Day 625: Women and medieval magic
Dec. 1st, 2021 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeOne of today's highlights was a talk I attended on Zoom about women and magic in medieval Europe. We learned that men who were both thorough scholars and devout Christians were considered eligible to learn magic, if they could find someone to teach them, but women, of course, were not, and if they tried, they were considered witches (although not burned; that came in later centuries). However! In literature, women could become powerful, trained, admired magicians. The two examples we learned about were Morgan le Fay and Melior - the latter being an empress of Byzantium who featured in a long poem called "Partanope de Blois." One person in the audience speculated that maybe the type of men who would read such literary works were considered more "progressive." The speaker was a UCLA grad student, Kersti Francis.
Also today we had our company's 2020 annual meeting, long postponed - it's normally held in March. It was also on Zoom. We celebrated the 60 years of employment by Lew Goldberg (who really does not look 90) and more than 40 by Susan B, who is now going to retire. She was originally a "temporary" secretary who eventually became our much esteemed grants manager. We even had the annual skit! It was a video, rather than live, and included Carol M. having her office in an elevator, Julie P. having hers in a large machine called a "Bod Pod," and Erika W. making a coffee-pizza smoothie.
Do I hear a fly in the room with me? That would be bizarre, though it was 63 degrees today, which is also bizarre. At least this year, for whatever reason, J's livingroom (where I am) didn't manage to acquire dying yellowjackets throughout the fall.
Also done today: shopping, writing, reading, and some minor photography of Orion (J and I saw a shooting star beneath it yesterday!).
Also today we had our company's 2020 annual meeting, long postponed - it's normally held in March. It was also on Zoom. We celebrated the 60 years of employment by Lew Goldberg (who really does not look 90) and more than 40 by Susan B, who is now going to retire. She was originally a "temporary" secretary who eventually became our much esteemed grants manager. We even had the annual skit! It was a video, rather than live, and included Carol M. having her office in an elevator, Julie P. having hers in a large machine called a "Bod Pod," and Erika W. making a coffee-pizza smoothie.
Do I hear a fly in the room with me? That would be bizarre, though it was 63 degrees today, which is also bizarre. At least this year, for whatever reason, J's livingroom (where I am) didn't manage to acquire dying yellowjackets throughout the fall.
Also done today: shopping, writing, reading, and some minor photography of Orion (J and I saw a shooting star beneath it yesterday!).