Onboarding the Mosaic Ark
“I teach medieval history.”
“I’ll bet you have trouble finding people interested in that!”
I was at a reception, high in a tower overlooking the castles of downtown Chicago, drinking fizzy water and eating canapés, talking with a young man who told me he used to teach math.
I pounced.
“Give me three minutes, and I'll convince you that medieval history is the most fascinating topic you’ve ever heard of.”
Except, of course, he was right. Americans think of medieval history as something that happens at Disneyland or Medieval Times: a side-show with knights and castles, not something that affects their everyday life on the ground.
Nobody cares.
I am here to correct this misunderstanding.
Except I’m stuck in this tower, overlooking the city, and everyone else is walking around on the street.
Nobody can hear me.
If only I had a way to reach them. Like a lecture series online. Or, maybe...an ARK!
This week on the Mosaic Ark, KC and I were joined by one of the oldest members of the OG Dragon Common Room—the Telegram chat that I started back in May 2020, when we were all locked in our towers and could only encounter each other through the Dragon’s screens.
Quinn, or as we’ve known him, Fat, came on board the Ark to share the epic fantasy he's been writing—in Spenserian stanzas, no less!—and to recount his experience being one of the DCR ground crew.
We talked about marketing and the problem of reaching an audience, including how much it takes to get people up to speed in the story we're telling, and what we might do to make it easier for people to scramble aboard.
We also talked about Quinn’s own story and he shared with us examples of the stanzas he's crafted. If you've ever wondered why we chose Spenserian stanza for our Draco Alchemicus, this is the episode you won’t want to miss.
Give us three minutes. Let us convince you to hang out while we scan. We may just catch a glimpse of a dragon—out there in the mist.
—Professor Fulton Brown
