Point of View of a Teacher in Rome
Svitak, Adora
I disliked the children who slumped in their chairs and paid as much attention to me as a dead man would to flies. They showed no interest in learning and I wished that I could smack them on the head with their own impertinence. But no; their parents were rich, and I would be reprimanded severely and never allowed inside again.
A child's lack of interest made me bored as well. At least I taught them outside in their gardens by the peristyle, where I could hear the sounds of Rome, hear our city speak. One particular child, Augustus, was quite a bother. He acted as though he were both blind and deaf, for he did not even try to observe the things going around him. I was more than happy to take a break to smell the colorful flowers in the garden and to converse with a lady fishmonger, Octavia, who I knew well. Octavia had come into the courtyard looking for some dropped possessions; Octavia was always losing things. I helped her to look for them. I knelt down on my knees and poked around in the rose and laurel bushes, trying to talk to Octavia as I looked. Perhaps fishmongers were among the ones "least worthy of approval" but they received fairer pay than I and I was dying for intelligent conversation.
Unfortunately Octavia was lethargic that day. She had pursed lips and spoke with as few words as seemed possible. I asked her a question; she said "yes" or "no" or "I don't know." I finally found Octavia’s “possessions”—a dirty toga, a few coins, and a pair of spare sandals—inside a bag close to the stone walls that surrounded the courtyard. I had always been a little wary of the walls; the stones were never properly chinked, made in a hurry for Augustus’s family. I threw the bag to Octavia, who caught it promptly.
“What’s that noise?” Augustus's mother, Pompeiia, a cheery and outspoken lady, called from the window. “Oh, good to see you both. I’ll be coming down with some wine and bread for Augustus.” Soon Pompeiia was in the courtyard. She gave the bread and wine to Augustus, then addressed us.
"It is wonderful to see you,” Pompeiia said brightly. “My husband and I are having a conflict of interest, so if you would just give the fish to the cook instead of bringing it to him for approval first, I'd appreciate it."
"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of conflict of interest?" Octavia asked sharply. "Oh, well, he is talking, in such a silly way, about taking Augustus on his ship soon, so naturally I broke a vase over his head," Pompeiia said lightly. "Would you like any quail?"
I could barely hold in my laughter, of course. Pompeiia shrugged, as though breaking a vase over one's husband's head were something that a Roman woman did every day. Augustus sat in his chair looking petrified and did not appear to have heard. Pompeiia shook him roughly.
"Wake up, you louse!" she shouted in annoyance. Pompeiia was incredibly mercurial and could change from cheerful to annoyed any minute.
We heard humming from under one of the laurel bushes and we jumped. Soon a lady emerged and began viciously breaking off laurel branches, until she noticed us. It was Pompeiia’s unmarried half-sister, Tiberia. "Pompeiia, I thought you were going to the baths," Tiberia said in surprise, looking embarrassed.”
"Goodness, Tiberia, I would have thought that you knew that was a joke. The baths are closed today. Hasn't your mind gained some experience?" Pompeiia said snidely.
"You horrid beast pig!" Tiberia shouted. Both Tiberia and Pompeiia tended to call each other names. "How dare you insult me?"
"And you, Tiberia!" Pompeiia said, and turned her back on Tiberia pointedly. Augustus sniggered. Everyone turned to look at him, and he turned bright red. I sighed and imagined that I could break a vase over Augustus's head just as the badly chinked stone walls of the villa began to collapse around us.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Compare-Contrast: Dragon vs. Magic Carpet
With an ear-splitting roar and a scorching burst of fire, your vehicle lunges through the air, heading straight for an office building. With a sparkling explosion of glass, you careen through the sixth story window and slide into your office, kicking up whirlwinds of paperwork and landing right at your boss’s feet. If this sounds a little too theatrical for your tastes, you might want to consider a more laid back form of transportation such as, say, a magic carpet. Although there are similarities shared by both the magic carpet and the dragon, there are several factors that make these modes of transportation dramatically different.
The environmentally friendly magic carpet offers comfort and low resistance efficiency. Unfortunately, safety isn’t one of the magic carpet’s strong qualities. The magic carpet is not very safe. As Axminister magazine points out, the magic carpet had low safety ratings due to its flimsy Chinese-made material that flips over and tears easily. There are no seatbelts on your standard magic carpet. As one traumatized woman pointed out, “It’s [the magic carpet] flat, there’s…nothing to hang on to when you fall.”
Whatever the magic carpet lacks in safety, it makes up in comfort. Your average magic carpet is silky soft, which virtually eliminates travel sores when riding on it. The standard magic carpet is also typically flat, which allows you to sprawl out. This is useful for red-eye flights on the magic carpet.
It’s not just comfort that makes the magic carpet valuable. Your average magic carpet is very efficient. The standard magic carpet can go up to 150 mph. In this day and age, the environment is one of our top issues. Unlike many other modes of transportation, the magic carpet does not need fuel and it is emissions-neutral. Not to mention the money you’ll save on gas. But money isn’t one of our most important issues—in a recent poll, more people said that they’d like more time than those who wanted more money. The magic carpet can accommodate those wishes—you hardly need any prep time at all to get the magic carpet up and running. All you have to do is jump on… and voila! Plus, the magic carpet doesn’t take up much space at all. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, all you have to do is roll up the magic carpet and stuff it in your backpack.
Sitting up on your magic carpet, you fly through the open door and land lightly. A few people remark, “Nice magic carpet,” but most people barely glance and hurry to get to the elevator. The magic carpet is a fairly laidback way to travel. All magic carpets have intricate Islamic-style geometric patterns but, as popular TV pundit Ali Baba remarked, “they’re pretty, but not too dramatic.” Because of that, riding on a magic carpet isn’t likely to make a huge splash. They’re not too easily seen in the air, and when you fly low, it looks like you’re just sitting down somewhere. They have light colors, so they won’t exactly grab people’s attention.
For those of you who’d like something a little more exciting, you’re probably leaning toward the dragon already. But unfortunately the dragon is unsafe. Many dragons tend to have a psychological need to prove themselves, and often show off by doing dangerous stunts in the air like flips, dives, and spins. Sometimes, dragons also close their eyes while doing stunts, presenting a great danger to the rider. If you aren’t severely injured when a dragon does a stunt, the dragon may finish you off with its giant and powerful tail, which stretches fully backwards and can easily whip you off the dragon’s back. Dragons also belch fire. If you are sitting near the dragon’s head or the dragon is trying to face you, your clothes may be ignited. This is especially bad in the air, because the winds may spread the fire and you might not be able to put the fire out. Dragons often feel hostile toward their owners and may try to eat you while in the air. They are excellent hunters and can easily do this by knocking you off their back and then catching you in their mouth.
Unlike the magic carpet, the dragon is not very comfortable. It has rough scales like sandpaper that may rub against your skin. Dragons consistently grow horns throughout their life all over their body, so you might find a horn digging into your leg during a flight on a dragon. During the flight, you have to sit astride with your legs wrapped around the dragon’s wide body, which can easily give you leg cramps. As Alisha Morton said, “I’d rather take an international magic carpet than a commuter dragon. Those dragons are too darn uncomfortable for any flight!”
Just when you may be thinking that a dragon cannot get any worse, you realize something—the dragon is not nearly as efficient as the magic carpet. After all, you need to feed the dragon huge amounts of food, and dragons prefer eating whole animals as opposed to human portions. After eating such huge meals, it’s no surprise that dragons produce copious amounts of dung and urine. Unfortunately, you’ll be the one to clean that up. To ride a dragon, you must first set up your riding equipment—like your saddle, bridle, reins, spurs, and whip. Even the most expert of dragon riders usually take more than twenty minutes preparing riding equipment—and what if your dragon is being especially rebellious while you’re trying to prepare it for riding? Dragons are typically pretty rebellious. Even with your reins, it’s immensely difficult to control where dragons go, so they usually go wherever they please. When riding on a dragon to go to a beach four miles away, one family found themselves deserted in a bog in another state and had to wait two hours for their dragon to come back.
Dragons are illegal in Italy, Portugal, Tanzania, Kazakhstan, and Guatemala. If you intend to bend the law a bit, or even if you just want to stable your dragon legally, there’s still the issue of storing your dragon. They’re amazingly difficult to store—they make lots of noise, take up lots of room, and are hard to herd into enclosed areas.
Still, if you have a daredevil personality and you don’t mind hard work, the dragon might be the right vehicle for you. As we saw before, the dragon is an impressive mode of travel. They belch fire, announcing your presence to everyone around. They are huge and impressive looking, with their brightly colored scales and large, strong feet. They are very showy, doing stunts whenever they can. As very volatile creatures, the dragon will give you a rebellious, gallant, and daredevil image.
Magic carpets are probably better suited to families or children, whereas the dragon is great to make a point and show off—teenagers will probably find that useful. Whether you decide to ride the magic carpet or the dragon, we wish you happy flying.
The environmentally friendly magic carpet offers comfort and low resistance efficiency. Unfortunately, safety isn’t one of the magic carpet’s strong qualities. The magic carpet is not very safe. As Axminister magazine points out, the magic carpet had low safety ratings due to its flimsy Chinese-made material that flips over and tears easily. There are no seatbelts on your standard magic carpet. As one traumatized woman pointed out, “It’s [the magic carpet] flat, there’s…nothing to hang on to when you fall.”
Whatever the magic carpet lacks in safety, it makes up in comfort. Your average magic carpet is silky soft, which virtually eliminates travel sores when riding on it. The standard magic carpet is also typically flat, which allows you to sprawl out. This is useful for red-eye flights on the magic carpet.
It’s not just comfort that makes the magic carpet valuable. Your average magic carpet is very efficient. The standard magic carpet can go up to 150 mph. In this day and age, the environment is one of our top issues. Unlike many other modes of transportation, the magic carpet does not need fuel and it is emissions-neutral. Not to mention the money you’ll save on gas. But money isn’t one of our most important issues—in a recent poll, more people said that they’d like more time than those who wanted more money. The magic carpet can accommodate those wishes—you hardly need any prep time at all to get the magic carpet up and running. All you have to do is jump on… and voila! Plus, the magic carpet doesn’t take up much space at all. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, all you have to do is roll up the magic carpet and stuff it in your backpack.
Sitting up on your magic carpet, you fly through the open door and land lightly. A few people remark, “Nice magic carpet,” but most people barely glance and hurry to get to the elevator. The magic carpet is a fairly laidback way to travel. All magic carpets have intricate Islamic-style geometric patterns but, as popular TV pundit Ali Baba remarked, “they’re pretty, but not too dramatic.” Because of that, riding on a magic carpet isn’t likely to make a huge splash. They’re not too easily seen in the air, and when you fly low, it looks like you’re just sitting down somewhere. They have light colors, so they won’t exactly grab people’s attention.
For those of you who’d like something a little more exciting, you’re probably leaning toward the dragon already. But unfortunately the dragon is unsafe. Many dragons tend to have a psychological need to prove themselves, and often show off by doing dangerous stunts in the air like flips, dives, and spins. Sometimes, dragons also close their eyes while doing stunts, presenting a great danger to the rider. If you aren’t severely injured when a dragon does a stunt, the dragon may finish you off with its giant and powerful tail, which stretches fully backwards and can easily whip you off the dragon’s back. Dragons also belch fire. If you are sitting near the dragon’s head or the dragon is trying to face you, your clothes may be ignited. This is especially bad in the air, because the winds may spread the fire and you might not be able to put the fire out. Dragons often feel hostile toward their owners and may try to eat you while in the air. They are excellent hunters and can easily do this by knocking you off their back and then catching you in their mouth.
Unlike the magic carpet, the dragon is not very comfortable. It has rough scales like sandpaper that may rub against your skin. Dragons consistently grow horns throughout their life all over their body, so you might find a horn digging into your leg during a flight on a dragon. During the flight, you have to sit astride with your legs wrapped around the dragon’s wide body, which can easily give you leg cramps. As Alisha Morton said, “I’d rather take an international magic carpet than a commuter dragon. Those dragons are too darn uncomfortable for any flight!”
Just when you may be thinking that a dragon cannot get any worse, you realize something—the dragon is not nearly as efficient as the magic carpet. After all, you need to feed the dragon huge amounts of food, and dragons prefer eating whole animals as opposed to human portions. After eating such huge meals, it’s no surprise that dragons produce copious amounts of dung and urine. Unfortunately, you’ll be the one to clean that up. To ride a dragon, you must first set up your riding equipment—like your saddle, bridle, reins, spurs, and whip. Even the most expert of dragon riders usually take more than twenty minutes preparing riding equipment—and what if your dragon is being especially rebellious while you’re trying to prepare it for riding? Dragons are typically pretty rebellious. Even with your reins, it’s immensely difficult to control where dragons go, so they usually go wherever they please. When riding on a dragon to go to a beach four miles away, one family found themselves deserted in a bog in another state and had to wait two hours for their dragon to come back.
Dragons are illegal in Italy, Portugal, Tanzania, Kazakhstan, and Guatemala. If you intend to bend the law a bit, or even if you just want to stable your dragon legally, there’s still the issue of storing your dragon. They’re amazingly difficult to store—they make lots of noise, take up lots of room, and are hard to herd into enclosed areas.
Still, if you have a daredevil personality and you don’t mind hard work, the dragon might be the right vehicle for you. As we saw before, the dragon is an impressive mode of travel. They belch fire, announcing your presence to everyone around. They are huge and impressive looking, with their brightly colored scales and large, strong feet. They are very showy, doing stunts whenever they can. As very volatile creatures, the dragon will give you a rebellious, gallant, and daredevil image.
Magic carpets are probably better suited to families or children, whereas the dragon is great to make a point and show off—teenagers will probably find that useful. Whether you decide to ride the magic carpet or the dragon, we wish you happy flying.
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