Although “The Iliad” and Psalms were sung to the lyre, music and poetry are now separate in the minds of most literary arbiters. Yet the critic Christopher Ricks contends that Bob Dylan’s fine, surprising language establishes him as a poet, whatever his medium. Leonard Cohen, accepting the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in October, clarified, “Poetry comes from a place that no one commands.”
— “The Secret Chord”, a micro-article by Maud Newton in “The One-Page Magazine” version of the New York Times magazine, December 2, 2011 (Hat tip to alumna Caitlin Outterson for spotting this)
"How would Plato describe America? We are primed for tyranny."
"Plato would be so appalled by the television and internet that he would commend us for keeping it together this long."
Prof. Esposito:
"Plato wants to know what Sophocles is trying to teach us in Ajax or Hecuba. It is not quite clear what Sophocles is trying to teach us and it is the uncertainty of the message that Plato is worried about."
"In my opinion, Sophocles knows exactly what he was doing or trying to teach when he wrote Ajax. Ajax is a radical overturning of the Greek moral code; Sophocles wants us to think about the implications of the moral code."
Prof. Roochnik:
"What suffers in a democracy is education because education needs authority and the big problem of democracy is the populaces' distaste for authority. According to Socrates, this is what leads to the big problems of the city."
"Philosophy, like many disciplines, requires freedom of thought and may in fact flourish within a democracy."
As recorded by Core office employee Winona Hudak during the December 6th debate on democracy in CC101.
Theater of War is an innovative project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays as a catalyst for town-hall discussions about the challenges faced by our soldiers and veterans. This unique stage production and panel discussion is designed to raise awareness and reduce stigma of the psychological and physical wounds of war. Our event is presented in collaboration with The Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. Theater of War Productions has presented 175 performances for military and civilian communities throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Over 35,000 service members, veterans, and their families have participated in Theater of War performances and discussions.
Time: Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. Place: Tsai Performance Center
Cost: Free (and open to the public)
On Wednesday, December 7th, the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Theater of Warwill visit Boston University and perform scenes from Sophocles’ Ajax, the only play in Greek tragedy that depicts the suicide of a soldier in war. This play has been a major focus of our study in first-semester Core Humanities and this performance at Tsai will be the intellectual and emotional culmination of our semester. After the stage reading there will be a panel and audience discussion with representatives from the BU military community and the student body at large.
Theater of War is an innovative project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays as a catalyst for town-hall discussions about the challenges faced by our soldiers and veterans. This unique stage production and panel discussion is designed to raise awareness and reduce stigma of the psychological and physical wounds of war. Our event is presented in collaboration with The Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. Theater of War Productions has presented 175 performances for military and civilian communities throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Over 35,000 service members, veterans, and their families have participated in Theater of War performances and discussions.
Click here to view the PDF event poster
Time: Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. Place: Tsai Performance Center
Cost: Free (and open to the public)
CC105, Tuesday: Integrating Forum #3: Man and the Environment (12/6)
CC105, Thursday: James Jackson on Science and Humanity in Perspective (12/8)
CC201: Course conclusion, with reflections from the faculty (11/15)
CC203: Concluding synthesizing forum (12/8)
Announcements.
Theater of War. This Wednesday, December 7th, Theater of War will visit BU and perform scenes from Sophocles? Ajax, the only play in Greek tragedy that depicts the suicide of a soldier in war. After the stage reading there will be a panel and audience discussion with representatives from the BU military community and the student body at large. 6:30 p.m. in the Tsai Performance Center; free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://bu.edu/core/theaterofwar.
Core alumni -- graduates as well as current juniors and seniors -- are invited to a special pre-event talk before the Theater of War event this Wednesday. Prof. Stephanie Nelson has agreed to discuss the plot, significance, and context of these plays so that we may better understand the performance. If you have not read these plays, or even if you have, her insight is invaluable and will certainly add to your enjoyment of the main event. Join us in the Core office at 6 PM, CAS 119.
CALLIOPE RAFFLE FOR CC102 BOOKS. Are you a first-year student planning to take CC102 in the spring? Do you want to get all of your books for just $2? If you answered yes, you should know about The Calliope Project's Core Book raffle! We will be selling $2 tickets this week outside of Core lectures, and in the Core office from now until December 12th, the last day of classes (ask at the front desk). The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of having the winning ticket! We will conduct a drawing on December 13th; the Core student with the winning ticket that student will receive a FULL SET of CC102 texts! For more information, contact calliope.bu@gmail.com.
The 2011-2012 issue of The Journal of the Core Curriculum is now accepting submissions. Authors and artists are welcome to submit any kind of Core-related essays, artwork, photography, short stories, creative pieces, and/or poetry. Accepted submissions will be featured in Issue XXI alongside works by faculty and alumni. Back issues can be viewed online at http://bu.edu/core/journal. The editors are especially interested in essays and artwork which explore the themes and topics of the Core Natural Sciences. Submissions can be emailed as attachments to corejournal@gmail.com; questions can be emailed to editor Megan Ilnitzki, milnit@bu.edu.
If you have any suggestions for or comments about Core activities, please contact Zachary Bos at core@bu.edu. Stay connected with Core: Blog | Facebook.com | Calendar
Core has just received approval to take a group of students to the performance of the Nutcracker at Boston Ballet on Friday, December 9th at 7:30 p.m. Before we buy tickets, we need to know how many of you would be interested in joining us for this very special event. By "interest" we mean how many of you would be willing to commit yourselves right now to be part of our group. The tickets come at a substantial price, and we want to make sure that they are put to good use.
What do you think? Do you want to join us for one of the most beautiful holiday experiences in Boston? Let us know immediately at core@bu.edu if you want to come. There's no guarantee that we will be able to accommodate everyone, so it's important to reserve a place right away.
"I went back to all the advice I've been given about talking to a big group, and they said I have to tell a joke. I don't know many jokes and all the ones I do know are math jokes. [. . . ] That was a joke."
"Math trains you to see what is really meant, not the shadows around us; this may be the first step in understanding 'Truth' and 'Justice'."
"There is only one way of knowing: the mathematical way of knowing. You can't know something any other way."
"Why is math so successful, why does it last? Because in math, we don't accept a statement as true unless it has a proof -- an explanation of why a fact has to be true."
"As I face the long winter of life I don't know if I can cling to proofs for warmth, but I can trust them, because they'll always be here and they'll always be true. That's very comforting as I get older."
"There are just five Platonic solids. But why are there only five? There's no proof, no explanation of why this must be so."
As recorded by Core office employee Winona Hudak during Prof. Richard Hall's discussion of mathematics and The Republic, at the November 29th CC101 lecture.
Tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m., Professor John Platoff of Trinity College will deliver a lecture titled "The Beatles and the Rolling Stones Get Political: 'Revolution' and 'Street Fighting Man'", in Room B-36, School of Theology (745 Commonwealth Avenue). This event is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Karbank Fund; all members of the campus community are welcome to attend.
"Socrates is proposing radical censorship so the young receive the right message from a very young age."
"The best soul will be ruled by reason or calculation. Justice is when each part of the soul -- calculating, spiritedness, and desire -- is minding its own business."
"Can you know about politics in the same way a brain surgeon knows about the brain or a pilot knows about a plane?"
"If you don't know what good is, you don't know what justice is used for."
"When you wake up in the morning you trust the floor to support your weight, you trust your toothbrush to clean your teeth; and you trust when you go to class, your teachers will have something to teach you."
"Sophists are not interested in the truth, but rather in the manipulation of the truth. Today, sophists are what you would call lawyers, doctors, politicians, or lobbyists."
As recorded by Core office employee Winona Hudak during Prof. Greg Fried's discussion of The Republic, at the November 22th CC101 lecture.
Due to an emergency which has forced Prof. Jay Samons to cancel his campus obligations today, today's promised Lunch Box Talk on the topic of democracy is also canceled. Prof. Formichelli, the series organizer, extends her regrets to those of you this news disappoints. If another Lunch Box Talk session is scheduled before the end of the semester -- whether with Prof. Samons again or another speaker -- it will be announced by email and on Facebook and with the usual announcements in lecture.
The Core Blog is a hub for information and media related to the CAS Core Curriculum at Boston University. It will be updated regularly, with photo galleries, interviews, links to related reading online, news of events or activities, and other kinds of content that help connect our Core people—prospective, current, and former students—with each other.
You can stop by here once a week to scroll through the posts, or make this your homepage in order to keep your finger on the pulse of the Core. Either way, we hope you find this to be a pleasant way to strengthen your connection with the great people, the great books, and the great questions we encounter in the Core.
