On my conversion to Islam

Why did I convert to Islam? If you read my last blog post, you’ll know that I started thinking about this because I wanted to marry an Egyptian Muslim, and in order to do that it was a legal necessity. But we broke up, so that ceased to be an issue. Nevertheless, I converted. I

Fishing with my dad

Five photos

Travels in Italy

On the manliness of mathematics, the death of AndrewAndrew, and (not) performing Aristophanes in the woods

Recently I wrote about the way my interests in nature and in ancient Greek and Latin developed and became linked as an evolving complex I call my “ecoclassicism”. In this post I want to reflect on how my involvement with one particular ancient Greek author, Aristophanes, has been linked to my struggle to reconcile my

On the manliness of fishing

I’ve written before about how my childhood experiences of gardening, camping, and fishing with my family, especially my dad (Michael) and granddad (Pawpaw), planted in me the seeds of my current love, worry, and (highly imperfect) care for the planet and all its critters. In this post I want to reflect on how those experiences

Gender toxicity’s dirty secrets

When I was waiting to get my first dose of the Sinopharm (Chinese) Covid-19 vaccine at the clinic in Maadi tasked with hosting vaccine distribution by the Egyptian Ministry of Health (a task the clinic must have regarded, judging from its neglected appearance and the unhappy crowd packed into its outdoor waiting area, as unwelcome–though

Domination and Dominion: Masculinity as Conquest of Women and Nature (by Nina Lee)

Nina Lee, the author of this essay, is a Master’s Student in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at The American University in Cairo, where she currently lives. She was raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where she studied French and Spanish Literature. Her academic interests include anti-colonialism, gender studies, ecofeminism, anti-racism, generational trauma, and popular

Becoming Aristophanes

[Edited June 10 2021] Aristophanes, the greatest comic dramatist of ancient Greece, was born in the Athenian deme of Kydathenaion sometime in the 440’s BCE. Below is a map of Attica, with Kydathenaion circled: The deme was the smallest, most local administrative unit in the Athenian government; it was the place one called home. There

Ten theses on why Aristophanes matters

“Aristophanes” is one of those ancient Greek names that is for many people I meet vaguely familiar but hard to place…you know you’ve heard it somewhere, probably read a thing or two he wrote, but what exactly? In future posts I will look in detail at who Aristophanes was, when and where he lived, and