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MINUTES of the Fall Meeting of the Maine Classical Association,
Saturday, October 17, 2009, at St. Joseph’s College, Standish, Maine.
From 8:30 to 9:07 (or so) good breakfast food and good conversation were enjoyed on the first floor of Alfond Hall.
At 9:08 (approximately) President Seth Knowles called the meeting to order. The title of the program was “Stratifying the Ancient World: Classical Layers in Geology, History, and Warfare.” After MCA officers were introduced, Prof. Randy Krieg, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs at St. Joseph’s, welcomed us to the campus. In his remarks he noted that the qualities which employers seek in St. Joseph’s graduates are communication and the ability to think amid ambiguity and crisis--and hence the value of a classical education at the College!
Our first speaker was Prof. Jonathan Malmude, chair of the Department of History. His talk, “Ancient and Modern in Teaching History at Saint Joseph’s College,” stressed such “master patterns” of history as irrigation, militarism, and instabilities. Also, attitudes and processes of thought (e.g., dialectical reasoning, patriarchism, or the harmonization of faith and reason) can serve as bridges between ancient and modern history. Prof. Malmude utilizes a holistic approach to “applied ancient history” to teach, as Reg Hannaford has dubbed it, the “unity of recurrence.” Questions and lively discussion followed.
At 10:00 we had a break for more food and networking. We returned to the Geiger Lecture Hall at 10:25 to hear Prof. Stephen Aylward, also of St. Joseph’s, talk about “Revisionist Approaches to War and Warfare in the Ancient and Modern World.” Starting with a harrowing video clip of the Battle of Stalingrad from the movie “Enemy at the Gate,” he examined the role of each of the “Principles of War” by using examples from famous battles, both ancient (including Thermopylae) and more recent.
The last speaker of the morning was Prof. Irwin Novak of the University of Southern Maine. He offered us an “Introduction to the Geology and Geography of Greece,” citing the importance to history of landscape, vegetation, climate, ocean currents, views, elevation, water, materials, and geology. Fascinating maps of plate subduction and volcanic activity added to Prof. Novak’s narration. He is particularly interested in sea level changes in the Aegean area of the Mediterranean. He also mentioned the value of actually visiting the sites and that Portland and Mytilene are sister cities.
Just before lunch Richard Spear, in remarks salted with accolades for her accomplishments and peppered with anecdotes of her teaching career, presented the MCA’s SPQR award to Alison Harvey, who made a very gracious acceptance speech.
President Knowles also presented the door prizes.
We repaired to lunch at the Café in Mercy Hall, and then returned to Alfond for the Executive Board meeting.
MINUTES of the meeting of the Executive Board of the Maine Classical Association, Saturday, October 17, 2009, at St. Joseph’s College, Standish, Maine.
Present: Robin Colby, Meg Cook, Reg and Tink Hannaford, Alison Harvey, Tom Hayward, Lois Hinckley, Ben Johnson, Seth Knowles, Jonathan Malmude, Marilee Osier, Dan and Heidi Paulding, and Jeannine Uzzi.
The President called the meeting to order at 1:05 pm and called for officer reports.
- Ben - qua webmaster, has implemented classically-related news feeds for the site. Also he’s interested in setting up an “MCA store” via Amazon.com that could generate some revenue for the Association. Ben will look into it, with the Board’s blessing.
- Marilee - One and a half CLAMOR(ES) have been published (latest one was distributed at today’s meeting before mailing). The next issue’s deadline is Feb. 14. We discussed how best to dispose of Nancy Billings’ books, and came up with the idea of collecting volumes to distribute gratis to new Latin teachers at each MCA meeting, starting this spring. The concept met with enthusiastic Board approval.
- Meg - distributed the latest Treasurer’s report by email. Since last May income was $348.03, expenses $149.00, and the balance $6,608.85 (still well above the magic $6K figure).
- Heidi - sent out the notices for this meeting. We bandied about the idea of using postcard notification when it is not included in the CLAMOR. CANE contributed $100 toward today’s meeting, and Reg requested that we send a thank-you note to St. Joseph’s College for their support of the program expenses. Prof. Malmude announced that he will donate his $100 honorarium to MCA; huic multas gratias agimus!
- Tom - distributed minutes of the latest meetings in ink and electrons.
- Robin - The CANE board meeting was rescheduled to a time when she couldn’t attend. She did confirm our meeting venues at Messalonski High School and Colby College for the 2010 spring and fall meetings, respectively.
- Jeannine - USM (Peter Aicher) is again offering an online Latin course at three levels (intermediate, advanced, and graduate). The topic is “Decadence and Decline” (to which several of us might relate), including selections from Ovid, Cicero, and Tacitus.
- Seth - The next Board meeting will be at Seth’s house in Augusta on Jan. 30, 2010. Possible presentations at the May 8 spring meeting are Ben Johnson’s on Google Earth and (perhaps) Phil and Michelle’s on the laptop application QUIA. Seth also announced that Prof. Novak is donating his $100 honorarium to the Hellenic Society.
The meeting adjourned at 1:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas A. Hayward
Recording Secretary
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