A man's fascination with an ebony clock during quarantine leads to mysterious musical notes. Deteriorating relationship dynamics, struggles with family business, and desires for a child are explored. Eerie encounters and reflections stir emotions while an ancestral clock influences tense confrontations. A violent encounter with police during quarantine ends tragically.

Send us a textLuc Travers and I just had a fantastic discussion about various artworks and how to look at a paintings. It often feels as though art is a special category of human activity that only a unique few can enjoy. What Luc teaches is how to "enhance those special moments in your life through the lens of art."This approach to great artwork elevates even the everyday, seemingly mundane occurrences. It also, of course, elevates even the high points, the conflicts, the struggles, the achievements, or, in other words, LIFE.On this episode we actually evaluate several pieces of artwork live. You will get to see me struggle to make sense of paintings, and I even get to introduce Luc to a new painting!This was such a fun episode and I know you will enjoy it.

Send us a textOn this episode I spend some time discussing my observations from talking to people during this crisis and I share my personal lessons from riding a motorcycle.Literature can provide us with models for living and for dying. This may seem like an un-important thing, but it is absolutely critical. Death frames life. Without death we would have no reason to live. Poems that show us decaying and death can provide for us insights and ways to contemplate our own mortality and how to behave at times of higher risk.Poems read:Old Man Travelling: Animal Tranquilty and Decay, A Sketchby William WordsworthThe Death of Simoeisios (excerpt from The Iliad)Iliad, Book 4, lines 473-489 (trans. Seth Schein)

C. Bradley Thompson discusses the moral history of the American Revolution and ways to reignite the fire of liberty. They explore the impact of Enlightenment ideas, the evolution of truth from the revolutionary era to the present day, and the balance between government responses to threats and individual freedoms. The podcast delves into the relationship between democracy and liberty, emphasizing the importance of education and self-responsibility in promoting freedom.

Send us a textYou know him as the youtube sensation taking over the minds of young people like a ... Well I won't talk like that right now. He's Rucka Rucka Ali.We discussed how we are dealing with lock downs as well as how Objectivism helps us laymen interpret and act based on the current state of affairs.Later in the discussion we get into a variety of topics including what we are reading now (you'll never guess!) the role of literature at a time like this, the creative process, and developing an independent life.This was an absolute pleasurable conversation for me and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Explore the symbolism and themes in William Blake's poem 'A Dream' within the context of English Romanticism. Delve into the concepts of innocence, experience, and imagination. Discover the allegorical nature of the ant's isolation and the glowworm's guiding light. Examine the portrayal of childhood innocence and tragedy in Romantic poetry, emphasizing the importance of imagination in creating a profound narrative.

Discussing the fear of unknown death and potential violence in Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. Delving into the hidden depths of resentment and deception, as characters navigate through dark cavern walls in search of Amontillado. A chilling chapter where one character deceives another into a trap, culminating in a haunting finality.

Send us a textHow should we perceive children?  Are children born with sin as the Calvinists believed? Do infants retain a memory of God as some Romantics believed? Are children, as Rousseau taught, naturally good with an innate ability to learn?In these two poems we will explore how William Blake, a Romantic poet, gave voice to the voiceless infants. We will also discuss why these poems are useless by themselves but profound within the context of The Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Send us a textThis is a great example of William Blake's expression of the dialectic process. There are two nurse's songs in Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Each one reveals the inner feelings of a nurse as she is watching over a group of her wards. Each poem is in contrast to the other and speaking through the other.This is a shorter episode because these poems are both more on the surface. But they are valuable to understanding Blake's book as a whole.

Send us a textNight may be a time for partying in 2020, but two hundred years ago night represented terror and death.In this poem we will explore a deep theme that runs throughout both the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. It will be important to read or listen to this poem before we read the songs of experience.