JCLove
Alyssa Funai, VJCL President
As I am about to head out to my first officer meeting of the year, I am inevitably thinking about the concept of love, why we do it, and what exactly it means within the context of the JCL. And I feel it to be appropriate that I write to you all on the subject of love, too.
Yes, it is also inevitable that we think of the love that the Ohio Junior Classical League President and the Virginia Junior Classical League President so often have for each other, but what kind of love is it that we think of?
Is it the love we feel when we look at a family member, the love we experience when we’re with friends, or is it maybe the love we feel when we think about food and ice cream and happy things in general? My answer is yes.
The JCL is full of all of these kinds of loves, and as the Romans had many words to represent love, the English language only has one. Is it due to laziness? Convenience? Perhaps it was just felt to be appropriate by those who spoke Olde English, in a time where there wasn’t much love to be spread among those villages being plundered by the Vikings. But I personally don’t think this is the case.
The Latin language has many words for love because there are many kinds of love, but the English only has one. That might make things a problem. But, my fellow JCLers, I believe this is because when we speak of love, we speak of everything but love because we simply have no words for it, so the English language chooses instead to use one word to describe the most human emotion we really can feel. It is in this way that we relate to one another.
So why the JCL? Why does the L stand for Love rather than League for so many of us?
Because that’s exactly what we do. Be it at State Convention or National Convention, we spend time with people who love what we love. We experience a community filled with people who love the Classics just as we do.
These people love the varying aspects of it, the subcategories that make the JCL an amazing community to be in. Some people love art, some love history, some love grammar, and others love ludi. But the one thing they all have in common is love.
The thing that pulls the JCL together from all corners of the nation is, well, love. It’s why we all come together in the middle of the summer when it’s hot and people are dehydrated. We come to celebrate our love for the classics and our love for each other.
That, my friends, is why the English language only has one word for love. And that, too, is why we continue to come together year after year, competing with and against each other, for the sake of the love that we feel for this organization.
Ohio, we look forward to seeing you again at National Convention.
Ex animo,
VJCL President, Alyssa Funai
16 OJCL TORCH: Voices Spring MMXVII https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjB6MPV-L3RAhVMNiYKHUL8A4EQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmagistrabush.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2F23%2Fjcl-t-shirt-contest%2F&psig=AFQjCNHBUl5DxFMgey96R-DH1Oh37W6Q0A&ust=1484356401987376
Right: An Ohio delegate prepares for Spirit at the 2017 OJCL convention.