Office Hours: Dr. Greg Anderson

On a mid-spring afternoon in 2012, I decided to sit down and chat with my ancient Greek history professor in his office. I had never been one to attend office hours or communicate with my instructors very often, but I had a sense that Professor Greg Anderson was someone who was worth getting to know.

As it was, our conversation that afternoon helped solidify in my mind why history was my true academic passion. A year and a half later, when I had the opportunity to take another of his courses, I leapt at the opportunity. Dr. Anderson's lectures, delivered enthusiastically in his trademark British accent, are a clear indication of his charismatic, conversational personality. 

Last week, we sat down in his office once again—this time, to conduct an interview for a segment called "Office Hours." 

Let's get started with an obvious one: What inspired you to devote yourself to the study of Ancient Greece?

"I would say it was, like a lot of people, quite accidental. I wasn’t a very serious student as an undergraduate—I wanted to do the degree that I thought would be easiest for me while allowing myself to have fun in college. It may not sound like fun, but I chose to do a degree in Latin."

"As a result, I was told I had to learn ancient Greek, as well. The guy who taught it just made the whole thing capture my imagination, and I found Greek—in the end—way more interesting than Latin. So, it started with learning Greek from a particularly inspirational teacher in a class that that I really didn’t want to do."

Other than your period of expertise, what is your favorite historical era?

An aerial view of the trenches on the Western Front.
British trenches on the left, German on the right,
and "No Man's Land" in between.

"A few spring to mind; I can find things pretty interesting in almost any time and place. I’m very indiscriminate, almost promiscuous, when it comes to different historical times and places." 

"One period that I’ve read about actively would be the First World War. I think for a lot of British people there’s a strange kind of poignancy to it."

"Most of us grew up knowing people who experienced the Second World War in some kind of a way—but the First World War was slightly more remote. I suppose it’s a more ambivalent experience, because it isn’t so obviously a black and white, good and evil type of thing like the Second World War seems to be. And so you wonder why it was so necessary that all of these millions of people were sacrificed so mercilessly on the Western Front." 

"In Britain there’s a whole sort of culture that’s sprung up around the First World War—poets who were there who’ve left incredibly heart-rending images of life in the trenches—and I’ve always been quite fascinated."

What is something about yourself that may surprise your students?

"I suppose the most obvious thing would be that I play bass in a rock band. I mean, it’s a real geezer-rock cover band—I’m actually the youngest member of the band. Two members are late-fifties at best, one is mid-fifties, and I’m only early-fifties." 

"We play mostly late-60’s/early-70’s music, towards the softer end of the rock spectrum—but hopefully the more interesting end of it, as well. It’s great fun to play with these guys, the other three are far better players than I am."

"I was in a punk band in the 70’s as a guitarist, so I guess that might be another thing that might surprise students. But we were just so awful that I don’t even want to think about it."

Who is the most fascinating historical figure, in your opinion?

"The figure that I find hardest to understand as a historical phenomenon is Karl Marx. He has probably had as great an influence on human experience as anybody in the last two hundred years, for better or worse. I just find it really hard to understand where he came from, it’s almost like he comes from another planet out of nowhere—to anatomize the modern capitalist world, to somehow critique it from the inside as if he were coming from the outside. That’s what all real social analysts hope to do."

German intellectual Karl Marx (1818-1883)

"I think even if the actual societies that claimed to be following the ideas of Marx have all proven themselves to be horrific, catastrophic failures, Marx’s analysis of capitalistic society still has an enormous amount of value—far more than mainstream economic thinking, because all that’s doing is re-describing the world as it already understands itself…. I don’t know, am I allowed to say Karl Marx?"

I have always wanted to ask this: What is it that is so "Great" about Britain?

“(Laughs) Many things not great about it, I would absolutely say—probably no nation has visited more discomfort on other parts of the world as Britain has. There’s just no getting around that, even if when I was a kid we were still taught that the British Empire was a wonderfully noble enterprise."

"As for the country itself, I think the misunderstanding about it is that the British people are some sort of monolithic group. What strikes me now is how the experience of most British people—ordinary British people—is fundamentally different from that of the rich British people."

"Most of them live incredibly modest, humble lives, even though people might think of Britain as the most pompous, arrogant nation the world has ever seen. What’s striking is the incredible humility of the ordinary people, particularly if you go outside London."

Yellow Springs, OH.

What is the most unexpected place your job has ever taken you?
"I guess that would be Yellow Springs in Ohio, where I live right now, which is not the kind of place that anyone expects would exist in Ohio."

"It’s a fervently countercultural place that is completely against the mainstream of Midwestern life. It’s a rather improbable, eccentric place full of very eccentric people, and is basically run by women—and all the better for that."

Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (1966)

You are a true fan of music. Could you name three albums that you think everyone should listen to from start to finish?

"That’s the hardest question you could possibly ask… so many great albums. I would say Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, there’s just something kind of transcendent about it. Amazingly ambitious piece of music, almost coming out of nowhere it seems. That whole era, though—the mid-60’s— you started to get these more ambitious and novel forms of music coming out. It’s amazing how quickly things changed."

"I would put in Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. It’s the sort of album that most people come to long after they’ve heard loads of other music. There’s just something about it…it’s like modern classical music, I suppose."

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (1959)

"And as a third one, I guess I will be more self-indulgent and choose something I feel more people ought to listen to. One of my personal favorites is a band called 'Hatfield and the North,' which almost nobody in America will ever have heard of." 

"They came from a place called Canterbury, in Kent—one of a number of progressive bands from that place—and their music combines a kind of musical intricacy with English whimsicalness. So, a band no one’s ever heard of—Hatfield and the North—their first album."

Raphael's School of Athens (ca. 1510), a work
celebrating the greatest philosophers of antiquity.

If you could go back to college for anything other than History, what would it be?

"Philosophy. Mainly because it is something I’ve taught myself over the years. The thing is I wasn’t a serious enough student to have taken something like philosophy seriously, so I would’ve wasted my time.  But, if I could sort of idealize myself and go back as a younger version of what I am now, that’s what I would want to do." 

"Before we even start off doing investigations in social science and history, I think there are fundamental philosophical questions that have to be asked—and I don’t think enough historians or social scientists ask those questions. I think all cultural analysts should be schooled in philosophy, and I wish I had been more."

Have you ever looked at your ratings on RateMyProfessors.com?

"I did, but only because someone said I ought to. I am thrilled that they’re as nice as they are!"

RateMyProfessors: Because no one fills out online SEIs.

Yes, you have the 4.9/5 rating and you’ve been bestowed with the coveted “Chili Pepper of Hotness.”

"(Laughs) I think that was bestowed on me some years ago, I doubt I’ve picked up too many recent chili peppers." 

"I mean, students may not realize it, but we really do care about what students think of these courses. Obviously if you’re getting high response rates consistently in a thing like RateMyProfessors, where people could easily slag you off, that does actually come to mean something. I take that very seriously and I’m very proud of the fact that people enjoy the classes and find them interesting."

Greg Anderson is the department specialist in the history of ancient Greece at The Ohio State University. After attending the Universities of Newcastle and London, he obtained his Masters and PhD degrees in Classics at Yale University in New Haven, CT. He currently instructs two courses at Ohio State: "History 3210: History of Archaic Greece" and "History 3211: History of Classical Greece."

A Year in the Life: 2013 As Told by the Music I Recorded

2013 was a year unlike any other. For several reasons, it seemed an important formative period in my life- one which I hope to reflect upon and learn from for many years to come. As someone with a mind oriented towards historical thought, I often contemplate the ways in which I can best preserve my own personal history. One of my greatest passions- writing and recording music- has proven a useful avenue in the conservation of my memories of the past.

Throughout 2013, I recorded seven pieces of music with some people who I deeply care about. Each song serves as a reminder of the circumstances surrounding its creation- a brief musical snapshot of my life at a specific time and place. And so, this post will serve as a memorandum of the three hundred and sixty five days that made up the 2013th year of the Gregorian calendar: a period of considerable personal growth and creativity, which saw the creation of countless, invaluable memories.

The Ballad of Jack Frost

An ode to Winter, "The Ballad of Jack Frost" was the first song that I recorded in 2013. It was also the first song recorded as part of a three-quarters complete collection of songs paying homage to each of the seasons. Featuring John Edgar on guitar and Andrew Robie on drums and bass, the song was recorded during a time when my admiration of the Beach Boys rivaled my fascination with pizza. Can you tell?

These Rain Clouds

"These Rain Clouds" was the next song written and recorded as part of the seasonal collection, this time inspired by the rain-soaked Summer of 2013. Performing alongside a familiar rhythm section, I contributed piano, organ, and vocal tracks to the song. While Andrew offered his multi-instrumental talents (drums and bass), John sang lead on the second verse, in addition to performing his guitar parts. As the first C-Chord rings out from the acoustic guitar, I immediately recall watching rain drops roll down the window pane as I recorded vocals on a dreary July morning in a small bedroom in the University District.

Long Black Veil

At the end of July, as we prepared to move out of our off-campus rental house, John and I hastily threw together a cover of "Long Black Veil," which has been performed by The Band, as well as by Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison in 1968. By the end of the hour-long recording session in John's sweltering third-floor bedroom, we'd managed to complete our rendition of a song that I, admittedly, had never heard before that evening.

Harvest

The third installment of the seasonal series arrived with Autumn, when the rain drops that fell all Summer long were replaced by the gorgeous leaves of Fall. "Harvest," with its great triumvirate of percussive instruments (the tambourine, the bongo, and the shaker) interwoven with a finger-picked acoustic guitar lead, became the first song recorded in my new apartment. John wrote the song around a chord progression that he'd originally composed in our dorm room in Baker Hall East, allowing for a quasi-poetic start to our final year as undergraduate students.

I'd Never

The lone love song among 2013's compositions, "I'd Never" was written for my darling girlfriend Samantha. A follow-up to last year's home-made Christmas present, another ode d'amour entitled "Luna," this musical love letter gradually came together over the last two months of the year. For several reasons, both sentimental and musical, the creation of this song sits atop my list of cherished musical memories from the past year. 

Little Cloud

Like "Long Black Veil," "Little Cloud" was recorded in about an hour. That's where the similarities end though, as I recorded the song entirely on my own in my frigid apartment a few days before Christmas. Aside from the jingle bells and the vocals, every sound in the song came from my piano (leaving me to wonder how many pop songs are produced entirely on a keyboard). "Little Cloud" was my final musical act of 2013, a brief (& almost entirely ad-libbed) meditation on one of my favorite aspects of nature: clouds.

Pizza: A Delicious History

Pizza. The word itself evokes feelings of comfort, happiness, and satisfaction. No matter the context in which it is consumed- a quick slice on the go, a consolation pizza after a disappointing Ohio State loss, etc.- pizza possesses the uncanny ability to fill any void, be it voracious hunger or crippling sadness. It seems that a food so perfect, so intrinsically good, would have been around since the dawn of man. Pizza as we know it, however, has a surprisingly brief history.

The word "pizza" has been around for quite some time, having appeared in writing for the first time in 997 AD. The Latin text in question proclaimed that one of the citizens of Gaeta was to present the bishop of the southern Italian town with twelve pizzas each Christmas and Easter Sunday (Priestley, 2010). If you ask me, the bishop of Gaeta's gig sounds pretty awesome, even if the "pizzas" he received bore little resemblance to the modern-day dish. The duodecim pizza ("twelve pizzas") likely resembled one of several flatbreads that existed across the Mediterranean, many of which are still around today.

Naples, Italy: The Birthplace of Pizza.

Plakous was a flatbread consumed by the ancient Greeks, flavored with herbs, onion, and garlic ("The History of Neapolitan Pizza"). The ancient Etruscans are said to have invented focaccia bread, while coca was and is a popular pizza-esque dish in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. During the 16th century, the Galette flatbread- a dish popular among Naples's poorer inhabitants- began to be referred to as pizza (Baxter, 2013). Another great development of the 16th century, the tomato was introduced into the European diet amidst the conquest of the Americas. Within generations, it became common for the natives of Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flatbreads- paving the way for the creation of humankind's greatest culinary achievement.

Pizza Margherita.

Raffaele Esposito is credited as the inventor of modern pizza, having created the dish in 1889 at Pizzeria di Pietro in Campania, Italy (Bellis, 2014). Esposito crafted his pizzas specially for the visiting King and Queen of Italy, Umberto I and Margherita. The Queen's favored pie was one that matched the colors of the Italian flag, topped with basil leaves (green), mozzarella (white), and tomatoes (red). Thus, the "Pizza Margherita" was named in her honor.

Pizza made its first appearance in the United States as Italian immigrants arrived in cities such as New York,  Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis at the end of the 19th Century. In 1897, Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in New York that would become America's first pizzeria when it received its mercantile license in 1905 ("Lombardi's Pizza"). Though pizza consumption was mostly limited to Italian immigrants in America, after World War II American troops who had been stationed in Italy brought their affinity for the dish back home with them.

Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, IL.

In 1943, Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo invented deep-dish pizza, opening Pizzeria Uno on the corner of Wabash and Ohio in downtown Chicago (Vettel, 2013). In addition to Chicago, other American cities such as New Haven, Detroit, and Youngstown (yes, that Youngstown) created their own adaptations of the dish. With pizza's rapidly rising popularity, chain restaurants began to spring up around the nation (Pizza Hut, for example, was established in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas- thus, beginning its quest to create the most mediocre pizza possible).

Today, national chains with a focus on delivery such as Papa John's, Donatos, and Domino's have a stronghold on the pizza market. However, pizza enthusiasts continue to flock to their local joints (Columbusites: I highly recommend Catfish Biff's and Adriatico's) in search of the perfect pie- a lifelong quest that I, and many others, enjoy to the fullest. Pizza- oh, glorious product of Napoli- we salute you.

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Baxter, Meaghan. "Where It All Began." Vue Weekly. Aberdeen Publishing, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. <http://www.vueweekly.com/where_it_all_began/>.

Bellis, Mary. "The History of Pizza Pie." Inventors. About.com, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2014. <http://inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/pizza.htm>.

Priestley, Rachel. "That's Amore!" TheFlorentine.net. The Florentine, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 03 Jan. 2014 <http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=6101>.

"The History of Neapolitan Pizza." Famoso. Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria, n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2014. <http://www.famoso.ca/history.php>.