ABSTRACT
Nineteen ninety-five was an annus memorabilis for me, marking the thirtieth anniversary of my professional vocation. During the course of 1965, I ceased to be merely a passive participant in the academic study of classical languages and cultures: for the first time I assumed the active roles of classics teacher and scholar. In June of that year I became a teaching assistant in classics at the summer session of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (a prestigious secondary school whose alumni include President George Bush and Professor Charles Rowan Beye). Three months later, when I returned for my final undergraduate year at Wellesley College (then as now an all-female institution), I began an independent research project on golden age myths in Ovid: asking my own questions of the texts; making my own connections with previously published scholarship. These two experiences convinced me that both of these activities, classics teaching and classical scholarship, were gratifying, productive pursuits which I wanted to continue for the rest of my life.
