Mosaic Ark

“Hail Mary full of grace, punch the devil in the face.” So says the popular meme that goes alongside a medieval illustration of Mary, the mother of Christ, literally punching the devil in the face. Does this sound childish simply because it rhymes? Allow Professor Rachel Fulton Brown and KC to disabuse you of that notion as we welcome Dr. Keith Berubé, author of Mary: The Rosary, The Relationship, and Dragons. Dr. Berubé joined us on the Mosaic Ark to talk about the powerful meditative prayer known as the Rosary, and how its recitation leads to powerful personal conversations with Mary and subsequently greater personal conversions to Christ. We also talked about the Rosary as a weapon in battles against the devil as attested to by many writers over the past several centuries, and a few well known exorcists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Please join the conversation by leaving your comments or questions; we’d love to hear your opinion. —Streamed March 27, 2026Buy Keith’s book: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/maryanddragons/

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Catholic poet Sally Read, who discussed her journey as a writer. Though she started her career as a psychiatric nurse and atheist co-writing a book about women’s experiences with their physical bodies, she became a poet and a Christian through her own unique spiritual experiences which she happily shared with us. Sally also shared with us some of her favorite Catholic poems from her edited collection of 100 Great Catholic Poems, highlighting the unique role of poetry in the creative history of Christianity, as well as the power of poetry to describe the otherwise indescribable. —Streamed March 14, 2026Sally’s website: https://sallyread.netBuy Sally’s book: https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/100-great-catholic-poems

Dr. Hans G. Schantz joins the Professor for a virtual roadtrip through the history of electromagnetism. Along the way, we remark on the importance of studying history for catching the errors in the science, review the significance of Harold Innis's insights into the media effects on space and time, wonder about the role of monasticism in the origins of Western industry, and marvel at the beauty of the machines that are remaking our world. It's quite the experiment! — Streamed March 6, 2026 Check out Hans's Substack on Innis and empires: https://aetherczar.substack.com/p/ii-152-empire-and-communicationsHans's website: https://aetherczar.com

You might have heard about the humorous meme making its way around the internet over the past several years which states, “We revolted against the British because they taxed our breakfast beverage.” Well, yes and no. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t really about the tea, or the tiny tax on the tea. It was about taxation without representation. But where did the American colonists get the idea that they were entitled to representation?! What if I told you that the idea came from Britain, where Parliamentarian oligarchs (aka Whigs) used their position to impose accountability on their King because their King had bypassed Parliament to raise funds for himself through the chartering of the English East India Company which became a quasi-governmental business venture that eventually took over India and started extracting its wealth, including….tea. It’s all very complicated! Fortunately, we were joined this week by University of Chicago historian James M. Vaughn, who graciously offered to explain it all to us! Join us for this fascinating and surprisingly current topic! —Streamed February 27, 2026Buy James’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Empire-Accession-George-Eighteenth-Century/dp/030020826X/

In the very entertaining 1996 summer blockbuster movie “Independence Day,” President Whitmore is told of the alien tech that has been hidden and studied in Area 51 for years, the cost of which was hidden through stories planted in the media about creative accounting. Hollywood has come out with some science fiction bangers over the past 75 years, and sometimes as art does, it has mirrored the hopes and fears of the general population. But have you ever wondered if it was the other way around? Have you ever wondered if art wasn’t merely reflecting socio-political trends, but that the public was being conditioned to accept scientific trends and realities through the use of art? Or is it possible that like President Whitmore, the public was being distracted from asking too many questions by planting plausibly deniable stories in the media? It hasn’t escaped KC’s attention that the real life history of the US air and space programs has had a very interesting parallel with the history of Hollywood science fiction movies. Has she uncovered a conspiracy to rival that of the supposed fake moon landing? As we all await yet another information dump of declassified UFO information (this time from real-life President Trump), watch as she and the professor discuss some of the more uncanny artistic coincidences in the history of the space race. —Streamed February 20, 2026

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the Professor and KC talk about the McLuhan space we currently inhabit, where “the medium is the message.” The world is in the midst of a digital revolution with the introduction of very rapidly improving “artificial intelligence,” where the gathering and dissemination of information both audio and visual is occurring at the speed of a self-replicating virus. While this world of AI is clearly the medium between one human brain that conceives information and another that receives it, what is the actual message? Do books no longer matter? Will creativity be but a long lost dream? Here’s a hint from one of the Mosaic Ark’s previous guests: “The Digital retrieves the Medieval.” Join the ladies for this surprisingly hopeful take on the current public obsession over AI, and why it may just help us break a 200 year-long degradation of learning. Please leave us your take on AI in the comments! —Streamed February 6, 2026

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Catholic artist Joseph Maki. Inspired by the great European craftsmen who built the churches of the Middle Ages, Joseph is a woodworker and sculptor who creates beautiful works of art that hold a sacred purpose within the Catholic Mass. We spoke about his motivations for taking on this vocation, and also about his inspirations, including his love of Catholic traditions and of the myths created by Tolkien. We also discussed the challenge of bringing back the craftsmanship of the Middle Ages in light of the current arguments about the merits of using AI and 3D printing to create art, architecture and sculpture. We feel that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this topic and would love to get your thoughts on this, so please let us know them in the comments! —Streamed January 30, 2026

Why do men hold on so tightly to myths that have been scientifically disproven, defending them with the religious fervor of a nineteenth-century high church Anglican? On this week’s Mosaic Ark, we discussed the tale of two such men. Both challenged their church’s teachings; one proved that humans could develop over time, and the other was Charles Darwin. Listen as we discuss how St. John Henry Newman’s conclusion that Catholic doctrine could develop over time as a seed into a tree mirrors Charles Darwin’s theory that all life began with a single origin and evolved into multiple species over time, as a seed into a tree. What does each belief signify for humanity? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! —Streamed January 16, 2026

Was the world of Middle Earth, created by JRR Tolkien, Christian? Would it help answering that question to know that Tolkien’s initials were actually JRPRT, and that the “P” was for Phillip, more specifically his patron saint, Philip Neri? Or that Tolkien studied under Father Morgan at the Birmingham Oratory, who studied under St. John Henry Newman? “So Tolkien was Catholic, so what? He just wrote a fantasy story about magic based on old Norse mythology,” you might say. But you also might wonder if Christianity itself, or Catholicism in particular is just magical superstition. Ironically, if you did think this you would be in the company of the pagan Romans and later Arians, which, doubly ironically, was pointed out in a book written by St. John Henry Newman, “On the Development of Christian Doctrine.” You see, Tolkien had a spiritual family ancestry as impressive as Aragorn’s royal ancestry. Join us as we discuss Tolkien’s spiritual fiction and whether it was based on his magical upbringing in the Oratory, and let us know what you think in the comments! —Streamed January 9, 2026

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, we spoke with Tyler Hummel about his new book, Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? And Other Questions About The True Meaning of Christmas Films. What started out as an amusing observation that many people considered Die Hard to be their favorite Christmas film led Tyler to wonder what kinds of stories actually make a film into a “Christmas film.” Is it that it has the story of Christ’s birth at the center? Is it that it is about people celebrating Christmas? Is it merely because the story is Christmas adjacent, taking place during Christmas time? Or is it something more simple, more primal? Could it just be nostalgia? The answer to all of these questions, it turns out, is yes! Listen along as we discuss the ritual of the Christmas film, and its many different variants, and please let us know what your favorite one is in the comments! — Streamed December 19, 2025

The debate has been raging over the past week. Does presenting evil or immoral material in literature or movies cause people to be desensitized to it, or even to seek it out? Did we say the past week? We’re sorry, we meant to say that this debate has been raging over the past 160 years, ever since Charles Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll, help create a new genre called children’s literature. Carroll wrote stories which would later collectively be called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with a sequel called Through the Looking Glass. Carroll, writing under his real name of Dodgson, also wrote essays on the dangers of publishing literature which might lead readers into sin; being an Anglican deacon with a great love for the innocence of children made him particularly sensitive to this. Of course, there are those who believe that even Carroll’s stories of Alice are dangerous to children, but wasn’t that always the point of children's stories (a.k.a. fairy tales?) Weren’t fairy tales meant to warn people of danger? And what danger could possibly be had from reading about falling “upside down” into a dark underground hole where nothing is as it seems? Listen as we discuss the potential pitfalls of presenting stories aimed towards children, and please tell us what you think in the comments. — Streamed December 5, 2025

This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark are back after a four-week break just in time to obsess over the first installment of the final season of Stranger Things. Along with other obsessive fans in the world, we’ve been engaging in conjectures about the direction of the story and how it will end. But as writers, we also found ourselves obsessing over the depth of the story’s structure and the many clues to Henry’s backstory. We loved the inclusion of a model of the Tesseract from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s book, A Wrinkle in Time, as a plot vehicle. We also loved that there was more D&D lore. We talked about the Duffers’ strange habit of always including close-ups of the characters’ shoes when they come on stage for the first time. What kind of trope is this, and why do the Duffers use it? And what does it tell us about their skill as storytellers that we get so caught up in such details? —Streamed November 28, 2025

What makes a monster a monster? In this episode, we continue our discussion of Stranger Things, focusing appropriately enough for Halloween night on the monsters. From the Demogorgon of season 1, to Henry Creel’s transformation into Vecna in season 4, we tried to determine exactly why each of the monsters worked as vectors of horror. Why was the Demogorgon terrifying? Why was the body horror of the Mind Flayer so resonant? Why was the psychological torture that Vecna visited upon his victims before he killed them more terrifying than their actual deaths? And what of the humans of Stranger Things and the monstrous things they did; are their actions a separate horror, or inextricably connected to it all like so many corrupted vines? —Streamed October 31, 2025

On last week’s episode of The Mosaic Ark, the ladies were reveling in the nostalgia of the 1980s that Stranger Things presents; this week we wondered how to pinpoint the source of that strong nostalgic feeling. Though the show takes place during what were our high school years, the time period itself was not solely the source of the nostalgia; if it were, Stranger Things wouldn’t have as many young fans as it does. So what is it that every fan of this show is longing for? We think people are longing for meaningful relationships, bonding, the opportunity to band together with true friends who help each other overcome hardship in a scary world. At its core, it is a series about family and fellowship; it’s about being among friends so close that they are your found family, but it’s also about the challenges of the families we were born into, and the hope of forming new ones. Listen as we discuss the many different relationship dynamics presented in Stranger Things, and please give us your thoughts in the comments. —Streamed October 24, 2025

What story are we in? This is the question the ladies of the Mosaic Ark asked ourselves while watching Season 1 of the Duffer Brothers’ amazing series, Stranger Things. As everyone knows, it is a nostalgic trip back to the early 1980s with strong elements from the movies of Steven King, Steven Spielberg, and Ridley Scott. But what kind of horror story is it? Is it one where the characters live in a place that is evil just under the surface, and they can’t convince others of the danger? Is the story one of evil living among them and they think can’t do anything to stop it? Or is the evil presented as a good even as it shows itself in monstrous form? The ladies had some ideas. In between reveling in the nostalgia of our own high school days and appreciating the thought that went into the visual effects, we noticed the themes of horror in this series are familiar for reasons that had nothing to do with old movies that inspired it. Exactly what story are we in? As the fifth and final season of the series is readying for broadcast on Thanksgiving day, we look back on the story that we have lived without realizing it. Let us know in the comments if you’ve experienced the horror, too! —Streamed October 17, 2025

This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark welcomed Professor Robert J. Dobie aboard to discuss his book The Fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien, Mythopoeia and the Recovery of Creation. Dobie is a Professor and Chair of Philosophy at LaSalle University in Philadelphia. He specializes in the medieval philosophers, but has had a fascination with Tolkien since he first read The Lord of the Rings when he was twelve. Professor Dobie believes that, though Tolkien was not a philosopher, his works contain many elements of philosophy. He also believes this makes a compelling argument that poetry and fiction are the best ways to explain the deeper meanings of life. Professor Fulton Brown, like Professor Dobie, had a similar beginning to her Academic journey having read Tolkien at age eleven, and they had much shop to talk on the subject of the philosophy underlying Tolkien’s work! KC just enjoyed riding the streams of consciousness and story! — Streamed October 10, 2025Buy Robert’s book! https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-J-R-R-Tolkien-Mythopoeia-Recovery/dp/0813238153/

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies continued their discussion of “The Dream of Scipio,” that short, narrative work written by Cicero which served as an instructive parable about civic duty to the citizens of Rome. However mundane that purpose may have been, its descriptions of what Romans believed about the physical universe and religion are fascinating in their familiarity. Cicero used these images in his parable because his audience already understood what they were; his work described the physical universe and Earth’s place in it, a Supreme god, an afterlife, and the morals a man needed to get there. All of those things are what both scientists and Christians of today would easily recognize because they are an image of creation that they somewhat share with ancient pagans. Listen as we wrestle with the implications of this, and please give us your thoughts in the comments! —Streamed October 3, 2025

In Acts, St. Paul talked of prophesy and visions and dreams, and so these are very Christian actions; yes? But in the Roman orator Cicero’s “Dream of Scipio,” Cicero writes of both a vision and a prophesy that was experienced by the pagan Scipio in his dream. This work presented a model of creation and the creator that is very close to what Christians living a century later would profess. Does this mean that pagans and Christians are the same? Does it mean that St. Paul was merely speaking creatively? Or were both telling the actual truth? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark have some ideas. Listen to this week’s stream as we continue our discussion of C.S. Lewis’s The Discarded Image and what we learn from Macrobius’s commentary on Cicero about dreams. And please give us your ideas on the subject in the comments! — Streamed September 19, 2025

This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark welcomed medieval scholar Robert Keim, who discussed his translation of the psalms which uses some of the lost vocabulary of medieval England. Professor Keim is in love with the Lord; he is also in love with the English language. He believes that the power of the psalms is in their poetry, and that this poetry helps Christians to understand who their Lord is and their proper relationship with him. But, as he and the ladies discussed, the psalms also help us to see that we are never alone in our moments of weakness; we share the same worries and fears as its author and the same hope in our Lord. This has been a very dark and unsettling week. We pray for the repose of the soul of Charlie Kirk, and for the safety and consolation of his widow and children, for “God is our refuge and our strength, our help when afflictions are heavy upon us” (Psalm 45, Robert’s translation). —Streamed September 12, 2025Via Medievalis: https://viamediaevalis.substack.com/Buy Robert’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Poetry-Family-Prayer-Robert/dp/B0CVVP3FTL/

This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark welcomed medieval scholar Robert Keim, who discussed his translation of the psalms which uses some of the lost vocabulary of medieval England. Professor Keim is in love with the Lord; he is also in love with the English language. He believes that the power of the psalms is in their poetry, and that this poetry helps Christians to understand who their Lord is and their proper relationship with him. But, as he and the ladies discussed, the psalms also help us to see that we are never alone in our moments of weakness; we share the same worries and fears as its author and the same hope in our Lord. This has been a very dark and unsettling week. We pray for the repose of the soul of Charlie Kirk, and for the safety and consolation of his widow and children, for “God is our refuge and our strength, our help when afflictions are heavy upon us” (Psalm 45, Robert’s translation).Via Medievalis: https://viamediaevalis.substack.com/Buy Robert’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Poetry-Family-Prayer-Robert/dp/B0CVVP3FTL/

This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark took a break from talking about C.S. Lewis’s “The Discarded Image” so that we could tackle something a little easier, the war between the sexes! At the end of last week’s stream, KC said something she thought everyone knew — that women are more spiritual than men. The Professor, no stranger to the subject of Western Christendom’s most famous spiritual writers, begged to differ. But who is right? Are women more spiritual than men, or do women just talk more about it? When men do talk about it, are they more expressive, or less; are they more analytical or more emotional? Are the spiritual writings of women all just glorified Romantasy? Can men get pregnant?! (Trust me, it actually came up in this discussion!) Have a listen and give us your opinions in the comments; that war between the sexes isn’t going to re-ignite itself! —Streamed August 29, 2025

How do you re-enchant the world? We’ve asked that question in past streams, but this week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark asked it in a more direct way that goes back to the very point in history where the “enchantment” was lost, when Isaac Newton published his laws of motion in his book "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" in 1687. This is the point at which “Scientism” was born and the world was hexed, or so we believe after reading "The Origins of Scientism" by Eric Voegelin. Watch the stream as we discuss how it happened, and answer the question, "How do we un-hex the world?" —Streamed August 22, 2025

Do you ever feel like you’re in a simulation? Have you seen this show before? Heard this song before? Had this conversation before? Read this book before? We know what C.S. Lewis would say about the last question. The answer is yes, you have read this book before, because all books in our tradition are just fan fiction of previous books, going all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome. On this week’s Mosaic Ark the ladies continued their discussion of the collection of C.S. Lewis’s lectures called The Discarded Image, and how every medieval author held the same view of creation. We also begin a very deep dive into one of Lewis’s contemporaries, Marshall McLuhan, and discuss how his work about the electronic medium of television predicted the retrieval of the medieval through the internet. We would love to hear your ideas about Lewis and McLuhan, so please leave a comment—which you can, since this is the Internet, not a book! —Streamed August 15, 2025

What is the “discarded image” that C.S. Lewis spoke about in his lectures at Oxford University, and why did he think it was necessary for his literature students to know what it was? This week the ladies discussed the first few chapters of the collections of Lewis’ lectures called The Discarded Image. Lewis taught that medieval peoples’ worldview was one where all knowledge was integrated into a unified whole, and that they were obsessed with collecting and cataloging all information previously known and newly discovered. We noted how this love of information collection greatly mirrors the modern world’s obsession with scrolling the Internet.The ladies also discussed how both Lewis and Tolkien used this medieval view of creation as a “whole” to write their stories; rather than “world building,” they were merely presenting through fantasy, the world that was until recently, always believed. We believe that they had the secret to re-enchanting the world, the antidote to compulsive scrolling, by reclaiming the discarded image of creation as a whole, and enjoying reading “the old stories’ again.This is the first in our series of discussions about Lewis’ The Discarded Image. Please join us again and give us your ideas or questions in the comments! —Streamed August 8, 2025

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by theoretical physicist and author Hans G. Schantz. Hans is a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His fiction includes the alternate science techno-thrillers The Hidden Truth, A Rambling Wreck, and The Brave and the Bold. He also wrote a biting satire of modern day academia in his ode to the Scopes monkey trial called The Wise of Heart. That satire famously got him cancelled by Kickstarter. His two non-fiction works are called The Art and Science of Ultrawideband Antennas, and his just completed Fields & Energy, which also just got him cancelled by Kickstarter —we’re sensing a pattern! Professor Fulton Brown has some observations about the cancellation of knowledge and history from the Middle Ages, which Hans also mentioned in his latest book. Apparently there has been an epidemic of amnesia about the history of science that started in the 17th century and continued right through the late 20th century with NASA supposedly forgetting about technology that got the US to the moon. It was a very informative and lively discussion! Let us know in the comments what you thought of it! —Streamed August 1, 2025Hans’s Substack: http://aetherczar.substack.comBack the crowdfund for “Fields & Energy” and get cool SPQR merch! https://www.fundmycomic.com/campaign/825/fields-energy-book-iBackstory with Hans on Francis Bacon: https://youtu.be/54ojYdAnxPQ

On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by writer Sarah Pierzchala, author of the award winning Cyberpunk series of novels, “Beyond Cascadia,” which Sarah describes as “Blade Runner meets The Brothers Karamazov.” As a Catholic wife, mother and artist, from a family of artists, Sarah has a unique perspective on writing science fiction. She also has some interesting things to say about everyone’s current obsession with AI-generated art. Spoiler alert: This sketch artist and writer of dystopian fiction does not think AI-generated art is the end of the world! Listen as we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of different types of art work, and help us to keep the conversation going by leaving your artistic opinions in the comments! —Streamed July 25, 2025Sarah’s website—so you can buy her books! https://www.skirkpierzchala.comSarah’s Manifesto on AI—where you can also find her beautiful image of Our Lady: https://open.substack.com/pub/skirkpierzchala/p/the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel

On tonight’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Aisha Fajardo of Grimmer Arts. Aisha has years of experience illustrating high fantasy, and her artwork in this area is captivating, but she was looking for an opportunity to create something with deeper meaning, something that wasn’t just more “elves and orcs.” Happily for us, this led her to become our illustrator for Draco Alchemicus, Act II: The Court. The ladies talked with her about her process for illustrating and about how she became an illustrator. We also talked about the state of the art world in general (it’s bad) and the dawn of AI generated art (it’s worse!) But this stream was no pessimist’s party; we all have hope that real art and poetry created by real people still has a future. Let us know in the comments what you think about the future of art after you see what Aisha has drawn for us! —Streamed July 18, 2025Check out Aisha's work at Grimmer Arts: https://www.instagram.com/grimmer.arts

Ciao! La professoressa Fulton Brown è tornata da Roma! And what did she see on her Roman Holiday? Maybe a better question would be, what did she feel? Fresh back from Italy and giving a talk on St. Francis as the great herald of the King, the Professor regales KC with the amazing feeling she got by simply being in the Eternal City. With all of the churches, and ancient structures, and so much famous artwork you might literally walk into on the street, you would be forgiven for assuming that she felt excited, or awestruck, because who wouldn’t? But you might also be surprised to learn that what she mostly felt was a calmness that was brought on by the city itself — a city that was built for people. Have a listen, and if you have been lucky enough to have visited this great city, too, share your impressions in the comments! — Streamed July 11, 2025

On tonight’s episode of the Mosaic Ark, the ladies welcomed BasedCon founder and author Rob Kroese to talk about his latest Kickstarter (his fifteenth!) for his new book series, Ransom’s Law, which he described as a space opera where Better Call Saul meets The Expanse. Rob is a prolific writer who has authored thirty-six novels in a variety of genres, both humorous and dark. In addition to the Kickstarter, we also talked about Rob’s creative process, how everybody hates marketing his own work, and Rob’s spooky habit of writing somewhat prophetic story lines. This stream wound its way to 2 hours and 30 minutes, but be sure to catch the last hour, as for some reason the crackling noise that had plagued Rob’s audio mysteriously stopped and it became perfectly clear (we think the kind words spoken about AI may have placated our robot overlords). Please leave your thoughts in the comments, and if you can, help support Rob’s Kickstarter; he’s a great storyteller. —Streamed June 26, 2025 Back Rob’s Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robkroese/ransoms-lawRead Rob’s other 36 books: https://badnovelist.com/Register for BasedCon: https://basedcon.com/

Quinn Kimball joined the ladies on tonight’s Mosaic Ark to discuss his epic fantasy poem, The Monster and the Foundling. Quinn joined Professor Rachel Fulton Brown’s Telegram chat, the Dragon Common Room, way back in the Covid days of 2020. He saw her challenge to learn to write poetry and responded by writing an epic fantasy poem in 50 stanzas of perfect Spenserian verse! He talks about how his tale of monsters and magic and redemption combined his affection for Lovecraftian lore with his desire to create a more hopeful, Christian monster story. We also talk about how finding the Dragon Common Room and helping to create its reading list, helped him to focus his own reading efforts and writing goals. —Streamed June 20, 2025Quinn’s Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/agardenerinawar/p/the-monster-and-the-foundling DCR Onboarding Guide: https://www.dragoncommonroom.com/_files/ugd/096a8a_e0ecbe7b12404832a2f467daa6b58278.pdf

“The madness of crowds.” I’m sure everyone has heard that phrase before. It is often used to describe the behavior of mobs, as if the individual participants, through some mass psychosis contagion, cease to be individuals and act as one mad, destructive being. But is it true? On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies discuss the ongoing anti-ICE riots in LA, and take a walk down memory lane to remember some of the other riots in our country’s history, and how their similarities might point to a different explanation for the violence. —Streamed June 13, 2025

We’re not going to sugar coat this. The state of education is bleak. There seems to be a dense fog clouding the minds of students, who are incapable of reading seven randomly chosen paragraphs from a work of nineteenth-century serial fiction without understanding more than the basic facts presented in those paragraphs. Oh, sorry, my writing proficiency isn’t as good as my reading proficiency. I meant to say that there is a dense fog clouding the minds of certain college professors who don’t understand the irony of their own ambush. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies discussed the newly-released study (of a ten-year-old test) given to 85 college English majors that was conducted by three college professors. The test was designed to code into an Excel spreadsheet the answers that students gave about their understanding of the text they were given to read, and the conclusion was that the students failed. Many tsk tsks were expressed and warnings given of how these failures’ future ability to make money was affected. In what can only be described as an exercise in irony, the text they tested the students on was from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Join us as we discuss how this may have been one of the biggest self-owns of the academic-industrial complex, and please add your thoughts to our discussion in the comments!—Streamed May 30, 2025Take the test: https://fencingbearatprayer.substack.com/p/reading-comprehension-current-year

Habemus papam! We have a Pope! And not just any pope, we have an American pope, and an Augustinian one at that. Robert Francis Prevost, a priest of the Augustinian order, born and raised on the south side of Chicago, was elected to the Papacy on May 8, 2025. He took the name Pope Leo XIV, and some have wondered whether he took this name because he was inspired by the work of the last Pope Leo (XIII), who addressed modernism. And indeed, one of Pope Leo XIV’s first public comments introduced his thoughts on the dangers of AI. But the ladies of the Mosaic Ark were more interested in whether he would be influenced by the founder of his order, St. Augustine of Hippo, the most influential teacher of teachers in church history. Will Pope Leo XIV govern his church in an Augustinian way — a way that teaches how to be a Christian? And what does that mean? Watch as the ladies discuss on this week’s episode of the Mosaic Ark.—Streamed May 23, 2025Augustine of Hippo, “On Catechizing the Uninstructed” https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1303.htm

A killer is stalking Hollywood, and it is up to the hunchback to hunt him down. But where in the Getty’s manuscripts can he find the clue to the killer's identity? In David Angsten’s The Medievalist, a noir style murder mystery set around Hollywood, a Catholic monk’s life has taken a long and winding path to Los Angeles, from farm boy to university professor to Uber driver/ aspiring script writer. While working on a script of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the monk finds himself caught in the middle of a murder investigation and is surrounded by suspects, detectives and bystanders. Everyone looks guilty, including the monk, in this city’s hedonistic atmosphere. In this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies welcome the author and speak with him about his inspirations for this story, including his own path to becoming a script writer and novelist. —Streamed May 16, 2025Buy David's book! https://www.amazon.com/Medievalist-David-Angsten/dp/B0DYVMSN95/ David's website: https://davidangsten.com/home

“I’ve got a jar of dirt! And guess what’s inside it!” Captain Jack Sparrow seemed to think that he had the key to controlling his fate with the contents of a jar of dirt. He wasn’t entirely wrong! The jar was holding the heart of Davy Jones, and he who held it controlled the oceans; he who controlled the oceans controlled the whole earth. This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discuss the connections between ocean ports, a trade war with China, and control of the Earth’s trade in literal earth — lithium, cobalt, rare earth minerals and silicon — that may be fueling its current and future wars. They also discuss time and our perception of events that have surrounded us for the past decade. Does history repeatedly repeat itself or are we just noticing more? —Streamed May 2, 2025

He is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! No matter what is going on in the world this week, nothing will be more important than this, that Jesus Christ is risen — Alleluia! Despite this most significant of Christian seasons, there were many other things going on in the world, too. There was the death of a pope and preparations for the election of another, the potential end to a bloody war in Ukraine, but the sad continuation of another bloody war in Gaza. And the pro-Palestinian encampments are inching their way back towards university campuses, even as those universities are already feeling the effects of a rapidly changing political landscape. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown continues talking on some of these themes that she discussed with Evita Duffy-Alfonso on Bongino Report: Morning Edition on Monday, and the ladies report back from the empty tomb. —Streamed April 25, 2025

What do these things have in common: the American Revolution, Goofball Jim Carrey movies, 19th-century economic policy, and Penguins? Surprisingly more than you think! This week, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed the current meme mockery of President Trump’s tariffs being applied to several islands south of Australia, the only residents of which are penguins, and whose only product would seemingly be guano. Some say that this is proof that the POTUS is dumb or crazy. But what is really going on in the world of high-stakes geopolitics? The ladies think that it’s the same thing that’s been going on since the 17th century. (Spoiler alert: It’s not about the penguins.)—Streamed April 4, 2025

What are the Rules of civility for persons of quality? Are they an outdated holdover from the Ancien Régime? Archaic manners designed for Lords and Ladies, obsequiously bowing before their King? Or if you prefer a more American, egalitarian example: are these rules for civility only followed by wealthy people in gated mansions and country clubs as a means of social exclusion? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark take a look at the etiquette lessons of the 17th century and discuss which manners have been lost, which seem to have been retained, and which should definitely be brought back. —Streamed March 28, 2025

What makes good poetry? Is it rhyme, meter, meaning, resonance? Maybe it’s alliteration. Then again maybe it’s imagery or story or emotion. Could it be all of these things? And does a good poet come by inspiration through luck, or blessings from God? Carl Winderl, author of the poetic books The Gospel According to…Mary and The Lost Parables of Jesus, joined the ladies on this week’s Mosaic Ark, and provided wonderful food for thought. Join us as we discuss his creative process and read selections of his poetry about the life of Christ told through the eyes of his Mother. —Streamed March 22, 2025Buy Carl's books! The Gospel According...to Mary: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-gospel-according-to-mary-by-carl-winderl/ The Lost Parables of Jesus: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-lost-parables-of-jesus-by-carl-winderl/

Happy Pie Day! Tonight the Ladies of the Mosaic Ark hijacked International Pi day to discuss how one defines things such as pie, or people, or nations. Specifically we discussed the English nation and wondered where they went and what defined them as a people. They are one of the best examples to show how difficult it is to define a nation. Is it blood? Borders? Language? Songs? Stories? In the case of the English, it is all anchored Christ the King, who inspired their stories and songs; He was the very beginning of their founding myth. —Streamed March 14, 2025

“You can be a lover or a fighter, whatever you desire / Whatever you want, baby, choose your fighter!” —Ava Max. This past week saw a group of Congresswomen in a viral video called “Choose Your Fighter,” wherein they each appeared well dressed in smart suits, smiling and jumping with fists in the air as they pretended to strike a boxing pose. The visual rhetoric was clear; these women were “fighters” who would work for you. But did the video work? Did it transmit an image of strength or one of trivial in-group popularity? Did it reinforce the idea that women are a political force to be reckoned with, or the outdated idea that women don’t belong in Congress at all, and is that idea actually outdated? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark disagreed on that one, so come watch them duke it out, politely of course, and choose your fighter! —Streamed March 7, 2025

What is a factory worker, a man or a woman? What is a CEO? Same question. No one asks these questions anymore. Thanks to the feminist movement of the last 50 years, those kinds of questions don’t matter because a woman can be anything she wants! Yay, women! Also, men can be anything they want, including, apparently, women. But what is a woman? This week, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark continued their discussion of categories and taboos by trying to answer that question. Listen as we explore a tiny fraction of the possible categories that define “woman” according to Grok. —Streamed February 28, 2025

What is a nation? Over the past several weeks, we’ve struggled to come up with an answer that will satisfy everyone, and so this week we decided to tackle an easier question. What is a sandwich? Easy! It is some kind of protein between two pieces of bread, created by none other than that illustrious Englishman, the Earl of Sandwich. But wait a minute. Is a taco a sandwich? What about a hamburger? How about the humble hot dog? For that matter, what makes up a hot dog? (Scratch that; let’s not ask!) The ladies of the Mosaic Ark are discovering that creating a definitive category for anything, whether it be a nation or a sandwich, is not as easy as they thought. Listen as we present and then break many categories, and let us know in the comments that you know KC is right and pineapple does not belong on pizza! —Streamed February 21, 2025

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? KC the realist would say “Yes. The forest and the tree and soundwaves exist irrespective of my presence.” A nominalist would say, “The forest only exists as a category of your mind. Only individual trees exist.” Professor Rachel Fulton Brown would say, “The medieval nominalists are the reason we are having a problem defining a nation today.” Listen as the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discuss why trying to get people to agree on categories and the language used to describe them is rather like trying to herd cats, and how the medieval philosophers tried to tackle the problem started by Aristotle. —Streamed February 14, 2025

Who’s up for a game of Polandball? Or to be less whimsical, who’s up for defining what makes a nation? Last week, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed that question and its expression in the Reddit phenomenon called Polandball, which are ongoing community-created comics where little balls stand in for the nations and express ideas unique to their culture. This week, we narrowed the nation question down to what makes America a nation and what makes a person American, using David Hackett Fischer’s book Albion’s Seed for historical insight. Q. Is it blood, social customs, education, food, or language? A. All of the above, and you might be surprised just how significant the pronunciation of the word “fire” is! Share your ideas about what constitutes a nation in the comments. Do you know your Polandball?! —Streamed February 7, 2025Polandball: https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/

What is a nation? That’s a simple enough question, isn’t it? After much discussion, points and counterpoints made, history explored, and the opinions of various historical and contemporary figures considered, the ladies of the Mosaic Ark have decided….It's complicated! Is it a geographical area, a shared ethnicity, religion, language or culture? Is it blood? Or is it merely a legal designation? Join us as we explore these questions in Part I of our discussion. Let us know in the comments if you have any thoughts to add, and especially if you have any questions for Part II, as we continue our hunt for the American nation. —Streamed January 31, 2025Euratlas from Year 1 to 2000: https://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/index.htmlPolandball: https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/

This week was a flurry of activity for the newly re-elected President Trump. There were concerts, and parades, and luncheons, speeches, and formal dinners and dances, and of course the swearing-in ceremony. It was all very magical from the red coat-wearing and bewigged United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps to the black-robed Supreme Court Justice eliciting a sworn oath from the then President Elect. But the ladies of the Mosaic Arc believe the real magic happened with the many strokes of a pen after that oath was taken, and the Executive Orders were signed. Watch as we discuss this sea change for our country happening right before our eyes. —Streamed January 24, 2025