On my eleventh birthday, I received a copy of D’aulaires Book of Greek Myths, a gift that would change the trajectory of my life. I dived into the stories of the Gods, Goddesses, monsters and heroes of Greek mythology with an inexhaustible enthusiasm I had not felt before. Every year from then on, I received more complex books on Greek mythology until I had progressed to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Hamilton’s comprehensive survey of Greek myths and their sources made me want to read the authors who had actually written these stories, (in English translation, of course). I loved all of the misadventures of Odysseus as he tried to return home safely from the Trojan war, and the monsters overcome by such heroes as Heracles and Theseus. I soon realized that I wanted to read these stories in the original Greek.
When I matriculated at Barnard college, unlike most freshmen, I already knew I wanted to be a Classics major. Although I had taken Latin in highschool, (and ironically disliked it), Classical Greek captivated me. The alphabet, the sounds of the language, and the complexity of grammar and syntax all appealed to me, but most important was the ability to read texts in the original Greek.
It turned out, however, that most of my Greek classes focused purely on translation and grammar, rather than actual interpretation. Because Classics remained one of the most conservative fields, there was little tolerance for using theoretical paradigms from other disciplines that piqued my interest. Moreover, as a very male dominated field, there was little tolerance for women, especially those who wanted to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to interpretation.
I decided to change my major to Ancient studies, which provided the interdisciplinary experience I wanted, although in translation.
After graduation, I accepted a job as a paralegal, assuming my work would be about justice and integrity. Instead, it was about money. With a two year commitment to the law firm, I had time to think about a new path. As that second September rolled around, I realized I really missed the beginning of a new semester full of new people, ideas, and skills to learn.
Graduate school was calling to me, but in order to get in, I had to revive my skills in both Greek and Latin. As a Columbia postbac, I had access to my undergraduate adviser, as well as some new, much less conservative professors, who nurtured my interests.
With my revitalized skills in both Latin and Greek, I was accepted as a Faculty Fellow at Columbia University. I look back on this period of intense intellectual pursuit with great nostalgia, but I know in reality I faced many challenges. Among them was Greek translation, but now that I had more enlightened professors, I wanted to translate the original Greek texts, because translation always led to interpretation.
There are no two (or more) translations of Greek or Latin texts exactly alike, because the act of translation is also interpretation. Greek and Latin are both incredibly nuanced languages, and there are multiple English words to choose from, for each translation. Some Greek and Latin words convey such a complex of meanings, there is no precise English translation available.
I translated all of the genres of Greek and Latin texts, including oratory, philosophy, history, epic and lyric poetry, tragedy, and old and new comedy. I wrote my master’s thesis on selections from Plato’s Republic, and chose art history, mythology and tragedy as my three orals topics.
Passing my orals after a full year of studying was exhilarating! I remember celebrating for multiple days. And then, the long weeks and months of trying to figure out a dissertation topic. Like all graduate students in the humanities, I started way too big and had to whittle my grandiose ideas down to a workable scale.
I will not lie, months became years as I labored in this unstructured environment, and I had a pivotal revelation: teaching is my passion, not research and writing.
I had taught at Columbia starting in my second year of graduate school as part of my fellowship responsibilities, and I loved it. When my fellowship ended, I applied for a position at a private school where I taught both middle and high school Latin. After two years in private school, I transitioned to a part time position in public school, so I would have time to research and write my dissertation.
After two years of part time employment, I was asked to teach all of the Latin classes. Working full time and completing my dissertation turned out to be incompatible for me, and since I was having so much fun teaching grades 9-12, and tutoring private students, I thought maybe I wouldn’t finish at all. Several teachers who were also ABD encouraged me to leave my research behind.
In the end, I decided to finish for my personal satisfaction, so I taught full time and spent my summers researching and writing. When I finally finished, I was ecstatic, but I knew I had found my place as a teacher and tutor. And the rest is history!!