Eaten by a wolf

On Friday morning, I got out of my grubby writing clothes, resurrected a beautiful leather briefcase John had given me years ago, and went to Simon Fraser University downtown to defend the master's project I have been working on for two years. Photo by John Denniston.

The night before I was to defend my master’s project on welcoming in ancient Rome, my supervising professor sent me a message: "In bocca al lupo!" it said. The Italian translates literally as "may you be eaten by a wolf!" she explained, admitting that’s an odd thing to wish on anyone: “But the meaning is much more benign: good luck!”

The equivalent of our “break a leg!” expression, I guess. But whichever horrible fate I was wished, there I stood on Friday morning, giving a 20-minute defence presentation. For those who have never had this experience, in my SFU program at least, it means first explaining what your paper is all about, then facing two rounds of questioning from three professors.

Then you leave the room and await their verdict. The professors can reject your project, or ask for major revisions, minor revisions, or – oh happy day! -- no revisions at all.

Everybody was smiling when the door reopened and I was asked to return to the room. The chair of the committee, a fourth professor overseeing the process, said: “Congratulations! Your project has been accepted with no revisions. And I have to tell you that hardly ever happens!”

And so, without having to reopen that 200-page monster paper that has dominated my life for two years, I am to become a master. Perhaps I got lucky and was eaten by a wolf.

What happens when all the writing/worrying/thinking is over?  You start removing the Post-It notes from your library books so you can send them back to their homes on university shelves. Mary Beard's SPQR can keep its finery longer, though, because it's all mine. Photo by John Denniston.

The sticky-note removal process underway. John helped, and we got through about 20 library books in an hour. It took a lot longer to put them all in. Photo by John Denniston.

All these notes came from this one book, which was a mainstay for my project. I'm about to say farewell to the good old Companion to the Roman Republic. Photo by John Denniston.

This is what two years of blood, sweat and tears looks like. 

My SFU friends Andre and Georgeann, who have supported me through the ups and downs of this whole project, attended my defence presentation. This is a detail from the card they gave me later. It's really about a Santa who crashed because his GPS system wasn't working. But the expressions on the fallen reindeer faces are reminiscent of many of my days of work on the project.