We are a team of poets and artists who write and publish original stories anchored in traditional Christian symbolism.
126 Choose Your Fighter!
“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 Did it reinforce the idea that women are a political force to be reckoned with, or the outdated idea that women don’t belong in Congress at all, and is that idea actually outdated?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!
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125 What is a Woman? We asked Grok
​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.
124 Hot Diggity Dog—Categories!
​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!
123 Aristotle and Herding Cats
​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.
122 The Polandball Question
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, 2025 (UATV; YouTube)
Polandball: https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/
121 Spot the Nation
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, 2025 (UATV; YouTube)
Euratlas from Year 1 to 2000: https://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/index.html
Polandball: https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/
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120 President Trump’s Magic Pen
​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.
119 Robert Kroese, Based Storyteller
​This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark were joined by Robert Kroese, science fiction author extraordinaire! He has 35 published titles to his name and is the founder of Based Con, an annual gathering for authors and fans of science fiction and fantasy. We discussed everything from his humble beginnings as a precocious, aspiring writer in the second grade, through his stint as a software engineer, the inevitability of AI, and the Christian and philosophical world view that informs his writing.
118 Grokking the New Year
​2024 has ended and the New Year is but minutes away for some in these United States of America. It’s time for reflection on the past and speculation of the future. Join the ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss the runup to 2025, and especially the most recent X-wars over all things pirate from the East India Trading Company to the modern would-be robber barons of today—Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. We also speculate on the Professor’s potential development of Madam Web-like superpowers due to some unfortunate spider bites.
117 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
“O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Sun of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!”
Thus sings the Church on December 21, the darkest day of the year. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies discussed the Catholic tradition of preparing for Advent by singing the “O Antiphons,” which are short sung sentences describing a specific aspect of prayerful meditation on the eternal Truth — God’s incarnation in the womb of a virgin named Mary. They are sung at sunset (Vespers) both before and after recitation of Mary’s “Magnificat,” wherein she describes her joy at being chosen by God to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah, who came to banish darkness and death, bringing everlasting light. Each Advent season in America, congregations of Catholics and Protestants participate in this tradition perhaps without knowing that is what they are doing; they sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which is Catholic and has origins that are more than a thousand years old. Join us as we discuss these ancient chants, how they were weaved so thoroughly into our Christian consciousness, and how the Internet is making everything old new again.
116 What Makes Myths Real?
​Myths, threads, and spider webs — that’s what the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discussed this week. Specifically, we discussed how all information from ancient times through the present, all history, literature, art, science, music, and religion have been compressed into a digital scroll that is now accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This ability to “scroll” information has also allowed people to start seeing the threads that run between all things and times, connecting them through a massive digital web. Quite a modern wonder, wouldn’t you say? Actually, some might say it is a return to the “pre-modern” world. Professor Rachel Fulton Brown has a more accurate take; it is a return to the medieval world. Join the ladies as they discuss what it means to live in the web, how we can distinguish myth from reality, and whether biblically accurate angels look like giant spiders.
115 Strong Moms
​Have you noticed the trend lately? “Strong independent woman” is a trope that keeps popping up in movies, television shows, and advertisements, and especially in political advertisements. “Single cat ladies” were the largest group that voted for Kamala Harris in the last election, and groups of witches were casting spells against her opponent. Their number one issue seemed to be the right to an abortion, which is promoted as something strong, independent women need and want. But is this true? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark beg to differ and have some pretty amazing examples to share with you of strong women who became even stronger moms.
114 A Moral and Religious People
​Recently on an episode of The Timcast with Tim Pool, Tim was debating with his guests about whether America was created as a Christian nation. John Adams’ 1798 letter to a Massachusetts regiment was offered as evidence that it was, as Adams wrote “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” But what does “religious” mean in this context? What did the founders mean when they allowed for the free exercise of religion? If they meant “Christian,” why didn’t they say the name of Christ in their documents? On this week’s episode of The Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown shares some ideas about that.. Listen in and let her know your ideas in the comments!
113 Digital Retrieves the Medieval
​What is digital mysticism? When you hear that phrase, do you imagine hermetic robots meditating in a virtual reality landscape chanting ohms? That may be getting a little bit ahead tech-wise. If you imagined that the information technology revolution that we’ve all been living through since Marshall McLuhan coined his famous phrase “The medium is the message,” you’re a little closer to understanding. And if you thought that “digital mysticism” was mankind’s reacquisition of the medieval method of learning you would be right on the mark. On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Mark Stahlman, President of the Center for the Study of Digital Life, where we spoke of how today’s social media environment tracks in very similar ways with philosophical developments in ancient Greece, medieval Europe, and modern China. We would love to hear your ideas on this, so please add yours to the comments!
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112 Trumpslide
​Remember, remember the fifth of November…. Where were you on November 5, 2024 – the day that Donald John Trump was elected to a second term as President of the United States? If you were like the Ladies of the Mosaic Ark, you were up for most of the night watching the national election results, afraid to go to sleep for fear of getting a nasty shock in the morning. Turns out, most of the country felt the same way, although maybe for different reasons depending upon who one hoped would win. It has been a very momentous campaign that capped off four very momentous and traumatic years. To cope with all of this trauma, the memes did flow, and KC collected a bunch of them! Join the ladies as we discuss the election results, the last few weeks that led up to them, and the memes that explain them all.
111 At Home with Professor Rachel Fulton Brown
​Who is Fencing Bear? Why, she writes the Blog called Fencing Bear at Prayer! Who is Ancilla Mariae? Why, she hosts the Telegram Channel called Fencing Bear at Prayer and its chatroom called The Dragon Common Room! Who is Professor Rachel Fulton Brown? Why, she is a Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Chicago! As well as the creator of the aforementioned Blog and Telegram channels. Did I also mention that she writes books with a team of poets at another website called The Dragon Common Room, and she hosts the weekly live-stream called The Mosaic Ark that you’re seeing here on YouTube? So why is she adding Substack creator to all of the other hats she wears? Because she has surmised that a lot of people who have enjoyed reading and listening to her thoughts might like to have a single space to learn about all of the different areas where she teaches and creates, and Substack is a good place to do that. Listen in on this week’s Mosaic Ark as the Professor explains how her projects all complement each other and answers viewers’ questions about the work that she and her poets do.
110 Captain Zodiac Lumen Getty
The ladies of the Mosaic Ark are looking at the stars! Captain Zodiac, the Mosaic Ark’s very first guest, once again joined us to share his insights about astrology and its true meaning—which does not include divination he’ll have you know! He and Professor Rachel Fulton Brown discussed the beautiful medieval Christian manuscripts that are currently on display at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The ancient myths and astrological charts used in the manuscripts’ beautiful, gilded illustrations hold an explosion of information about the people who made them and what they believed. But do they have something to say about who we are today? Watch and tell us your ideas in the comments!
Getty Exhibit: https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/lumen/index.html
109 John Carter of Substack
​​“I have ever been prone to seek adventure and to investigate and experiment where wiser men would have left well enough alone.”― Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars
What does it mean to say that the world was once enchanted, but now it is not? To answer that question, one must ask, “what is a myth, and how can it be both true and false?” On this week’s Mosaic Ark, the ladies were joined by Substack author John Carter (a pseudonym taken from one of his favorite book series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.) John Carter’s imagination is boundless, and with that boundless imagination he asks a lot of fascinating questions about history, science, religion, stories, and myths. One of the big questions of our time is this – what happens to a society built with the imaginative force of myth, when imagination is relegated to secondary status (when acknowledged at all) in the public sphere? If the effect of that secondary status is a crumbling society, how can that society be fixed? In short, how does one reenchant the world? Join us as we wrestle with this concept, and please share your ideas in the comments. —Streamed October 12, 2024 (UATV; YouTube)
Postcards from Barsoom: https://barsoom.substack.com
"The Re-enchantment of the World": https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-reenchantment-of-the-world
Dr. John Carter, PhD, on X: @martianwyrdlord
108 What Would St. Francis Do?
“Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which you give sustenance to Your creatures.” — St. Francis of Assisi, “Canticle of the Creatures” (1225)
As the fallen-away followers of our Lord Jesus Christ might have said, this is a hard teaching, especially this week. How do we praise God for “every kind of weather” after the devastating and deadly floods in Appalachia this past week? How did St. Francis do it in the face of the trials of his day? This week the ladies of the Mosaic Ark discuss St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is today (October 4). Was he simply the tree-hugging, animal-loving hippy portrayed by Franco Zeffirelli in his 1972 film? Or was he the devout but shrewd son of a wealthy merchant who founded a world-wide movement? Spoiler alert: He was both! Join us as we talk about why people still love this saint so much, and what he has to teach us about the modern world.
107 Spot the Mimetic Twins
​​Mimetic Desire. This was the phrase used by René Girard to describe the human condition of wanting to obtain that which others have already obtained; not to be confused with envy, mimetic desire is simply an extension of the way we learn what we should and shouldn’t want — food, shelter, love, etc. Can this be observed in everyday life, in fiction, in geopolitics? Yes, yes, and yes, through a phenomenon called Mimetic Rivalry. Join the ladies of the Mosaic Ark as we discuss some of the more famous mimetic twins, and tell us in the comments if you can see what we see in these pairings: Indiana Jones and René Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Simone de Beauvoir and Mother Theresa of Calcutta (two single ladies and historic contemporaries with two very different ideas about love) and the trifecta of mimetic twins — Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, leaders of the Allies during World War II.
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106 Why All Politicians Are Liars—Except the One I’m Voting For
​Isis and Osiris. Apollo and Artemis. Donald and Kamala? Twins are memorable features in the world’s mythological systems; they are symbols of duality, balance, and integrating opposites. One might say our myths have conditioned us to look for similarities when presented with two choices. On last week’s Mosaic Ark, we discussed the visual image presented by presidential candidate Kamala Harris and how it might appeal (or not) to women. This week we compared her tweets to those of presidential candidate Donald Trump. Did we see stark contrasts in the messaging of each campaign? Yes and no; we saw twinning. Want to find out what that is? Watch tonight’s stream and peer into the looking glass with us.
105 What White Women See in Kamala Harris
“It’s our time.” Vice President Kamala Harris is quoted as having said this recently to her fellow women as she seeks to win one of the most powerful positions of authority in the world, President of the United States. However, the time of powerful women’s leadership has already come and gone… and come and gone… and come and gone again, has it not? The ladies of the Mosaic Ark remember a time not so long ago that the Anglo-American empire lost the longest reigning queen in British history, her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We also remember the second longest reigning monarch in British history, Queen Victoria. But the most iconic British ruler, also a queen, has to be Queen Elizabeth I, and it is with her that Anglo-American women all over the US most closely identify, and why they yearn for a strong, independent woman as their leader. Why? Watch the stream to find out!
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104 Take the Cruise of Your Dreams!
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What is the Mosaic Ark? What kind of a livestream is it? The best way to describe it is this: it is a cruise ship! The Mosaic Ark takes its viewers on a cruise through an ocean of information, images, art, science, history, and (very occasionally) political events. Professor Rachel Fulton Brown, Medievalist and Tolkien expert, is your cruise director bringing you to interesting ports of call every week with her co-hostesses. They discuss what they see, what it means, how each port is connected to the other ports and how all are oriented towards Christ and His mother, Mary, the Star of the Sea. Come aboard! We’re expecting you!
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103 The Lamb's Love Feast and the Paris Olympics Bacchanal
Watching the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, many people were outraged by the display of drag queen camp and hedonism included in the show, particularly because it was done in a way that many claimed mocked Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” Christians world-wide demanded apologies in the strongest of terms. The ladies of the Mosaic Ark were also outraged—but not for the same reason! Presuming that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness,” we argue that the Paris Bacchanalia show was merely trying (poorly) to grasp what it could not reach: the scandalous joy of the Liturgy of the Lamb.
102 How to Be the Next Tolkien
​“’Twas our Right!” to write poetry, and thereby speak our creative world into being. In this week’s Mosaic Ark, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown speaks about J.R.R. Tolkien’s creative process, how it began and how he was able to create an entire world using both poetry and prose. But, most importantly, how without his poetry there would’ve been no story; poetry was the engine that drove the vehicle of his prose and without it, there would be no Middle-Earth. So how did he begin? He began at the beginning of course, by first learning how to scan.