Teaching five classes now, with a potential sixth in the wings. I made an offhand remark to the director this afternoon that maybe ancient Greek's stock is rising because faith in material things is bottoming out. Not sure if it's a one to one correlation, but it's a thought. Makes me think of a story:

Diogenes told a story about a casual encounter of Socrates and Xenophon in the streets of Athens. Xenophon bumps into Socrates who asks him "what is the road to the market?" Xenophon diligently gave him directions. Unknown to him, Socrates had little intention to go to the market. He asked a second question: "Tell me, what is the road to virtue?" Xenophon responded with a blank stare. And Socrates answered with the later famous remark "Come follow me, and I will teach you."

Back to my day job. Working in academic libraries for most of my adult life - first at M.I.T., then at the Harvard Medical School - has given me somewhat strong opinions on things like the First Amendment, the importance of unimpeded flow of information, and the continuing relevance of the printed word. It's a comfort to know that I'm not the only one out there thinking about these things!

(Link courtesy of The Flaky Librarian)