Have I Mentioned how Much I love the JCL?

Note: I learned about the Boston Marathon bombing while in a Houston airport gift shop after attending the Texas Junior Classical League state convention and a local school visit. My heart sunk so low, it's been hard to think about much of anything else since. At the same time, it seemed wrong to ignore all those wonderful moments of warmth, humanity and connection from the JCL event to focus on one terrible act of inhumanity. So, I decided to write the recap anyway.  

More than 2,000 Latin students, teachers and chaperones descended on a Texas high school outside of Dallas for the state JCL convention this past weekend. All I can say is--What. A. Trip.

Honestly, I don't know how the folks who put on these conventions do it--it seems like everyone is going full out from early in the morning until way past midnight. And that's just the kids. The teachers put in way more time. 

Lots of kids liked recreating C's double-headed ax.

Friday night, I helped judge the couples costume contest--kids dressed as Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. We judged them not just on the artistry of the costumes, but on how well they knew the story and how well they reflected their knowledge of ancient dress. Some highlights: 

- One Clytemnestra had her hair coiffed into an intricate net covering her neck and shoulders as a symbol for the net that she would throw over her daughter-killing, cheating husband as she slaughtered him in the bath.

- Another student sewed a net to the inside of her crimson Agamemnon cape, which served as a shadowy foretelling of how he would die.

- Fake blood. Lots and lots of fake blood. On everyone.

- One student wove a tree branch into the back of her peplos, from which hung small dolls of black-robed furies. Why? Because Clytemnestra's actions would cause the furies to haunt her and son's life for ever after.

The winners--Adam and Eliot. Wish they'd had their sandals on for his shot!

- The two young men who won blew us away with their research on both the play and the costumes. The Agamemnon character hand sewed a cuirass in pleather and Clytemnestra's getup was no less ornate, with intricipate borders on both the peplos and epiblema (shawl), which he had drawn over his head. Both characters wore masks they had made and painted and talked through them, much like Greek actors would. The young men even hand-sewed their sandals--a more utilitarian one for the king, and a more ornate one for the queen. The cumulative effect of their masks, costumes and detailed retelling of the tragedy was eerie and disconcerting. They were awesome.

Students after the workshop--holding up my book!

On Saturday, I gave two workshops. The first one, LOVE, LIES AND PROPAGANDA--on Cleopatra and her love life--was well attended. All the seats were taken and folks sat on the floor in the back and in corners of the room. 

Catapults--I wanted to watch.

The second workshop--ON POMPEII* (or, more accurately, WHY WHAT YOUR TEXTBOOKS SAY ABOUT POMPEII IS WRONG)--I expected to be less well attended. After all, my workshop was competing against the talent show AND the catapult demonstrations (I hated missing those!). To my surprise, that workshop was also packed with lots of folks in the back and on the floor. I enjoyed the lively question and answer session that followed both workshops.

Fire drill at Atascocita High School outside Houston,

On Sunday, I traveled back to Houston with Magistra Jennings and on Monday, I visited her school to talk with Latin, theater and writing students.  Having all three groups together for each presentation was something I hadn't expected and I found that I could easily bridge the gap between subjects by discussing a) how Roman propagandists shaped our perception of Cleopatra (Latin/history students), b) how going beneath the propaganda and creating an emotional subtext for action helps deepen a character (theater/writing), c) and how, while doing research, you have to seek out multiple sources supporting your claim (research skills).
 

With Shawn Jennings and some of her awesome students.

Right in the middle of my second presentation, the fire alarm went off and the entire school had to evacuate.  Fortunately, everything went smoothly and we were right back to it within minutes.  

It was a wonderful school visit and I want to extend a special thank you to Shawn Jennings for inviting me out to speak at the state convention and giving me the opportunity to speak to her students as well.

I hope I get the chance to go to another JCL event soon because they are so invigorating and SO. MUCH. FUN.

*My next YA novel is set in Pompeii; I shared some of the surprising things I learned about the city in my research.

Teen Sex, Occupy Wall Street, Linsanity and...Ancient Rome?

I was honored to be invited back to be the keynote speaker at the West Virginia Junior Classical League (JCL) convention last week.  My talk?  "Why We are All Ancient Romans in Drag."

Despite the above headline, my talk was totally PG, and it seemed to go over really well. I talked about some of the not so obvious ways that Roman thinking still resonates in our world today (and that's all I'll say for now in an obvious and shameless attempt at eliciting more JCL speaking engagements!).

One young man came up to me afterward to tell me he found my talk "really fascinating." He conveyed this as if bestowing a blessing on me and then walked away. Given that Latin students who attend JCL conferences tend to be very bright and well-read, I considered this a supreme compliment.
 
I always love the ancient-dress fashion parade at JCL conventions. My individual favorite was "Gangsta Goddess" who strutted in with attitude to spare (sadly, I couldn't get a good shot of her highness).

My "team" favorite were the "priests" carrying a shrouded Vestal Virgin to her death chamber. They had caught her, they announced, outside in the hallway with her boyfriend. Ha!

I also loved the Funeral Procession re-enactment, complete with dead body/creepy wrapped mannequin (that's the spot on the floor--sorry the photo is so dark!). I'd secretly hoped some of the kids would let it rip as professional mourners--Romans paid to wail and screech and pull out their hair in honor of the dead.  But they left that out, likely afraid that the hotel staff might call 911 on 'em.

The procession--including "family members" wearing death masks of ancestors--was a serious and solemn affair. The ancient Romans would've been proud.

Although I love doing school/author visits and giving students tours of the Greek/Roman galleries at the Carlos Museum of Antiquities at Emory University, I think I love working with the folks from the JCL the most. 

Go JCL!

NJCL = Awesome

General assembly antics. Note to self: next time, bring earplugs!

Rubbing elbows with more than a thousand teens and young adults--all of whom came together to test their Latin and ancient history/mythology knowledge and socialize?

Be still my hammering heart!

Honestly, I don't know how I grew up without knowing anything about the Junior Classical League. I would have been all over this when I was a teen. Still, I'm grateful to have experienced a taste of the national convention this week. I gave two presentations--one on Cleopatra and one on Writing Historical Fiction.

The Cleopatra presentation had to be moved from a classroom at Eastern Kentucky University to a small auditorium. Kelly Kusch of the KY Junior Classical League told me later she counted close to 150 attendees. Kelly, thankfully, stood up to signal me when my hour was over, quickly realizing that I would've gone on FOREVER about my favorite subject.  But the teens and teachers had places to go and contests to place!

Tenisha of Oklahoma totally captured the Selene smoulder!

The EKU bookstore sold out of all my books late afternoon that day. What a wonderful problem to have, right? The best part of signing books was talking to the kids about their love of ancient history.  One enthusiastic JCL'er, Tinesha Anderson from Oklahoma, posed as Cleopatra Selene next to the book poster--uncanny resemblance, isn't it?  Tinesha has inspired me to start a look-a-like contest. Thanks for the idea, Tinesha!

The kids inspired me with their brilliance and enthusiasm but I was also blown away by the dedication of the Latin teachers I met.  Wednesday night I was invited to speak at 9:30 pm at a Teacher's Exchange presentation hosted by Davind Volk and Jeremy Walker, both from North Dakota. I was honored to be a part of it. But, to be honest, I thought, "Who's going to show up so late at night when they've been so busy herding, managing, and chaperoning teens?" When I saw the auditorium, I thought David and Jeremy--who are HYSTERICAL by the way--may have overestimated attendance. I figured just a handful of folks would show up. After all, it was late.

I was wrong. The auditorium nearly filled with Latin teachers seeking ways of enhancing their teaching methods a. What dedication! I was really blown away by their commitment. And humbled. These are some lucky kids to have such devoted teachers.

Me, Shawn, Ginger and Robin (in back).

On Thursday night, I joined Shawn Jennings, Robin Simon and Ginger Emshoff--Latin teachers from Texas--at the teachers/chaperone's banquet. Again, I was so impressed by their enthusiasm and dedication to the teaching of Latin and the classics. Plus, they were exceptionally sweet in listening to me share my good news that the LA TIMES had given Cleopatra Moon's an excellent review.  I hope to make it out to Texas one day and visit them and their students.

I wanted to give a shout-out too to Bari Clemens, a Latin teacher in Kentucky, who was incredibly helpful in making arrangements for me to attend this week. Thank you Bari, Kelly, and everyone else who made it easy for me to be a part of amazing experience. Not to be presumptuous, but I sure do hope to attend future state and national conventions because I'm totally and completely hooked!

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Presenting at JCL Events

A student in a lovely blue tunica.

Recently, I gave the keynote presentation at the West Virginia Junior Classical League (JCL) conference. It was an awesome experience for many reasons, including these:

1.  The high school students dressed up. Seriously, they had a toga fashion show.

2.  They didn't take themselves too seriously. The kid who dressed as Neptune drapped himself in Little Mermaid sheets. Also, overheard the boy dressed as Brutus say: Yes. The answer is yes.  (Think about it.)

3.   They declaimed the Pledge of Allegiance in LATIN!

4.  They took on Latin names/characters. (Overhead one teacher beg: "PLEASE use your English name and not your Latin name when filling out these forms." Ha!)

 5. They were bright and funny.

6.   They got my lame jokes.

7.   They asked really good questions. At the end of my talk, one kid wanted to know: "So, um, what did Caesar's wife Calpurnia do while Cleopatra visited Rome with Caesar?" A fifteen-year-old kid who KNEW Caesar's wife's name? Gods, but these are my people. (The answer? We don't know. But we can certainly imagine!)

Sneakers with a toga? A kid with my sense of style!

8.  They knew their ancient history but I still managed to surprise them with the odd factoid and/or story.

9.  They flirted with each other in character. (Overheard in a group of two boys and one girl:  "No, you can't date her, she is my daughter." "Dude, she's too old to be your daughter." "Um, I ADOPTED her. I'm the Pater Familias--I can do whatever I want." Girl in question rolled her eyes and left the conversation.)

10.They seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say and wanted to know why they couldn't get my upcoming novel, CLEOPATRA'S MOON, now.

The director mentioned the possibility of having me come back and speak to the kids again. Um, YES! Please?

Friday Funnies--On Saturday

Friday, I gave a speech at the West Virginia Junior Classical League conference. It was awesome and I loved being there. Thanks to Dr. Nicoletta Stella for inviting me!

Because I was traveling, I missed posting "Friday Funnies--Ancient Style." It didn't help that my computer tanked the day before I left (thank goodness I'd already written my speech!).  So, just to keep the tradition, I'm posting a couple here, courtesy of HistoricLols.com.

I love that site even though you have to dig a little to find more historical references. But never fear, I've done that for you!

So enjoy. I'll recap my wonderful experience with the Jr. Classical League in W.VA soon!

Be careful what you ask for...

Suddenly some paintings don't seem so classy anymore...

Beware angry ladies holding ferrets.