Who am i? An intro to Miriam

    Many of you may already know me, or you know part of me, so this is less of an introduction and more of an introduction: the remix (insert your favourite DJ’s tag here). My name is Miriam Patrick and I am one of the founders of Scroll and Grove. I was also one of the founders of Pomegranate Beginnings (PBP). A lot has gone on since PBP was founded back in 2015. If you are interested in my academic profile, you can see that here! In this post, however, I want to consider the changes I’ve gone through as a teacher, a Classicist, and as a writer. 
    When PBP was founded, and we published the first Latin novella, I had no idea what would come after. There were great things, but also not so great things; people loved our work and people hated our work. This is true for anyone who ever puts their work into the public sphere. I think, however, that the good far outweighed the bad. While I greatly appreciate all the feedback and engagement from my Classicist community, what will always remain true for me is that I do what I do because I like helping students succeed. They are the reason I get up every morning to go into my classroom and teach. 
    Back in 2015, I was nearly finishing a master’s degree in Classics with a thesis focusing on proto-racism in the ancient world, particularly working with how the Romans treated the tribes of what we call Ethiopia and the tribes of what we call Ireland. This is still a passion of mine and my research in this field is never ending. But, my passions have expanded and evolved. While I still use Comprehensible Input (CI) in my classroom, I no longer only teach Latin. I also teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and I now have a second master’s degree in Special Education. 
    Latin was and is my first academic passion. A lot of what you will see from me in Scroll and Grove will be on the topics in Latin I love, but you will also see new things from me. I have always been social justice minded, but I am now in a different place than I was nearly 10 years ago. I think it is a better place and I am so excited to share it with you!
    Here is just a taste of what is to come in future blog posts from me:

• Fabula amoris: an exploration of the old
  
• Fabula amoris: a consideration of the new
  

Written by Miriam Patrick