On the Trail of the Undead -- Presentation on Friday, 11/6

A Cosmos Ruled by Love -- Presentation on Monday, 10/26

Tributes to the Red Planet Mars!

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the James Scholar Advisory & Leadership Team:

The planet Mars has been in the headlines quite a bit lately. Discoveries about saltwater flowing on the Red Planet (in summertime) have raised the hopes that life (of some sort) might yet be discovered on this desert world that closely resembles Antarctica on Earth. We now know that Mars had lakes, rivers, and oceans for a long period of its history, which means that even if we never find living organisms there, we might expect to find some fossilized remains of life from the past. Be that as it may, here are two poems from ancient Greece about Ares (Mars), the divine patron of warriors and warfare in the Olympian pantheon, who was also believed to be the regent or viceroy of the planet Mars in antiquity. These two poems are noteworthy because they ask Ares/Mars to cease from warfare and promote peace. :) Finally, we have two related poems by Longfellow, the second of which uses the planet Mars as a symbol of strength and perseverance.

Orphic Hymn #54: To Mars

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE

Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Mars,

In darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars

Fierce and untamed, whose mighty power can make

The strongest walls from their foundations shake:

Mortal-destroying king, defiled with gore,

Pleased with war’s dreadful and tumultuous roar:

Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight,

And the dire ruin of mad savage fight.

Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife,

Whose works with woe, embitter human life;

To lovely Venus, and to Bacchus yield,

To Ceres give the weapons of the field;

Encourage peace, to gentle works inclined,

And give abundance, with benignant mind.

Homeric Hymn #8: To Ares (Mars)

[1] Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, savior of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defense of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, [5] stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptered king of bravery, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! [10] Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread [15] the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.

2 Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

A PSALM OF LIFE

(WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST)

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real !   Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, however pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God overhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

THE LIGHT OF STARS

(A SECOND PSALM OF LIFE)

The night is come, but not too soon;
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?
The star of love and dreams?
Oh no! from that blue tent above
A hero's armor gleams.

And earnest thoughts within me rise,
When I behold afar,
Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.

O star of strength! I see thee stand
And smile upon my pain;
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,
And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light
But the cold light of stars;
I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will,
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.

And thou, too, whosoever thou art,
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.

Oh, fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know erelong,
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.

And of course, to reach Mars within the next couple of decades, we’ll need courage, determination, and PEACE so that the nations of the world can cooperate on this grand adventure! :)

Until next time –

Rob

October 2015 Leadership Reflection

Leadership Reflection for October 2015:

The Qualities of a Leader

          Much ink and manifold pixels have been spilled by authors who have sought to describe the personal qualities that characterize great leaders. In verse and prose, writers throughout the centuries have provided us with much food for thought on this subject, but I have found no better guide to leadership than the following poem – one of my mother’s all-time favorites – which is often recited at commencement exercises and other coming-of-age ceremonies throughout the world. Its list of leadership qualities (resiliency, perseverance, courage, prudence, and so forth) reads like a poetical job description and reminds me of the ideals that my family and my teachers instilled in me during my elementary, middle, and high school years.

          So now, without further delay, here it is (insert drumroll here, and cue the spotlight) – my favorite leadership poem of all time! :)

“If” (First Published in Rewards and Fairies, 1910)

By Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

1. If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

2. If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;

If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools:

3. If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

4. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son.

Happy Harvest Moon Weekend! :)

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the James Scholar Advisory & Leadership Team:

This Sunday evening (9/27), residents of North America will be able to view a total eclipse of the Full Harvest Moon! In honor of this auspicious occasion, I’d like to share with you two poems about the Moon from ancient Greece and a link to a proto-science-fiction story about the Moon from medieval Japan!

LUNAR POEMS FROM ANCIENT GREECE – INTRODUCTION

        The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their prescientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of Nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

          The Homeric school of poetry, founded perhaps by Homer himself (fl. ca. 8^th century BCE), and carried forward by his disciples and successors for many generations, also produced poems that celebrated heroic deeds and the mysterious forces of Nature, many of which were personified as divine or semidivine beings. In both of the following poems, we can learn how the ancient Greeks perceived the Moon, not as a dead rock in space, but as a living entity (or as a celestial orb ruled by a divine guardian – in this case, Artemis [in Greek] or Diana [in Latin]).

Orphic Hymn #8: TO THE MOON

(The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS)

Hear, divine queen, diffusing silver light,

Bull-horned and wandering through the gloom of Night.

With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide

Night’s torch extending, through the heavens you ride:

Female and Male with borrowed rays you shine,

And now full-orbed, now tending to decline.

Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon,

Whose amber orb makes Night’s reflected noon:

Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night,

All-seeing power bedecked with starry light.

Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife,

In peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:

Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend,

Who gives to Nature’s works their destined end.

Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail!

Decked with a graceful robe and shining veil;

Come, blessed, divine, prudent, starry, bright,

Come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,

Shine on these sacred rites with prosperous rays,

And pleased accept your suppliant’s mystic praise.

Homeric Hymn #32: TO THE MOON

          [1] And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon. From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that arises [5] from her shining light. The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever the bright Moon having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, [10] drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortals.

          [15] Once [Zeus] the son of Cronos was joined with her in love; and she conceived and bore a daughter Pandia, exceedingly lovely amongst the immortals.

          Hail, white-armed divine, bright Moon, mild, bright-tressed queen! And now I will leave you and sing the glories of men half-divine, whose deeds minstrels, [20] the servants of the Muses, celebrate with lovely lips.

From medieval Japan comes the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, also known as the Tale of the Moon Princess. You can find a version of this proto-science-fiction story here:

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/72/japanese-fairy-tales/4834/the-bamboo-cutter-and-the-moon-child/

Happy Harvest Moon weekend! :)

Rob

September 2015 Leadership Reflection

Leadership Reflection for September 2015:

Developing Leadership Through Hobbies

          I like to encourage the students in the ACES James Scholar Honors Program to have hobbies and interests beyond the classroom and laboratory. Why? Not only because outside interests help us to expand our horizons, nurture our minds, and introduce us to new people – but also because hobbies can empower us to learn to exercise our leadership skills in the company of family members and friends who share our interests in the “real world” that lies just beyond the “Ivory Tower” in the Grove of Academe.

          One of my favorite hobbies is reading and writing poetry. In elementary school, I enjoyed reading and memorizing the poems that were assigned to me as memory work, but I didn’t start to write poetry in earnest until I was in college. I published some poems in literary journals during my graduate school days, and in recent years, I have written poems for various occasions that can be sung to public-domain tunes. Some of my recent poems have been sung before an audience and have been well-received.

          Poetry has been a gateway through which I have learned to express in verse what I have learned about life in general and leadership in particular. I have found that insights about leadership (and almost any other topic imaginable) are better internalized and remembered if they come packaged along with rhythm and rhyme. My versifying hobby has helped me to improve both my spoken and written communication skills and provided me with an added dose of self-confidence as I present information to various audiences. Moreover, throughout my professional career, poetry has expanded my horizons, provided fertile ground for nourishing my imagination, and introduced me to myths and legends from around the world about amazing people, places, and events, thus providing a doorway for me to discover the similarities and appreciate the differences among worldwide cultures.

          What is your hobby? Do you have outside interests beyond the four walls of your home and/or office? If not, I encourage you to seek out a hobby that will help you connect with new people, edutain your brain, and broaden your perspective on the human condition – all of which will enable you to enhance the leadership skills that you can use in the everyday world.

          In conclusion, I’d like to tell you about one of my favorite ancient poets, Hesiod. His life story reminds me of another leadership-related reward that hobbies can give us: They can help us to keep alive that childlike sense of wonder at the world around us, ensuring that we remain young at heart and eager to embrace new ideas and new people for as long as we live. J

The Greek Poet Hesiod: An Ancient Artist and Agriculturalist

·         Text by Rob Chappell, JSALT Advisor

·         Translations of Hesiod by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914) – Public Domain @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/index.htm

·         Photo from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

          The practice of agriculture and the art of poetry are as old as human civilization itself, and many writers of the ancient Mediterranean countries composed works of poetry dealing with agricultural subjects. One of the earliest agricultural poets known to us is Hesiod, a Greek sage who flourished in the eighth century BCE. He is best remembered for two major poems that he composed: the Works and Days and the Theogony (Birth of the Gods).

          The Works and Days is an agricultural almanac in verse, addressed to Hesiod’s brother Perses, who managed their family farm. The poem goes through the cycle of the four seasons, explaining what kind of agricultural work needs to be done at any given time of year. Since Hesiod and his contemporaries lived long before the invention of atomic clocks and desktop calendars, the poet described how to keep track of time by watching the stars:

“When the Pleiades, Atlas' daughters, start to rise, begin your harvest; plough when they go down. For forty days and nights, they hide themselves, and as the year rolls round, appear again when you begin to sharpen sickle-blades; this law holds on the plains and by the sea, and in the mountain valleys, fertile lands far from the swelling sea.”

à Works and Days, Lines 383 ff.

In addition to agricultural advice and astronomical lore, the Works and Days also includes retellings of some famous Greek myths (e.g., “The Five Ages of Humankind” and “Pandora’s Box,”) along with witty proverbial sayings, which ensured its popularity among rural and urban audiences alike for centuries to come.

The original Greek text of the opening lines of Hesiod’s Works and Days appears on the left, while a Latin translation of the same is on the right. From an edition of Hesiod’s poems published at Basel, Switzerland, in 1539.

          The Theogony contains traditional stories about the beginning of the world and the origins of various members of the Greek pantheon in a brilliant synthesis of epic mythology and philosophical allegory. The poem opens with the tale of how Hesiod, while still a shepherd, became a poet:

“From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon. … Thence they arise and go abroad by night, veiled in thick mist, and utter their song with lovely voice. … One day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon. … They plucked and gave me a rod, a shoot of sturdy laurel, a marvelous thing, and breathed into me a divine voice to celebrate things that shall be and things there were aforetime.”

à Theogony, Selections from Lines 1-35

          Hesiod’s poems are wonderful food for thought, not only because they are highly edutaining, but also because they show that at an early stage in the development of Western civilization, the arts and the agricultural sciences were very closely linked together in the seamless web of everyday life. Hesiod, the master poet of his age, grew up on his family’s farm, worked as a shepherd, and earned national acclaim as a poet (although he probably didn’t quit his “day job” as a shepherd).

          Across a gulf of 27 centuries, Hesiod presents us with a timely challenge: to “think outside the box” of our individual academic disciplines to create a holistic worldview that satisfies both the mind and the heart.