Volare 2.3: Amor

VOLARE 2.3

A M O R

S P R I N G 2 0 1 9

C L A S S I C S C R E A T I V E J O U R N A L

VOLARE I S S U E

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H o r o s c o p e s

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Editor In Chief

Sara Merker

Cover Design

Mikaela Brough

Layout

Rachel Sutherland

Editorial Board

Marina Martin Meghan O'Donnell

C i r c e

Rachel Sutherland, Muse

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Mikaela Brough, Orpheus and Eurydice

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To the Day Adeline Li Start date to “Finish” date: (and will be forever polishing it) 11/19/2018—03/08/2019 Patroclus to Achilles: I’ll be wearing armour leaving home for the honour.

Fate be my sailor Hades be my archer.

I’ll wreck sacking the city light a fire in the abyss.

Aklea be my enemy Odes be my legacy.

I shall miss the song famed I shall miss your eyes glazed. hunt on the fading rage dance on the rotten page.

May your spirit be raised May your shield be polished May you take and shining blade for the love of Myrmidons! for the love of noble day! ………………………………….

Will you cry for me my beloved hetairos?

Will you fight by my side for everlasting kléos?

When the horizons rise will you take my hand, to the far mysterious land for there is no return this time.

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Achilles to Patroclus: I’ll be bearing bane shed blood in heaven.

Fate be my religion Hades harvest my Daemon.

I’ll charge riding the sea lay waste the shining city.

Torture be my penalty Death be my prophecy.

I shall miss the wine drained I shall kiss your lips tamed. sing in the darken age dance in the fallen cage.

May your cups be filled May your heart rejoice May we pray and commemorate to the glorious past! till the mourning day! ………………………………….

I will cry for you my beloved hetairos.

I will fight by your side for everlasting kléos.

When the horizons rise I will take your hand, to the far mysterious land and there is no return this time.

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Elizabeth Poggie, Persephone

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Gaia Rachel Sutherland

gaia,

tender warmth and

soft hooded catacombs

bury me

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Sophia Schmidt, untitled [two figures]

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Lysistrata Manuela Galindo

Dear diary,

The meeting earlier today went pretty well. The married women were all agreed that the war with Sparta has gone on long enough, and though it took some persuading, they did indeed all swear the oath not to have sex with their menfolk. There was an annoying five minutes of some of the ladies going, “Does X count as sex? What about Y?” and it got increasingly more obscure until I lost my shit and told them that literally whatever they could think of counted. There was a poor newlywed girl who started sniffling because she thought kissing counted (it doesn’t, but it’s not exactly going to encourage the sex strike either) and I swear to the two goddesses, even though she has had sex, she is somehow still a virgin. Some people just have a lot of virginity to lose in the first place. Anyway, I didn’t mean to yell at her, the poor thing. I meant to yell at the woman who asked me if “lioness on a cheese grater” counted because, like, what the entire fucking Hades is that? I’m curious but I don’t want to know, in case it involves a real cheese grater. Kallonike told me after the meeting that it was some kind of woman-on-top position, but that’s way too tame to get a name like that.

There was also some debate as to what animal we should sacrifice for the oath, and some dullard had the bright idea to suggest a hecatomb. Girl, I can’t even afford a decatomb, and even if I could, where would I get one in the next half-hour? And then this tall lady in black offered me the key to her rat farm, and like, who even has a rat farm? They just don’t taste as good as dormice.

Kallonike was like, what about a white horse? A white horse? What? That made me so annoyed, I stabbed a wine-skin to get everyone to shut up. Gods, that was therapeutic. I also told them that counted as the sacrifice, since a leather jug is kind of like a bull, if you think about it...

They should invent rules of order for meetings. The first rule should be: listen to Lysistrata. The second rule should be: some questions ARE stupid. The third rule should be: Kallonike and Myrrhine need to stop trying to set me up with girls at meetings. Not outside of meetings, just during meetings.

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They’re good women, they really are. They’re prefers-acts-with-men as a ruler (I wish there was a word for that, and I don’t know why a ruler suggests itself as a point of comparison), but they try to be supportive of me. However, they were very close to outing me there, and that would have not gone down well with the crowd. Imagine if they’d found out that abstaining from sex with my 1

husband was easy as a summer breeze for me? They’d accuse me of having no sympathy for them, which would put a huge damper on my rhetoric.

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But Kallonike and Myrrhine, gods bless them, have two phren cells between them, so they were like, “Hey Lysistrata, check out the Corinthian 3

representative’s pubes! They’re great!” and, “Wow, check out the ass on the 4

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Boetian woman!” even though they know I’m not an ass girl , and “Hey Lysistrata, come feel Lampito’s tits!”

Gods in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth, I do not need to be told twice about Lampito’s tits. I, of course, did not do as Kallonike and Myrrhine suggested, because I have a better idea of what constitutes appropriate diplomatic relations with Sparta than they do, but…gods. Lampito. I dream of kissing her under the moonlight. The Spartan accent sounds silly on everyone else, but on her it sounds like sweet music on the lyre. She has a will of steel.

And she’s smart too. After the meeting she asked me if I thought the sex strike would really work, all by itself, and I told her no, but that we planned to occupy the acropolis, where the treasury is, so that the men of Athens couldn’t continue to fund the war. She laughed and called me a canny bird, and clapped me hard on the shoulder, and I think my heart was about to melt like wax and my tongue was clinging to my palate.

Gods in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth, I do not need to be told twice about Lampito’s tits. I, of course, did not do as Kallonike and Myrrhine suggested, because I have a better idea of what constitutes appropriate

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Incidentally, not having sex with me is very easy for him too, but that’s because he’s older

than Tithonus and none of his humours flow to the sex region anymore.

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Possibly, I mean nous or thumos, but they all do thinking and feeling in some way so…

whatever.

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She has a name, guys, it’s Ismenia.

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No idea what her name was.

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But it was a very nice one.

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diplomatic relations with Sparta than they do, but…gods. Lampito. I dream of kissing her under the moonlight. The Spartan accent sounds silly on everyone else, but on her it sounds like sweet music on the lyre. She has a will of steel.

And she’s smart too. After the meeting she asked me if I thought the sex strike would really work, all by itself, and I told her no, but that we planned to occupy 1

the acropolis, where the treasury is, so that the men of Athens couldn’t continue to fund the war. She laughed and called me a canny bird, and clapped me hard on the shoulder, and I think my heart was about to melt like wax and my tongue was clinging to my palate.

Oh, Lampito. There’s a real woman. It also doesn’t hurt that she has thighs that look like they could strangle a bull to death. And by a bull, I mean me. I would die, but I would go down, pardon the pun, a most blessèd woman. Lampito has the hands of a demigod. Sweet Aphrodite, I want her to top me.

But it would never work out, unfortunately. I’ve certainly fantasized about moving to Sparta if the war ends– no, think positively, Lysistrata, when the war ends– but I don’t really know anyone else there. And while Lampito certainly likes me as a person, I don’t think she’s in love with me. I don’t think she wants me to be her woman. It’s not because she’s married, since that’s never stopped 6

anyone, but because she’s never said or implied anything that would make me think she wants me. Then again, neither have I. Tricky, tricky.

Most of all, I could never leave Athens. I love the city where I was born. Yes, it’s full of demagogues, cutpurses, and liars, but they’re our demagogues, cutpurses, and liars, and I wouldn’t trade them for any others in the world. I couldn’t dream of never again looking at the acropolis from my bedroom window at night, or never again walking in the agora on a sunny day. My heart would break if I couldn’t help weave the peplos for the Panathenaea, or sneak into the Dionysia with a false beard.

Though it pains me, it is probably for the best that I have parted ways with dear sweet Lampito. I do hope she’ll write to me, though. I do hope she knows how to write.

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My husband wouldn’t really care or notice if I was gone. He’s not useless like Myrrhine’s

husband who can’t cook, clean, or take care of his own entire son. Gods, that Cinesias makes me SO angry.

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Neha Rahman There's a paper here....

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Sophia Schmidt, untitled [broken marble bust]

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Sara Merker and Sam Eastman Odysseus Leaves Circe

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Horoscopes By the Classics Department’s Resident Astrologus

Ever wonder why the relationships of classical myth were interwoven with passion? What was Aphrodite’s secret recipe? Let’s divine what made some of the most famous couples from antiquity tick by taking a lesson from the stars!

Aries and Virgo — Achilles and Patroclus When an Aries finds himself yelling at and almost killing his boss, or threatening to quit a world-changing war a full decade in, or stubbornly refusing to change their mind even after three of his closest friends beg him, it is his Virgo that can calm him down and talk some sense into him with a song and some dinner by the fire. A fire sign and an earth sign, these two are eminently compatible and balance each other out. Beware of this relationship getting a little too codependent. A Virgo’s need for order and organization might have him babysitting his Aries and taking on more than he can handle in his name.

Aries for his part can be a little lost without his Virgo partner, and can lash out and get a little extreme. That’s why these two are a match made in the afterlife!

Leo and Aquarius — Jason and Medea Aquarians are attracted to people that stand out— and who stands out more in a Colchian court than an Argonaut single-handedly* taming some iron bulls?

Aquarians are sometimes quick to cut and run, especially when better and newer options are present. So, the dream of getting hitched to this Leo showman and becoming the queen of a whole new nation isn’t too terrible an idea. Leos, for their part, can appreciate an Aquarian’s quirks and help them do what Leos do best— showcase it to the world! Even if it ends with one of them flying away in a dragon-pulled chariot, no one can deny it was fun while it lasted!

*Maybe the Leo did not pull their daring feat off without some help, but for the aloof Aquarius the Leo’s penchant to steal the spotlight while they pull some strings behind the scenes can be a mutually beneficial situation.

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Capricorn and Cancer — Odysseus and Penelope Quick, clever, problem-solving, polytropos Capricorn needs his emotional foil who can match him at every step with her own interior complexity. He finds it in Cancer who can hold down the fort when the Capricorn’s busy life gets to be a bit too much. She can remind him to eat, and to sleep (she even knows where the bed is!), and to come home when he’s been missing for a couple of decades. Cancer is great at managing difficult situations from the comfort of their own home, where they can practice their crafts and handiwork and other technical skills in peace, and use their art as an outlet for their many emotions.

Capricorn and Cancer can mutually appreciate each other’s intellect and as Earth and Water signs respectively they can keep each other grounded. While Cancer runs on her intuition and dreams, Capricorn is based firmly in the real world. With these skills combined, these two are great at outsmarting others, but in each other they may just have found a match!

Scorpio and Pisces — Hades and Persephone When these two water signs get together, they can disappear into their own (under)world. Dreamy, introverted Pisces may not seem like an immediate fit for the dark and sometimes volatile Scorpio, but these two get each other on a level that is not always obvious at first sight. While Scorpio can get into stormy moods sometimes, perennially empathetic Pisces is always there to find out what’s wrong. For their part, Scorpio can help Pisces get in touch with her feelings and help her share more of herself. Pisces might be spread a little thin and if she is absent for long periods of time, Scorpio is more than equipped to deal with her absence. But, at the same time, Scorpio should not be left in his own head for too long. Even though these two can seem like they’re completely wrapped up in one another, they are also quite nurturing, and are well suited to co-rule over the realm of the dead, or to garden together.

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Taurus and Sagittarius — Aeneas and Dido Ever dutiful Taurus and the amazingly resourceful Sagittarius are a pair that instantly make sense. As an Earth and Fire sign respectively, Taurus can help Sagittarius stay grounded. However, Taurus should be cautious because thanks to his organization, reliability, and responsibility, he can quickly become 80% of Sagittarius’s impulse control. This is a couple that works best when they stick together, but when Taurus is called away to duty, it is hard for him to resist, and this can cause friction with Sagittarius who needs the great deal of attention Taurus can provide. Sagittarius is a dreamer, a philosopher, also a great leader, and she is known for big projects and big actions. Taurus is a good match for her because as much as Taurus can let her shine, he can rein her in and organize her chaos to a certain degree. There’s definitely a spark here, but if Taurus isn’t careful to pay close attention to his Sagittarius partner, it can turn into a big old flame and eventually sputter out.

Libra and Gemini — Paris and Helen Things may not look good for this airhead couple at first, but Libra is the master of whisking Gemini off their feet. Although the Libra’s vice is their inability to choose a side, seeing the merits in all parties, they can be swayed when it comes to their heart. Libras lead with their hearts which is great for the decision-challenged Gemini, who is happy to explore a new adventure, a second domestic bliss… and if they had to go back to their first domestic bliss, they could probably find it within themselves to do that. Gemini is knowledgeable and is happy to share her skills and her past with her new Libra beau, and Libra is supportive and happy to learn. Gemini are masters of charisma and are great at making awkward situations good, like meeting the family is never a fun time, especially not when your family wages a war against your partner’s. Where Libra might be a little awkward bringing Gemini into this new situation, they will be happy to find their Gemini taking all new things in stride! Like a good summer breeze, this relationship can come and go far too soon, but it is a mutually thrilling experience for both signs who will never say no to an adventure.

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VOLARE C A L L

F O R

E D I T O R S

The Volare editorial team is looking for new editors!

If you’re passionate about engaging with the Classics creatively and want to join our team, send us an email at volare.mcgill@gmail.com. We’d love to know a bit about you, any relevant experience, what you would add to Volare, and any ideas you have for future issues!

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