My name is Tyler Leach. I am the Middle School Latin teacher at Baker Demonstration School, which draws many of its students from the Evanston community. While my book choices trace back to my love of language, my hobbies revolve around a love of family, music (listening and playing), food (cooking and dining out), and sport. I am a transplant to the Middle West from the Northeast, and my wife Emily (born and raised in Evanston) and I currently live in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood with our two sons Henry and Palmer.
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1) Aeneid by Virgil, translated by Stanley Lombardo (19 B.C., 2005)
For those who have never read the Aeneid, Lombardo’s translation makes the text accessible to a modern audience, and the theme of the poem is easily relatable to the story unfolding in modern day Syria. Having attempted to translate Virgil’s work myself, I cannot help but marvel at Lombardo’s keen ability to bring the text to life while all the while remaining true to its classical roots. For anyone who has the time and interest, Lombardo’s translations of the Iliad and Odyssey are real gems, too.
“In our house, we’re constantly hearing ‘me and so-and-so’ instead of ‘so-and-so and I.’ We’re always correcting each other.”
“When someone uses mixed verb tenses in a sentence.”
“Prepositions at the end of a sentence! Also, saying ‘me and him went to…’ Eek! That’s like nails on a blackboard for me.”
The Case of the First Mystery Novelist
The Best Poetry of 2010
You’ve Been Verbed 
Barack in Bronzeville