External Events and Assignments

Dates and Details

Date and time: Monday, 2/22, 7-8:15pm
What it is: Three recent Holy Cross Classics alums will visit us over Zoom to talk about connections between their time as Classics majors at Holy Cross and their current lives and work. Zoom link TBD.
Assignment: Attend the panel, and write a 1-2pp. double-spaced response that summarizes what each alum is currently doing and how their Classics education influenced / influences their current activity. Send your summary to me via email.
Total possible points: 5

Dates and times: 1) Thursday, 2/25, at 7pm; 2) Thursday, 3/25, at 7pm; 3) Wednesday, 4/28, at 7pm
What it is: I’ll be streaming playthroughs of the video game Hades on my Twitch channel. The video game involves Zagreus, the son of Hades, trying to break free from the Underworld, with some help from the ancient Greek Olympian gods (and some chthonic gods trying to prevent him from escaping).
Assignment: During each stream, I’ll be offering “fun facts” about each of the Olympian and chthonic deities that I run into. Collect up to 10 fun facts and the gods that they’re about and email your list to me for 1 point per fact, up to 10 points per stream.
Total possible points: up to 10 per stream

Date and time: due by 5pm on Wednesday, 3/17, via email (this deadline cannot be extended)
Assignment: Read the Bagg & Scully translation of Philoctetes (pp. 191-282), and complete a reader response sheet (pdf, docx) that offers your thoughts on the passages that intrigued you the most. If you already completed this assignment for pre-semester extra credit, email me so that we can talk about an alternative.
Total possible points: 5

NOTE: You must complete the Philoctetes reader response assignment (above) or have completed it for pre-semester extra credit before attending this event.
Date and time: Thursday, 3/18, 4-5pm
What it is: Prof. Emily Austin of the University of Chicago will come visit GREK 102 to discuss Sophocles’ play Philoctetes and its theme of isolation.
Assignment: Attend the discussion, and write a 1-3pp. double-spaced response that summarizes the major points of the discussion and answers the following question: how does the theme of isolation in Philoctetes resonate with what’s happening in the world today? Submit your response via email.
Total possible points: 30