November 23, 2021
Transliminate your favorite room, grab a cronut and get ready for some top-shelf edutainment! Dave and Jeff set the table, tackling terms and probing provenances with deep dives into etymologies, derivatives, cognates, and malapropism (be careful not to die in the barn!) After some stretching, the guys even break a sweat with high-intensity calquing. Next up, some favorite mondegreens as Dave flakes on Phil Collins and Jeff trips over Toto, followed by some of Dave’s best practical principles on how to incorporate active, idiomatic Latin into your study and make it stick. Get ready to sign up for the 20-yr. plan. And if you ever feel guilty for how much time you spend listening to Ad Navseam, just remember the act itself, in this hobunk spot of the internet, is persebonate.
November 16, 2021
What’s the best way to learn, retain, and teach Latin? The old school, passive “grammar and rote memorization” route or the hip, (relatively) new active, “spoken and living language” approach? You don’t need to be versed in COBOL or FORTRAN or know your way around those punch-cards that used to operate refrigerator-sized computers back in the ‘70s to answer that question (though it might help). Dave and Jeff are here to share the stories of their own journeys through various Latin curricula on both sides of the desk. Hear what led Dave to embrace the “active spoken” method—the highs and lows, the practicalities and the hilarities. And if it gets too heavy, fear not — Arugula Man is waiting in the wings.
November 10, 2021
Ever wonder why the American capitol is chock full of columns, pediments, and triglyphs, or why the Washington Monument appears supremely suited for roasting large quantities of meat? Then this is the episode for you. The guys begin their journey way back in the 18th century when Europe was undergoing a wave of “Greek Fever” and “Egyptomania”. They had it all: romantic poems, shady trinket collections, and enlightened revolutions which eventually spilled over into neo-classical architecture. And this still 'colors' the way we recall and interpret the ancient world. Thus the obelisk of WaMo and the Pantheon-y JeMe flexing its dome-court advantage. All very nice, but can it go too far? Did anybody really need a ripped, shirtless statue of George Washington throneing it up in the Capitol rotunda? Tune in to find out.
October 26, 2021
Do you encourage your children to stay in their beds at night by telling them that, if they get up, a vampiric meany will sneak in through a window and slurp their haematids? No? Well, the ancient Greeks would like to have a talk with you about your parenting skills. Keep your favorite apotropaic talisman handy as we mull the blood-thirsty Mormo, disengawk the seductive Lamia, and evade the, um, dung-footed Empousa (!) in this spooky season special. If you make it through that gory gauntlet, then wander along with the guys into Athens' most-haunted house while keeping an eye out for spectral arrivals of dead relatives. Also, home-buying pro-tip: always have the inspector check for basement mold and shackled skeletons beneath the lawn before dropping your deposit.
October 19, 2021
Jeff and Dave wade into the Olympic-sized pool that is Ovid’s masterpiece, the Metamorphoses. After untangling etymological tendrils of the word “vignette”, the guys dive right in. First up, “Apollo and Daphne”. Not happy with Apollo’s arch trash-talk, Cupid shows him who’s really the boss—his arrows unleash unstoppable passion and malodorous disdain between the titular two. This is not the chubby bowman on your Valentine’s card. Then it’s on to “Diana and Actaeon”. What’s the message here? Another defense of chastity? Haunting comment on the goddess' sacredness? Is Ovid alluding to his own error or the recent Roman past? Maybe he's whelping on the very conventions of epic? Come on in, the water's fine, but be careful where you dogpaddle.
October 12, 2021
Today the guys tackle the life and work of public intellectual Joseph Campbell, best known for his theory of the monomyth which proposes that all hero narratives are, at root, simply variations on the same story. Once they get past the irritating, almost Forrest Gumpian nature of Campbell’s self-mythologizing biography, Dave and Jeff get down to the stages of the “journey” itself. Behold calls to adventure, tests, mentors, katabaseis, resurrections; and a Frodo, Harry, Katniss, and Skywalker hiding behind every veil. Questions beget questions: is the Christian narrative just another “hero’s journey”? Can we blame Campbell for Jar-Jar Binks? And perhaps most importantly—where’s the best place in the hero cycle to stop off for some soup?
October 5, 2021
This week Dave and Jeff sit down with intellectual powerhouse and controversialist Heather Mac Donald. Known primarily for her incisive social commentary on policing, Heather is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a New York Times bestselling author. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including higher education, immigration, policing, homelessness and homeless advocacy, criminal-justice reform, and race relations. The guys enjoy a wide-ranging and an in-depth discussion with Heather about the different intellectual currents of the humanities that have shaped her as a thinker, and why the arts need no instrumental justification.
September 28, 2021
This week join Jeff, Dave, and Toto on a climb up the fragrant slopes of Mount Parnassus to consult what was the premier divination site in the ancient Mediterranean—the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. But you don’t just barge on in and start a-consulting left and right; there are purifications to be made, various deities to appease, hearts and brains to find, and sacrifices to offer. Only then you may ask your question of Delph the Great and Powerful. So come along, take in the view, and hope our answers to long-standing questions are more straight-forward than what poor old Croesus got. Also, ask yourself how far would you travel and how long would you stand in line to find out "who stole the sheet"?
September 21, 2021
Ever run into the phrase Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur (“Whatever is said in Latin seems profound”)? Well, most of the states in the American union took that sentiment to heart when they came up with their personal mottoes (institutions and tattoo-getters too). After a brief detour through the pitfalls of collegiate apophthegms and bare midriff-commenting, Dave and Jeff rip and riff through all the mottos of the lower 48 (and those other two). Little mercy is shown as they decide who’s on point, who just phoned it in, and why Michigan’s is (proh dolor) the worst one of all. Even so, si quaeritis amoenas nugas, audite!
