Saturnalia Update

Professors and Grad Students: STOP READING NOW! THIS IS A SURPRISE!


Thanks to everyone who came to the Saturnalia planning session. We have decided to have a classics-themed Jeopardy competition, featuring the faculty and grad students! IT'S A SURPRISE, SO PLEASE DON'T TELL ANYONE!

We need some volunteers for a few short tasks, so if you'd like to help out, just send us an email! We are looking for 

• question-writers (We need some people who know Latin/Greek, but we also have non-language questions. We already have an outline of the questions we'd like to ask, just need someone to write them.) Open categories include
• Certamen commands (write simple commands in Latin and Greek)
• Translating Popular Culture (translate names of popular songs/movies/etc. into Latin/Greek)
• Classical Applications (questions on geometry, astronomy, physics, etc.)
• Literature
• Mythology
• someone willing to make/acquire a cheap (cheesy) trophy for the winning team
• volunteers to bring dessert/drinks to the post-competition party

Thanks everyone!

Saturnalia!

It's time for Saturnalia! This is the annual holiday party hosted by Classics Society. We traditionally provide the entertainment, while the Department and volunteers provide food. This year's Saturnalia will start at 4:30pm on Thursday, December 13.

Past years of entertainment have included

• a slide show
• a poetry reading
• performance of plays in Latin (such as the infamous "Harrius Figulus et Philosophi Lapis"--available at http://youtu.be/WbSooMNh7nY)
• performance of plays in English (the unrepeatable "How Sherlock Holmes Solved the Mystery of How the Grinch Stole the Costumes for the Winnie the Pooh Saturnalia Play"--available at http://youtu.be/YC6-O3KuTvI)

We'll be doing something a little bit different this year. Professors: stop reading now! This is supposed to be a surprise!

Our current plan is to have a professors vs. grad students trivia competition (facilitated by Classics Society, of course). Basically, we're going to "let" our guests be the entertainment! 

We're open to other suggestions, of course, but this is the best one we've gotten and it will make for a nice change. 

We'll need to do a bit of planning, so we will be meeting at 6:30pm next Monday, November 26 in Union South. There will be cookies! If you are planning on attending Saturnalia, you should definitely try to make this meeting. 

We hope to see you there! Until then, felicem diem gratias agentis!*

*Happy Thanksgiving!

Symposium!

It's time for our Fall Symposium! Basically, a Classics Society Symposium is a potluck dinner and toga party. It's a great chance to relax and enjoy some wonderful food!

This year's Symposium will be held at 265 Langdon, Apt. 312 THIS FRIDAY, starting at 6pm. If you need to contact Crescentia the day-of, just call her cell phone: (708) 205-4266.

Everyone is requested to bring at least one item. Don't have the time or the kitchen to cook? We'll need people to bring plates, silverware, napkins, and cups! Please RSVP to our Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/276957075740830/.

We can't wait to see you there!

Board Game Night!

Due to popular request, we will be making a classics-themed boardgame! Some of the ideas we've heard from you include Rome/Greece-themed Risk and Settlers of Catan, but we're happy to entertain other ideas. 

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So, on Monday, 10/22, from 6:30-8:00pm (Humanities 2625), we will be constructing our game! Craft supplies will be provided (although you're welcome to bring your own), so all you need is enthusiasm and creativity! We hope to see you there!

Note: we will only be creating the game on 10/22. Actual play-time will have to wait until we're finished.

Update: We have decided to make Risk: Ancient Empires Edition. We weren't able to finish constructing the game today (no surprise). We'll continue our work next Monday. Same time, same place. The more help we get, the sooner we'll be able to play!

This Week in Classics Society

Hello everyone!

We've got two (well, four) great events this week and hope to see you there!

First, we are having a movie night on Wednesday, 10/10! We will be joining Classics 373 to watch 300. The film starts at 7pm in 104 Van Hise! Run time: 2 hours. 

Also, it's that time again--time for the annual Classics Graduate Forum Colloquium! Every year the graduate students in the Classics Department host a conference for other graduate students from across the country, as well as a guest speaker. If you are considering graduate study in classics or a related field, you should definitely attend!

This year's theme is "And Now for Something Completely Different: Transformation and Transcendence in Antiquity." Check out the awesome schedule below:

Friday, October 12 (Van Hise 114)

5:00 PM       Keynote address by Stephen Hinds (UW-Seattle), "Transformation, translation, and transcendence:  Ovid, Marvell and others"

Saturday, October 13 (Chamberlin 2104)
10:00 AM      First panel of graduate presenters
11:30 AM      Free lunch [they do exist] catered by the Wisconsin Union
12:30 PM      Second panel of graduate presenters

Special Undergrad-Only Event, October 12 (Van Hise 951)

Conversation Hour with Stephen Hinds! This is a great chance to get to meet another great classics professor and to ask questions about his research, life in academia, or classics in general. It'll be a fun, casual hour of conversation and light refreshments. 

This the first year that the Colloquium is having an undergrad-only event and we urge you to attend! 

We look forward to seeing you this week!

Recap of Kickoff

Hello everyone,

Thanks to everyone who came to the Classics Society Kickoff! Erin and I are so excited by your enthusiasm! We're sure this year is going to be fantastic.

For those of you who weren't able to make it last night, we hope that you will be able to make it to one of our other upcoming events.

Here are some of the things that we talked about and our upcoming events:

• Modern Resources for Ancient Information: A Classics Society Workshop. We'll show you how to use some of the most important e-resources for your classics classes. You can register here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dFNsM0JVYi1YMnl1Tlg2VjB3OWp4OEE6MQ.
  • 9/27, 3:00-4:30
  • 10/2, 4:00-5:30
• Movie Night! On 10/10 at 7pm, we'll be watching 300 in Van Hise!
• T-shirt contest! Submit your designs for this year's Classics Society t-shirt to uwclassicssociety@gmail.com.
  • Requirements:
    • No university emblems or symbols permitted, except for unaltered images of Bucky
    • Must include "Classics" or "Classics Society"
    • No more than 2 colors
  • Otherwise, the field is yours! Have fun! 
• Classics Society Game Night! We'd like to design our own classics-themed board game. Current ideas include Risk themed for the Roman Empire and Settlers of Rome (based on Settlers of Catan). If you have an idea or would like to help design the game, shoot us an email!

We'll have some other events coming up later this semester, such as a Symposium (potluck toga party) and Saturnalia (holiday party)! There will be plenty of email updates in the coming weeks, but you can also check our website or Facebook page. 

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Fall Semester Kickoff!

It's that time again! Classics Society is ready to kick off the new semester. I'm sure you're looking forward to  some of our favorite activities, like Saturnalia and the annual field trip. For those of you who are new to the Society, we hope that you love these traditions as much as we do!

To get things started, we'll be having our Kickoff Event on Monday, 9/17 at 6:30pm. We'll be meeting in the Sift and Winnow room in Union South. Dinner with be provided. Come meet our new members and catch up with the old. It should be a great year. We look forward to seeing you there!

Your consuls,
Crescentia and Erin

Classics Society Meeting Minutes, 1/31

Happy spring semester!Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting yesterday.

After much discussion, we have decided to cut down the number of “strictly business” meetings and up the number of regular activities/events.

So, every two weeks, instead of having a meeting, we'll get together for a social night …watching movies, cooking/baking, playing games, having a Certamen competition, etc. We’ll announce the activity of the week ahead of time, but welcome your suggestions! Our first social night will be classics-related board games…Bananagrams, Risk, etc.!

Also, we will be instituting a weekly Rome viewing session. Never seen this acclaimed HBO series? Have all the words memorized? Either way, we hope that you'll enjoy the show!

We'd like to get started ASAP with events for next semester, so we need your help! Please answer this Google form by Friday! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEpOcnhwRUwydUp2c3p0ZElUSDhPWHc6MQ

Thank you so much! We’ll update you on our meeting times this weekend.

Crescentia and Irene, Co-Consuls

Coming Up in Classics Society

2/6 4:30-5:30, ...What if We Gave a War and Everybody Came? War as Spectacle in Iliad 3-5, Tobias Myers job talk, 22 Ingraham Hall

???—???-???, Classics Board Game Night

???—???-???, Rome viewing session

2/13 4:30-5:30, Alexander Loney job talk, Location TBA