Resolutions for the 112th Annual Meeting
Williamsburg, VA
March 19, 2016
I.
WHEREAS we members and friends of CAMWS have sailed up the James to the Revolutionary City, only to discover that while we have a first-rate Journal, we have no Μagazine; we have frequented its taverns, with no member placed in the stocks for cause yet; we have powdered our perukes and lengthened our skirts; we have discreetly taken up pipe or snuff;
WHEREAS we, royalists and revolutionaries alike, have availed ourselves of the freedom granted by their gracious Majesties in MDCLXXXXIII to pursue the artes liberales at the second-oldest college in America, and the first to become a university; we have earnestly sought to make φιλοσοφία the κυβερνήτης of our collective βίου; we have with dismay looked upon the displacement of the orderly system of cardo and decumanus by the Angulus Confusionis, and nonetheless returned successfully on foot to our tents at day’s end; and we have trod in the vestigia left by Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, and Tyler too, to say nothing of the truly great, like Glenn Close and that recent magister of the spectaculum quotidianum;
WHEREAS the faculty, staff, and students of the College of William and Mary, and the local organizing committee, ably led by Georgia Irby and Lily Panoussi, have seen to our every need with such forethought and charm that even Antony and Cleopatra fell silent;
WHEREAS hours so happy and numerous have ne’er been held, with banquets and galas galore; we have had a chance to let our hair down, and then sew it back up in Roman fashion, in keeping with CAMWS’ long-standing commitment to alleviate professional δυσ-tress;
WHEREAS we have no complaint to lodge against the Lodge, save that its attentive ianitores will soon make the παρακλαυσίθυρον a thing of the past; nor animus against the Inn, whose hospitality is inn-ate; and those who would fault the Woodlands are barking up the wrong tree;
WHEREAS the exhibitors in the Book Display have offered pleasing amenities in a locus amoenus;
WHEREAS the generosity of the Muscarelle Museum, like the Roman empire, knows no bounds;
WHEREAS many local merchants have exhibitied ξενία, preferring amicitia to avaritia;
BE IT RESOLVED that we doff our tricornered hats, straighten our caps and bonnets, and bow or curtsey to our magnanimous hosts, in accordance with the mos maiorum and socially constructed gender norms.
II.
WHEREAS we 709 record-setting registrants have, in twelve paper sessions, and as many panels as there are canes Dalmaticae, and numerous roundtables and fora, renewed and deepened our acquaintance with the ancient world;
WHEREAS we have reaffirmed the centrality of teaching, the importance of research, and the fundamental sodality of students and teachers at all levels;
WHEREAS we have, as inhabitants of Urbs et Orbis, “visualized epic,” and will soon be floored by Mosaic mosaics;
BE IT RESOLVED that we thank all the speakers, presenters, presiders, and discussion participants who have made this 112th Annual Meeting of CAMWS a resounding success, and depart from this Commonwealth to recolonize our 32 states and three provinces in the name of classical learning.
III.
WHEREAS Monica Cyrino’s accomplishments as banquet MC may lead future generations to call this chapter of our organization’s history the Cyrinäika;
WHEREAS Michael Halleran, Provost of the College of William and Mary, welcomed us most warmly;
WHEREAS Edward Cook, Ann Corcoran, and said Michael Halleran were duly honored with CAMWS Special Service awards;
WHEREAS Katherine de Boer Simons was recognized for her authorship of the outstanding graduate student paper;
WHEREAS Herb Benario, our orator emeritus, consularis, and perpetual censor, has now lent the Plautine speech of James May his Tacit(ean) approval;
WHEREAS the same James May, now our orator of longest (and shortest) standing, delivered dandy ovationes celebrating Laurel Fulkerson, Mark Keith, and Timothy Winters;
WHEREAS Antony Augoustakis’ performance of his imperial duties has caused his priestly cult, the Augoustakes Illinorum, to tie one on;
WHEREAS the incoming President Prof. Smith promises a return to the Alden days;
WHEREAS the unsinkable Secretary-Treasurer Tom Sienkewicz , the indefatigable Jevanie Gillin, Emma Vanderpool, and their other able assistants have once again accomplished the impossible on a daily basis;
BE IT RESOLVED εὐχαριστοῦμε πάρα πολύ.
IV.
WHEREAS we have gaped at flowering trees, marveled at birdsong and honk of geese, and reveled in one of the sunniest Zeuses ever to grace a CAMWS meeting;
WHEREAS our academic encounters have prompted collaboration, evolution, and revolution on a continental scale;
BE IT RESOLVED:
- that we complete our νόστοι safely, finding our οἶκοι in order upon our return;
- that we reconvene next year, following the pole star to “the true north strong and free.”
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED ΤΗΑΤ
WHEREAS our northernmost colleagues once provided a place of refuge for unrepentant loyalists, we clutch our worry beads and sally forth, unafraid to meet our Waterloo.
And WHEREAS Canada perennially beckons to those who fear the post-election dominance of populares or opti-mates,
BE IT THEN FINALLY RESOLVED, eh, that we, alongside Trudeau pere, say what the puck, turn over new leafs, and save up our loonies and toonies to travel to that place where there is no darkness, at least in summer.
Submitted by the CAMWS Resolutions Committee:
Geoff Bakewell
Angelina Chiu
Kristopher Fletcher
Anne Groton
Kristin Lord
Bob White