Chinese New Year Party

Second Annual Rhetoric

Chinese New Year

Celebration

Wednesday January 29 正月初五

6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

All Rhetoric students invited

The Condrell Family will host, organize the students to wrap

Chinese dumplings (and eat them) &

give some insight into this major Chinese festival.

319 East Franklin Street Wheaton

Roman Bath Challenge

For extra credit, students may elect to do the Roman Bath challenge. It consists of 6 consecutive days of Roman bathing. Keep a diary for each day (in which you discuss the impact of the method) to share with the class. 

100 points.

Daily Process: please follow the steps in order. 

1. Apply olive oil to your skin and massage it in thoroughly.
2. Apply a grit (dirt, coffee grounds, etc.) and roughly rub your skin with it.
3. Exercise for a few minutes to raise a slight sweat.
4. Scrape your skin thoroughly with a dull blade, removing all the sweat, oil, and grit.
5. Rinse yourself in a lukewarm bath with a wet sponge.
6. Start a very hot shower until the room steams up, remain in the steam for a few minutes.
7. While standing in the steam, rub your skin with a pumice stone.
8. Climb into the hottest bath water that you can stand.
9. Drain the water and run a small, ice-cold bath.
10. Submerge yourself in the cold water as long as you can stand it.
11. Use cream or oil for your skin after drying off; get a massage if possible! 
12. Use the finest-tooth comb that you can find and brush your hair. (Around 100 strokes for long hair.)

You may not use any deodorants, soaps, or shampoo during the entire six days. 

Week 16: Murder in Rome

Murder in Rome

Week 14

Plautus’ Works and Style

 Titus Maccius Plautus was born c. 254 B.C. to a poor family at Sarsina in the province of Umbria, north of Rome. His nickname comes from the Umbrian word plotus, meaning “flatfooted.” He worked in the theatre while in Umbria, likely as a stagehand, but his name suggests that he also performed as one or more of the stereotypical characters during his work. Eventually, he arrived in Rome and began to have success writing plays. As his success grew, other writers began to imitate his works and to produce them under his name, making it difficult for a time to determine which plays were actually written by Plautus and which were written by impersonators. After Plautus died in 184 B.C., a total of 130 plays had been attributed to him. Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar of the 1st century B.C., finally pared the list down to twenty-one plays of confirmed authenticity. Of these plays, the following twenty are still extant.

Here's an example of one of Plautus's scripts (Not an assigned reading):

The Braggart Soldier (Example Script)

Information on how the project will be graded: 

You will receive a grade, as seen below, for your team's preparation and performance, as well as a personal grade for your role in completing a fair and equitable amount of the work, at the writing, rehearsal, and performance stages of the project.

Grading For the Roman Comedy 

• Your team's ability to keep to the schedule in the syllabus 15%
• The script's formatting follows the one provided in the syllabus 10%
• Inclusion and Accuracy of Stock Characters 10%
• Inclusion and Accuracy of plot devices 10%
• Dialogue accurately demonstrates an understanding of Roman culture 10%
• The Scenes effectively drive the plot 5%

Performance:

• Appropriateness and Length 10%
•  Use of Costuming and Props 10%
•  Clarity of Action and Dialogue 10%
•  Overall Project Effectiveness 10%

Week 15: Roman Architecture