yield, this was on St. Augustine

What the three all possessed – at all times – was an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly well thought-out lecture. I mean, pinpointed, “bullseye”. All gave out outlines of their lectures, and adhered to their game-plan, to a tee. However, what you felt in being lectured by them was that these were words were immeasurably carefully thought out, their own personal interpretation, not just a textbook, but their own articulate and demanding voice meant to help you understand the topic in best-form, whilst never sacrificing elocution; you knew that they were incredibly learned, and that they possessed complete mastery of their subject

That is what makes for a good lecture = mastery of the subject.

You can feel it in someone's voice; they don't have to be yelling, and almost by definition you wouldn't resort to such petulant measures if you really understood what you were talking about.

I cannot speak for other disciplines, but when it comes to Western Civilization, the worst thing a teacher can do is try to be light-hearted and kind of funny;e.g., trying to make present day analogies to the class.

“So this is like the 49ers playing the Chicago Bulls”

I assure you it is probably highly unlikely that whatever the teacher is talking about is remotely similar to such an analogy – it does scant justice to the topic at hand, and it is simply a tactic to show that you either do not understand or appreciate what you are talking about – and again, what you are talking about is Western Civilization pre-1500 AD.

These subjects are meant to be conveyed in deadly articulate form. Simply an avenue to communicate and immense amount of knowledge clearly.

2. Constant-i-no-fun

Going to Constantinople for spring break. “Byzantine Studies Gone Wild Pt.4!” Ha. There is, in fact, and depending on one's late antique interests, more to see in Constantinople (this is Istanbul) than in Rome – and I'm heading to Athens for 3 days….of course on a budget probably best described as “slender”

And I haven't planned the trip out yet – I leave Mar. 12th. Woot woot!

3. Late Antiquity is complex!

I learn about arcane topics that sometimes give even I a headache and make less-than-perfect sense. Today was literacy in the Anglo-Norman England.

Talking about how you define a literate society? forget this i have a headache just thinking about it. but it is interesting, c.f.,

Clanchy, Paul. From Memory to Written Record: 1066 – 1304

He's basically arguing that medieval people chose not to write things down, despite being literate, because their ideas of memory and literacy are rather different from what we consider to be those things.

4. RAPIDSHARE

OK – so 4 things!

Go sign up for a rapidshare account for 100.00 dollars and download anything that is downloadable free of viruses and more importantly perfectly legal

Below should be a link to a new site I just found about some later Roman topics. Enjoy!