Reflection, Week of December 14, 2009

This was an interesting week. In the beginning of the week we went to the library to type up our two sources, and a revised bibliography. I got this done that day and handed it in, even though today (Friday) was the due date. I prefer getting my work in early so I don't have to run the risk of getting lazy and procrastinating, leaving more to do in a shorter amount of time. The assignment this time was to take two of my sources, take an excerpt from it in Latin, to translate in a footnote, and then in the middle of the page, explain the significance of it. Both of my excerpts came from Cicero, mainly because my IA is dealing with the interaction between Cicero and Julius Caesar, and examining what the relationship between the two was. I've found that they were political opponents... interesting. I hope to find more information soon.

The best part of class this week was the discussion from Daedalus and Icarus about Daedalus' advice that Icarus should not fly too high or too low in the sky, because he'd either fall into the sea or the wax on his wings would melt and then, he would fall there too. A discussion came up in class about situations in life where it is best to take a middle path, meaning one that is not too extreme in either direction. An example I came up with in class was sex - too much is bad, some is better than none. I was just trying to be funny, but there is some validity to that point. An example that someone brought up that interested me was that of homework - too much of it would just clutter our lives, too little would mean that we'd become lazy and wouldn't be learning as much on our own. I agree; if I had no homework I'd get lazy and become too dependent on the teachers spoon-feeding information to me, I think homework gives me a chance to learn on my own. But too much homework would be overwhelming.