The weather is warm in Germany today, with clear blue skies and a hint of fall scent drifting on the occasional breeze. Lush carpets of summer flowers now sport dry heads that break off in surrender to the changing seasons. Any day, the rainy reality of Europe’s chilly autumn will descend. But for each day it does not, I am grateful.
Right now I’m still scrunched in the sofa inside our little apartment in Weimar. Surrounded by paperwork. I’m about to embark on the first of three fall Smithsonian tours, beginning with a favorite to Eastern Europe (Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, Prague). Whenever I lead such tours, I pray for good weather, knowing how much my guests’ overall satisfaction will be shaped either by the blessing of clear skies or by the disappointment of downpours and soggy shoes.
Meanwhile, these days before the rush begins do allow me time to reflect upon my upcoming schedule. With three tours ahead, the completion of the manuscript for a book, and launching the Professor Carol 2016 Advent Calendar, I have plenty of work before me. But my mind today is focused happily on a conference we have scheduled for January.
Let me tell you a bit about it.
It’s being presented by a group loosely known as the Classical Consortium, all of whom work as educators, curriculum developers, philosophers, theologians, and advocates for the arts. We “take no prisoners” in the aesthetic battles we wage. Nor do we mince words or tiptoe around topics in an effort to be palatable or politically correct. The common mission is clear: to redeem and restore the values of Western Culture from its increasingly abused and neglected state. That’s my wording, but I think the others would approve.
Despite the variety of our sister organizations (CiRCE Institute, Institute for Excellence in Writing, Memoria Press, Classical Academic Press), each proclaims a mission that runs parallel with our own: to restore the study and appreciation of the Fine Arts as an indispensible core of Western Culture. You may know our motto here at Professor Carol: Our Western Cultural Heritage is not an elective. It’s a treasure! This is not just a slogan, but a call to action!
I shall say more about this conference as January draws nearer, but in short, here’s the scoop. We’ll be assembling in Louisville, Kentucky, hosted by the tremendous folks of Memoria Press. The conference’s theme is bold, just as those who know these speakers have come to expect: Truth or Nothing. Thank you for proposing that, Andrew Kern. It presents plenty of challenge for casting talks, don’t you think?
Those of you who live within reach of Louisville should consider joining us.
Maybe I’ll work on my plenary address later this afternoon in the historic Goethe Park. I can sit on a bench near the humble house where an elderly Franz Liszt dazzled an array of virtuosic young pianists and instructed them using his beloved invention, the master class. Or I could sit across from Goethe’s Garden House, his first home in Weimar and a shrine to literature lovers all over the globe.
Not that I should need inspiration, considering I’ll be sharing the roster with my favorite quadrumvirate of speakers: Andrew Kern, Martin Cothran, Chris Perrin, and Andrew Pudewa, as well as Brian Philips, Matt Bianco, and my own husband Hank Reynolds. Truth or Nothing. The challenge has been issued!
A daunting, but invigorating challenge it is. The goal requires us to cultivate and reinvigorate the tenets of Western Culture, waging anew a fight fought ferociously by generations of our forefathers. It remains incumbent on us to carry it forth.