Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Nice Gift and Calling All Greek Lovers




This first pic is a gift from Kate. These are felted balls, no, she didn't make them. Some of them have bells in them. Just another way to add fiber to my home decor. Aren't the colors terrific?

HELP!!!!See below.
What I'm Reading
Thomas Cahill's Sailing the Wine Dark Sea

Re-reading actually. I read this before my first trip to Greece. Enjoying it even more this time. The subtitle is "Why the Greeks Matter." This is prep for my June trip when I will be chaperoning college students for a 10 day visit. These students are all NC Teacher Scholars which means they have qualified for a great scholarship program and will repay the state by teaching here for three years. A way of getting the best and brightest into teaching.

My job, besides counting heads, is to help the kids prepare to relate to what they see and to show them many of the ways their own experiences will inform their classrooms. I'm pretty excited about both.

I'm trying to put together a viewing/reading/listening list of material for them. Most of the list should be fairly light. This isn't a course. Cahill is a fairly serious book English and history majors would like. Also on the list are
Zorba the Greek--novel or film
Clash of the Titans--the worst film ever made about Greek mythology, but my students always loved it
300--lots of Spartan history and great graphic visuals
Edith Hamilton's Mythology--an easy read

The Iliad and The Odyssey are really required, but I'm hoping they will remember it from high school.

Before I do my English teacher thing, I'm hoping you can help me by sending me names of books, films, music that somehow connect to Greece. Children's stories?

Does anything fun come to mind?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will you have time to meet up with them all before hand? If so, why not immerse yourselves in the culture and have a "greek-fest" - make everyone responsible for bringing one Greek-based food or drink, *AND* and their favorite Greek myth, story, artice of clothing SOMETHING that shows they did their own legwork?

Abby R. said...

"Troy" is a recent film retelling the old Trojan War saga (and it's got Brad Pitt, which might make all the shield and spear stuff more palatable for the girls in the group). As for books, Mary Renault has written several modern retellings of classical Greek myths, like Theseus and the Minotaur, and a series about Alexander the Great.