Saturday, June 25, 2005
Erin (who works in one of the other departments) mentioned at lunch she would be going swimming afterward, which sounded, oddly, like a splendid idea to me, though I lack at the moment any bathing suit. However, she warned the lifeguards enforce a policy that actual bathing suits must be worn, which is understandable enough; thus, I instead took a shower and traveled to the library to pay tuition bills.
Now I shall journey forthward to the coffee house contingent to the east border of campus, wherein I shall read and take notes from a book about the deaths of Roman gladiators. The author is a professor who lectured on ancient sports and public spectacles, writing his book some years after having been asked by a student one day, 'So... what did they do with all the bodies?' (in reference to gladiators, executed criminals, animals killed at the Colosseum, et cetera). Romans generally cremated their dead, as is well-known, but how they disposed of the thousands killed daily at the Colosseum is a legitimate and interesting topic for study, that apparently has not been analyzed in depth until relatively recently. Anyhow, this is the subject with which I shall entertain myself for the next few hours.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 1:28 PM]