"I had read Goldsmith's 'History of Rome'" ~ Jane Eyre
Beware the Ides of March!
Poor Jules. Brutus betrayed him. I would never betray J. Sarah, my best friend, unless she decided to a) become a vegetarian b) stop drinking her signature bitter cocktails like gimlets c) decided to go blond on me d) decided she liked pearls better than diamonds.
That being said, it is probably the 12th anniversary of the note I wrote to her during Dr. Van Wie's AP Euro History Class at Wheatley HS. I am sure it went something like this, and I probably drew a cartoon of Caesar.
Dear Pookie,
Happy Ides of March! Today we celebrate the day that Julius Caesar was knifed in the Senate and chopped up into pieces, thus creating the birth of the Caesar Salad!
I am craving a Caesar salad right about now. Es-tu, J. Sarah?
xoxo
Moi
(*Note - I called her during this blogging and she was thinking about the note, too! Ah, after all these years, great minds think alike. Oh, and once a nerd, always a nerd. We were not normal teenagers, this I know.*)
I am vexed that HBO did not re-air any episodes of ROME this week in honor of Caesar's stabbings. That show is, by far, one of the best shows on HBO. If you have not seen it yet, I encourage you to do so when the show re-airs and when season 2 starts next year. There is something intriguing about this time period, and it amazes me how someone can be a part of pop culture and lived over 2000 years ago. http://www.hbo.com/rome/
I love teaching Shakespeare's Julius Caesar when I have freshman classes. Although its not Shakespeare's best writing, there are some moments where monologues and dialogues capture some great language and passionate ideas about government and leadership. Whilst I shall not delve into how some tout that Bush is a modern-day Caesar (Hi PUKK!), I shall leave you with a a few quotes from the play for you to enjoy today. You may want to peruse these over a Caesar salad:
"Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." - Act I, Scene II
"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." - Act II, Scene II
"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff." - Act III, Sc. II
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear;Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come." - Act II, Scene II
posted by ThursdayNext | 2:13 PM
7 Comments:
Your friendly fact-checker popping in here. I do NOT drink gimlets, which was I'm sure an honest mistake (gibsons and negronis and other lovely bitter cocktails, yes!). What is not an honest mistake is the suggestion that I prefer diamonds to pearls, when EVERYONE very well knows that it's quite the reverse.
Harumph, I say.
Or, to quote another literary touchstone of both of ours, Anne in _Anne of Green Gables_ says, "I think amethysts are just sweet.
They are what I used to think diamonds were like. Long ago,
before I had ever seen a diamond, I read about them and I tried
to imagine what they would be like. I thought they would be
lovely glimmering purple stones. When I saw a real diamond in a
lady's ring one day I was so disappointed I cried. Of course, it was very lovely but it wasn't my idea of a diamond."
SO STOP GIVING ME A HARD TIME ABOUT IT!
I hope the Ides of March note is one of the ones I saved. Just to give some context, this blog is in my mind just an outgrowth of the 2-5 notes a day (every day) that Ms ThursdayNext wrote to me in high school. Don't you?
"it seems to me most strange that men should fear"
It seems to me that Shakespeare never jumped out of a plane or attempted to. Well, I guess he never did. That proves it. :)
The last post was by Pukk btw...Amy-I still have to learn how to properly post comments much less have my own blog.
jsh and Amy - how did you both not get in trouble passing around 25 notes per week?
Anonymous Pukk,
JSH and I were the goodie two shoes of our class and got away with everything. Are you surprised? I still have images of you jumping out of planes - it makes me woozy.
JSH,
You are lucky I didnt write giblets. Hmmm. Your comment has me a thinkin' we need to drink some raspberry cordials. ;) Diamonds may look prettier to you when you are drunk!
I did not want to jinx myself by saying anything earlier today, but this day has been a bad luck day for me for a few years. If you read my March 15th post from last year, it talks about it a bit.
I will agree with you on the nerd part Ms. AV squad! Spanky thinks you are a nerd as well.
I am just going straight for the fluff! Yes, coffee is the most important and most loved part of my morning. I am not going to complain that I have kids and "HAVE" to get them ready for school. I love it! Sipping my coffee (baby i make a great pot,) planning my day, catching up on my blogs, waiting for the next outfit to walk downstairs on my 11 year-old, and catching up with Soledad.
That being said....you ...my sweet A use the xoxo just as much as I do! Love that! LOL!!!!! Told you it was fluff.
Tell me what you're reading! What's the book that's either next to your bed or on your end table in the living room. I love being a sweet little book whore.
You are officially my first read of the day. :)
xoxo
C
oH you guys...we goodie two shoes girls were sooo fun!
We got away with sooooo much and had that secret little wide streak that would eventually come through.
I was a cheerleader (a sweet one,) in my AP classes...oh and yes Editor of my yearbook. I turned out pretty non-nerdy, I think.
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