The Rural Washington
Latin Seminar
(Conventiculum Rusticum Vasintoniense)
will be held in late June and early July 2005
in the Wenatchee area of central Washington State.
Preparatory Sessions: June 22nd and 23rd
Main Seminar: June 24th through 29th
Stehekin excursion: June 30th through July 3rd
Principal moderators will be
▪Stephen Berard, Ph.D., Professor of World Languages, Wenatchee Valley
College
▪James Dobreff, M.A., Doctoral Candidate at Lund University (Lund,
Sweden) and co-editor of the "Axel Oxenstierna Correspondence Project"
▪David Morgan, Ph.D., Professor of French, Furman University,
Greenville, SC
Other fluent Latin speakers and experienced moderators will be in
attendance.
To apply, go to
http://www.wenval.cc/boreoccidentales/boreo_latin/conventiculum.asp .
This Conventiculum Rusticum will be an excellent opportunity for
practicing speaking Latin. Most days we will take an excursion during
which the participants, with the help of moderators, will not only chat
among themselves in Latin but also describe in Latin everything they
see: trees and plants, mountains and glaciers, rivers, animals, birds,
insects, weather, and many other things. This seminar will be of
special interest to those who enjoy the outdoors and who would like to
improve their Latin skills in friendly conversation while hiking
through forests, mountains, and other rural settings. Every day both
easy and moderate hikes will be available; and those who so desire will
have several opportunities to engage in difficult hikes and/or mountain
climbs.
The last four days and three nights of the seminar will be dedicated to
a trip to Stehekin, a village nestled among the peaks of the North
Cascades. Since Stehekin can only be reached by water, the seminar
participants will, on June 30th, make the fifty-five-mile ferry trip to
the village along Lake Chelan, returning to Wenatchee on July 2nd. We
will spend July 1st and 2nd entirely in Stehekin and its environs, with
participants breaking up into smaller groups according to interest. Of
course, those who wish to attend the seminar but not go to Stehekin are
free to do so.
Who should attend the seminar?
All Latin teachers at the elementary and secondary levels are invited,
as well as college and university professors. We especially recommend
this seminar to graduate students in Classics and related fields since,
just as with any language, the ability to speak Latin immensely
strengthens one’s ability to read and write Latin well. Also, in order
for spoken Latin to flourish, which is our common goal, it is
especially necessary for future Latin instructors to see that our
language is fully capable of serving as an instrument for daily life
and for expressing all human concerns, even the most modern. We
encourage those who already know the fundamentals of Latin grammar and
can already read Latin quite well but who have never spoken Latin to
attend the Conventiculum and hold their first Latin conversations with
us. Those who do not yet speak Latin should in no way feel intimidated
at our seminars, since almost all of us have begun to speak Latin
relatively recently and thus we all understand perfectly well the
difficulty of getting started.
The Preparatory Sessions
All those who would like to practice the general elements of
conversational Latin are invited to arrive three days before the
beginning of the seminar and, on June 22nd and 23rd practice speaking
Latin with Stephen Berard, James Dobreff, each other, and perhaps other
moderators on a few more familiar topics, adding new and useful
expressions to their vocabulary, getting used to speaking, and building
up their confidence.
The Locations of the Seminar
Preparatory Sessions: Wenatchee
The Preparatory Sessions will be held on June 22nd and 23rd at
Wenatchee Valley College. Participants will either be housed privately
or they will be able to stay in local motels/hotels or camp in nearby
campgrounds.
Wenatchee is located in central Washington State on the east slopes of
the Cascade range, along the banks of the Columbia River, the second
largest river in North America after the Mississippi. Since Central
Washington contains an unusually wide variety of terrains and
microclimates, it is an extremely suitable location for visiting and
observing the environment. There are several mountain systems,
volcanoes and volcanic environments, exposed geological formations,
glaciers and ice fields, evergreen and deciduous forests as well as
rainforests, rivers, streams, creeks, waterfalls, river rapids, meadows
and prairies, agricultural regions, orchards, and deserts both
semi-arid and fully arid.
The city of Wenatchee itself, the “Apple Capital of the World,” lies in
the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains and in the midst of the
irrigated farming belt of Washington State. Enjoying a relatively sunny
climate, the Wenatchee Valley is the destination of many who enjoy
outdoor recreational activities. The Enchantments, a nearby subsystem
of steep-uplift basalt mountains, about a
half-hour away from Wenatchee by car, are covered by Alpine conifer
forests up to an altitude of about 7,000 feet. The highest point in the
Enchantments, Mount Stuart (9,416 ft / 2,870 m.) is partly covered on
its north face by three glaciers systems. The drive between Seattle and
Wenatchee, either via Route 2 or via Interstate 90 and Route 97 takes
about two-and-a-half hours for those who drive quickly and three hours
or more for those taking their time. Wenatchee can be reached by air
via Pangborn Memorial Airport, by rail (Amtrak) and by bus (Greyhound).
The Main Seminar: the Dirty Face Lodge
The main, week-long part of the Conventiculum, that is, before the
excursion to Stehekin, will be held in the Dirty Face Lodge
(http://www.dirtyfacelodge.com ). We will stay there from the
night of the 23rd through the night of the 29th, although those
preferring to camp will be able to do so. The lodge, equipped with
kitchen, swimming pool, and jacuzzi, is located in the forest near Lake
Wenatchee, not far from the trails we will be using on out
Latin-speaking hikes. General sessions will be held and nature-talks
given in the lodge.
Stehekin Excursion: the Stehekin Lodge
Find out more about the North Cascades Stehekin Lodge, whose location
was described above, at the website www.stehekin.com
<http://www.stekehin.com>.
Prices and Meals
Students attending all or part of the seminar will need to pay a
registration fee of $75 by April 10th, 2005. All others will need
to pay $100 by the same date.
We urge everyone to reserve a place in the seminar as quickly as
possible, since there will only be 25 places available.
Most lunches will be eaten while we are on hikes. Everyone should
bring lunch and water on all hikes. Those interested will be able
to have dinner each night speaking Latin either in our lodge or in
local restaurants.
Those attending the Preparatory Sessions will be able to choose from
among various types of accommodations. Reduced prices will be
available at the Orchard Inn (Orchard Inn:
http://www.ohwy.com/wa/q/qq140495.htm ; phone: 509-662-3443).
Those wishing to stay at this motel will pay $54 per night for a single
room and $59 per night for a double. That is, those sharing a
double room will pay $29.50 a night. It would be best for those
attending the preparatory sessions to spend the nights of June 21st and
22nd and to reserve their rooms as soon as possible. Mention the
“Latin conference” in order to receive the discount. A block of
rooms (two doubles and two singles) has already been reserved in the
name of Stephen Berard, from whom you can obtain the confirmation
numbers. If people ask early enough, it should be easy to add
further rooms to our block. When you reserve your room, please
switch your account from Stephen Berard’s credit card number to your
own!
There are many other hotels in Wenatchee. You can easily find
their names and addresses on the Internet. (Just use the key
words “Wenatchee Washington Hotels”).
There are also many campgrounds in the Wenatchee area, such as
“Wenatchee Confluence State Park” (509-664-6373), which is the closest
of all, and “Lincoln Rock State Park” (509-884-8702) and “Squilchuck
State Park” (509-664-6373) as well as several more.
At the Dirty Face Lodge, where we will stay for seven days, we will pay
discounted prices because our sponsor, Wenatchee Valley College, is a
non-profit organization.
▪Those desiring a single room, with a queen-size bed, will pay $260 for
the week, which comes to about $37 per night. (Currently there
are two of these rooms left.)
▪There is one double room with two beds, for which each of the three
occupants will pay $200 for the week or just $28.57 per night.
▪There is one large triple room with three beds, for which each of the
three occupants will pay $133, which comes out to $19 per night.
▪It it possible that some participants may invite another do to “inside
camping” in their room. Such “indoor campers” will pay $10 per
night. Please let Stephen Berard know about any such arrangements.
Note: Accommodations in the lodge will be assigned on a
first-come-first-served basis.
▪Those wishing to camp at the Dirty Face Lodge will pay $7.50 per night
(a total of $52.50) to camp and $73 to use the lodge facilities.
The total, then, would be $127.50.
▪Those wanting to camp elsewhere will find a large variety of
campgrounds, the closest being “Lake Wenatchee State Park”
(509-763-3101). Those doing this will pay $73 to use the lodge
facilities¬—although some of these people are also eligible for a
student scholar¬ship.
Prices at the North Cascades Stehekin Lodge are generally higher than
at the Dirty Face Lodge, varying from about $150 to about $300 for the
three nights. Many will want to share a room with someone.
Everyone registering for the seminar and the Stehekin excursion will be
supplied with a list of participants’ addresses so that they can more
easily find roommates. There is also a pretty campground right
next to the lodge. Some tents and sleeping bags can be supplied
to those wishing to camp but coming from a long distance and thus not
wanting to bring camping equipment on the airplane.
Note: Accommodations in the lodge will be assigned on a
first-come-first-served basis.
This year, in addition to the small scholarships, we hope to have a
general student slush fund which will be used to helped students with
some incidentals, such as the bus prices in the Stehekin valley,
renting bicycles, etc.
Our round-trip fare on the “Lady Express” ferry boat
(www.ladyofthelake.com <http://www.ladyofthelake.com>) will cost
$47.