Some scholars, such as Karl Schefold (1992, 273-4) have argued that the cup below shows the earliest surviving version of the Achilles-Ajax playing scene. They date it to c.550, making it earlier than the famous version by Exekias. Other scholars, notably Susan Woodford (1982) and Mary Moore (1980) consider that date much too early for that cup. They are amongst a large number of scholars who think that Exekias was the first to present the Achilles-Ajax gaming scene on a vase and that all other versions were based on his work. There is no consensus because so many vases of these vases were produced within a very small window of time, making it difficult to put the vases in chronological order on stylistic grounds. Many vase-painters created versions of the gaming scene around this time. More than a hundred examples survive. © Vatican Museum (344). Photo Steven Zucker. Like the gaming scene on the other side, this is an image of famous figures in a moment of leisure. ![]() The vase scene shows her parents, Tyndareos and Leda, and her twin brothers, Castor and Polydeuces (aka 'Pollux’ to the Romans) with a horse. Before she was Helen of Troy, she had once been Helen of Sparta. ![]() The reverse of the vase shows the family of Helen of Troy. The vase is an Attic black figure amphora, made c.540-530BCE by the greatest of the black-figure painters, Exekias, who has signed his name on the vase. He has since published more than four dozen short stories and non-fiction pieces, but has two novellas and a novel still looking for publishers.The vase shows Achilles and Ajax playing a game during the Trojan War. Both men still have their shields, spears, and helmets at the ready. Retired after four decades’ prizewinning print and broadcast journalism in Hartford CT, Don Noel received his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University in 2013. She manages to wait through another long pause. Perhaps she should have tried the hairdresser after all.įinally: “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Like a smartphone trying to decide where to focus. “If you can remember a whole lot of plays, it shouldn’t take long to learn a few math problems.” “Does coach have you memorize a lot of plays?”Īnd now the moment of truth. “I wanted to see what kind of player you are.” Harris, was that you at the game?” Tyshawn greets her. “This afternoon? Home game at 3:00? Thank you!” “Basketball? Varsity? Starter? Wonderful! When is their next game?” Can you look up whether he plays any sports? Sure, I’ll hold.” Then a better idea: At the phone, she dials the guidance counselor. Take a fresh batch of cookies to class? Too obvious. How to reach him? A trip to her hairdresser? Old wine in new bottles. Blame-the-teacher is easier than buckling down, taking advantage of help offered. And she knows Tyshawn is far from alone: not getting it, fearful of appearing “dumb”, so resisting learning. “Little rascal? I’d say little bastard,” George would have said. Worse: George is no longer here to tease, make her blush, even erase a few years. Perhaps pretty when George fell in love with it, it seems to have a line for every one of its 71 years. The old face in the mirror nods agreement. ![]() ![]() Surely still in her twenties, Virginia is just as surely better trained in modern pedagogy. She, at least, fairly beams every time Jessica arrives, even if Tyshawn doesn’t. Virginia Johnson has 31 kids in her room. When a kid like Tyshawn found a new concept difficult, some one-on-one help might turn him around – and let the teacher concentrate on the class. Not having taught in two decades, she’d answered a plea for volunteers to relieve teachers in overcrowded classrooms. She studies herself in the bathroom mirror. Give him credit: He was polite, albeit hardly tactful: “I’m sorry, Mrs. That rascal Tyshawn said yesterday he didn’t want Jessica tutoring him anymore.
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