Here I am pushing 50 (I'll be 47 next month), and I wish I had passed up more delicious dishes for the sake of vanity. Tell her I'll swap.
The assigned summer reading for rising GT 8th graders is The Odyssey, the whole thing, and no translation was specified, just "scholarly," which I guess means no Classics Illustrated. I just bought the new translation by Robert Fagles. When his new school counsellor told me that he had to read the Odyssey, I asked, "which translation?" and she said "the scholarly one," by which I immediately knew that she didn't understand what she was talking about, but was able to finesse her lapse in a split second, by saying, "ah, yes, a scholarly translation instead of a kiddie version," so that she was able to nod sagely. I felt very proud of myself. There may be hope for me yet. |
