What a Weekend!

Had a great Saturday: got up early, had a fun day, got some good news. In the evening we saw Romeo & Juliet at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, which was just amazing. ...Oh, and we went shopping & got some back-to-school (?) clothes. So that's always fun. Pictures (maybe) soon.

We'd heard and read good things about the ballet, but I never expected it to be this awesome.

A video that won't come close to doing it justice?
Sure:



Nice Sunday too:

Enjoyed the beautiful fall weather while walking through the park near the Dahlia Garden...


Oh, the good news? So one of the great things about my schedule is that we have time to visit lots of friends and family during the summer. And one of the questions that lots of those friends and family like to ask is: What do you do during the summer, anyway?

This past summer, or for at least two-thirds of it, I read nearly everything I could find having to do with the Symposium, by Plato. I must have read at least five or six full-length books, along with well over 30 articles and essays. My goal: to try to understand things a little better, and try to see if there were areas where I might make some contribution of my own. Nothing helps you understand a book or an argument like writing and working your way through it.

And now the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association (the big time!) has accepted my paper on the Symposium for the upcoming April 2010 meeting!

My paper has to do with the tension between what Socrates says about the ideal lover and what a jealous, drunken young man named Alcibiades has to say about being in love with Socrates.

If you'd like to take a look, the APA will post it online in January. Can't wait? Okay, I've posted a draft--feel free to give it a read! Let me know if you'd like to talk about it!