{"id":434,"date":"2014-01-10T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T16:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=434"},"modified":"2025-03-29T15:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T15:03:40","slug":"kleopatra-classroom-guide","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=434","title":{"rendered":"Kleopatra: Classroom Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">This book represents a paradigm shift in thinking about women in history.&#8221;<br><em>\u2014Dr. Mary Bess Dunn, Professor of Education, Tennessee State University<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">&#8220;Kleopatra finally gets her due as the brilliant, many-faceted woman she was.\u201d<br><em>\u2014Susan Ford Wiltshire, Professor of Classics, Vanderbilt University, and author of&nbsp;<\/em>Athena&#8217;s Disguises<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/decorationbeigebg.png\" alt=\"decorationbeigebg\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Here is one model on how&nbsp;<em>Kleopatra<\/em>&nbsp;was used in a course&nbsp;titled WOMEN OF POWER:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Karen Essex&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Kleopatra<\/em>&nbsp;served as the centerpiece text for my freshman writing course, &#8220;Women of Power.&#8221; I wanted to provide a forum for discussion about the lives of women within the context of history, politics, religion, society, education, the arts, culture, and self-realization, but not in comparison to men. We, as a class, defined power or empowerment as the qualities of intelligence, ingenuity, courage, determination, intuition, righteousness, and intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kleopatra, the woman, as she is portrayed in Essex&#8217;s novel exemplifies these qualities within this context, making this the essential text for the course. Unlike the Hollywood version of this story, in which &#8220;womanly seduction&#8221; is the underpinning of Kleopatra&#8217;s acquired power, students, instead, discovered a woman whose great intellect, personal integrity, and loyalty to her country, determined her power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kleopatra became the primary source for researching information about the queen and her time in history. Student presentations included topics such as food and travel of the time period, clothing, hygiene, body adornment, politics, education, hieroglyphics, mythology, and religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While providing a wealth of historical information about a particular woman under challenging circumstances during a grand time in history, I believe Essex&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Kleopatra<\/em>&nbsp;provides a model of empowerment as it applies to all women, in any situation, during every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cynn Chadwick, MFA<\/strong><br>Lecturer, Literature and Language<br>University of North Carolina at Asheville<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cynnchadwick.com\/\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"noopener\">www.cynnchadwick.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"249\" height=\"52\" src=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/decorationbeigebg.png\" alt=\"decorationbeigebg\" class=\"wp-image-495\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<center><a title=\"Kleopatra: Letters from Students\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=558\">Please click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read letters Karen has received from students about&nbsp;<em>Kleopatra.<\/em><\/center>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class='et-box et-shadow'>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><\/div><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-333 aligncenter\" alt=\"moretx\" src=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/moretx.png\" width=\"500\" height=\"52\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/moretx.png 500w, https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/moretx-300x31.png 300w, https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/moretx-400x41.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"Kleopatra: Book Excerpt\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=430\">Book Excerpt<\/a>\u00a0| <a title=\"Kleopatra: Reader\u2019s Guide\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=432\">Reader&#8217;s Guide<\/a> |<a title=\"Kleopatra: Classroom Guide\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=434\">Classroom Guide<\/a>\u00a0| <a title=\"Kleopatra: Letters From Students\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=558\">Letters From Students<\/a> |\u00a0<a title=\"Kleopatra: Bibliography\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=436\">Bibliography | <\/a> <a title=\"Kleopatra: Inspiration\" href=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/?page_id=438\">Inspiration<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-335\" alt=\"buytx\" src=\"http:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/buytx.png\" width=\"443\" height=\"52\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/buytx.png 443w, https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/buytx-300x35.png 300w, https:\/\/karenessex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/buytx-400x46.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 443px) 100vw, 443px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0BBN716WT\">Ebook<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0BLG2QDHX\">Paperback<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.karenessex.com\/products\/first-edition-kleopatra-signed-hardcover\">Hardcover First Edition<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This book represents a paradigm shift in thinking about women in history.&#8221;\u2014Dr. Mary Bess Dunn, Professor of Education, Tennessee State University &#8220;Kleopatra finally gets her due as the brilliant, many-faceted woman she was.\u201d\u2014Susan Ford Wiltshire, Professor of Classics, Vanderbilt University, and author of&nbsp;Athena&#8217;s Disguises Here is one model on how&nbsp;Kleopatra&nbsp;was used in a course&nbsp;titled WOMEN [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":48,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-434","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1932,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434\/revisions\/1932"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}