Dear classmates,The 2007/2008 academic year is my fifth and last year at university. Having spent a half decade dreading the dire job prospects that await my measly BA and me, I'm crotchety, cranky, and deeply ill-tempered. Listening to your second-year bitching cuts to the heart. . . . (More)

In the midst of tacking together an essay on Fernand Léger, I wrote in a brief comparison to the female nudes by Renoir. As I reread a few paragraphs, I saw that the phrase "Renoir's nudes" was clearly making too many appearances, and without another thought, swiftly rewrote it into the more l . . . (More)

During CLA232H1F: Introduction to Greek Culture yesterday -- I enjoy the class; I was only exceptionally tired -- in my efforts to stay awake, I began to have visions ... like of the single-strand necklace encircling the throat of my professor ... it pulsed and swam like a ring of dark, skinny se . . . (More)

Celadus Thraex suspirium puellarum, he writes on the board, his body still as his arm weaves along. We watch attentively as the bit of white chalk glides so lightly and swiftly, more so than the original paint and brush that would have been used on some private citizen's blank wall. Graffiti . . . (More)

His occupation is listed as sellator, he says, which makes sense on a charioteering team; sella means "saddle", and one would think that such a man would be in charge of the tack, correct? No, in fact. Some scholars believe it is a spelling mistake, perhaps an instance of someone mishearing, and . . . (More)

I had just left the Tim Horton's kiosk, fuming; they had sold out of chocolate chip muffins and orange juice. I had been compromised with apple juice, which on worse days I have considered to taste like Satan's pee -- my indignance, however, was not merely comestible-related. While I had been daw . . . (More)

225-220 BCE: Gallic Wars 218-201: Second Punic War 211: Coinage based on denarius introduced 215-205: First Macedonian War 200-186: Second Macedonian War 197: Battle of Cynoscephalae (Dog's Heads); Philip V defeated 197: Creation of two Iberian (Spanish) provinces 191-188: War of the R . . . (More)

The arch is a prominent feature of Roman architecture; capable of supporting enormous amounts of weight, it allowed the Romans to build to heights previously impossible, with less material. The arch appears on all sorts of imposing civil structures: bridges, aqueducts, forums, basilicas . . . (More)

By the age of six, I had produced my first book. It was a purely derivative work, the novelization of a cinematic adaptation of a literary classic. An absolute tour de force, if I may so humbly say -- I acted as editor, author, illustrator, and publisher. Cover | Title Page | One | Two | Three . . . (More)

Today was the final exam for CLA233H1F. I will dearly miss the way Prof. Dewar wore jeans. That is .... his spirited and expert lecturing style.