I’ve grown used to defending my academic choices. As a freshman, I declared my Classics major, threw a film minor (so, not the production side of it) on top and called it a day. I am one of two Classics majors who completed a thesis project this year, and one of somewhere around 22 majors graduating. I have no problem explaining what a Classics major is and what careers you can pursue with the degree, which is good, considering how many times I have had such a conversation. (While getting a haircut? Yes. While donating blood? Yes.)
The other day, I read an article by a Classics major at UNC. “Majoring in the classics gives students an edge,” the headline read. Hooked by that line, I read through the writer’s pitch for the relevance of a Classics education, and by the end of the piece found myself feeling somewhat curmudgeonly. What bothered me about this article was that it was a Classics student, someone from our side, who had the opportunity to make a case for the major and went with how fun it is that spells in the Harry Potter series sound like Latin. Yes, the pop culture references are fun, and I’ve enjoyed helping a surprising number of friends create Latin mottos. Those are fringe benefits, though, and not the main value of my Classics education.
I am far from ready to leave Northwestern, but now that I must, it is with a sense of contentment in my major. Gratitude may be a better word. I will leave Evanston knowing that I spent all those hours in 4S and wrote all those papers for classes that enthralled me. I love Classics like Jerry Gergich loves mundane office tasks. I love Classics like Steven Spielberg loves a coming-of-age story. I think Virgil’s writing is gorgeous, and I think Odysseus is a tool.
Our department can be kooky. We have a Labradoodle, Brando, who meanders through the department and into open classrooms. Any student who is far from a family pet and has happened upon Brando lounging in the middle of the hallway understands the joy and comfort he brings. The annual fundraiser for the department is a calendar with faculty and students (and Brando, because...have you seen him?) Photoshopped into famous works of Greco-Roman art. I think all of this is wonderful. Every step I have taken and project I have completed in the major has occurred with the support and respect of the faculty and staff.
I’ve studied a wide range of subjects, from art to political science to philosophy. I have read all the primary sources that describe Cleopatra. I have climbed a large hill in Rome that is made from shards of the ancient city’s used olive oil jars. I have studied the wall paintings in Augustus’ summer home. I have translated the autobiography of a saint, fables and the New Testament in its original language. Translating Latin and Greek is like balancing an equation, when that equation is in dactylic hexameter. After years of translation, I have a methodical and exact approach to language. In these languages, the order of a sentence can seem to be a random hodge-podge or words, maybe with a verb tossed in at the end. That results in sentences, connotations, and translations changing as you make your way through the sentence. I find that evolution fascinating if occasionally maddening, and my translation courses have given me great respect for the weight and nuance that an individual word can bring to a sentence or line of verse.
Heading out into the “real world,” which for me will be the wonderful and sleepless world of law school, I am so glad that I majored in Classics. I feel comfortable and confident with pretty much any writing project, whether it’s a marketing email blast at my internship or a final paper for a film class. Writing will always be an aspect of what I do, in any career, and I feel relieved that my classes here at school prepared me so well. When I think about the nine or so months I spent working on my senior thesis in the Classics department this year, and the behemoth of a packet that I have to show for it (to that guy who was behind me in line at the Info Commons printer, sorry), I don’t feel as worried about my future. If anything, the major has been encouraging — I have had the experience of finding something I am passionate about and throwing myself into the pursuit of it. What it all comes down to is that I find Classics and everything that falls under it incredibly fascinating, and I had a great time studying it. If you disagree with me, read The Aeneid.