On January 27th, Dan Walden, Associate Professor of English at Baylor University, gave a fascinating presentation to Honors Program students on pirates! The timing was perfect as Gasparilla festivities were beginning that night and the main Gasparilla event was the next day. Dan noted that the life of pirates not anything like the modern depictions seen in movies or amusement park rides. Their lives were often short-lived, hard, dangerous, and dirty. Honor Student questions during the Q&A led to an insightful discussion about the similarities between modern-day pirates and their earlier counterparts.