Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, VA has recorded the entire Shorter Catechism on MP3 files. This resource may be downloaded for free, used on the PC, copied to MP3 players, or converted to cd audio files and burned to cd. This could be a very handy way for students to review their catechism questions! Go to http://ipcnorfolk.org/resources.shtml and scroll to the bottom of the page to find the MP3 files (HT to Mr. Barry Hofstetter of the TAA faculty).

We’re starting a new post category called “TAA Top Picks.” This will consist of lectures and cultural events that we recommend or plan to attend. This week, they are:

1. The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God: C.S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Planets - A brief talk by Dr. Michael Ward from Cambridge University, author of the newly released book, Planet Narnia, Sunday, February 3 at 8pm, following the evening service, Fellowship Hall Tenth Presbyterian Church, 17th and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia. See http://www.planetnarnia.com. Author Ward’s thesis is that Lewis secretly based his Narnia books on the seven heavens described in medieval cosmology books, and the link given will lead you to interesting reading on his blog. (HT to the Schevchenko family).
2. Faith, Reason, and the War against Jihadism, by George Weigel. This is a Foreign Policy Research Institute lecture at the Union League of Philadelphia, 140 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA on Monday, February 4, 2008 (4:00 reception, 4:30 lecture). From the FPRI website events page: “George Weigel is a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. His other books include Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (HarperCollins, 1999), The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God (Basic Books, 2005), and God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church (HarperCollins, 2005).” Mr. Weigel gets a “thumbs up” from Mr. Tom Anderson, who hosted a Barnes and Noble event with Mr. Weigel and Fr. John Neuhaus. This event is free and open to the public.
3. Jerry Pinkney: Aesop’s Fables and Other Tails is an exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum from November 23, 2007 through March 9, 2008. From the museum website, the exhibition “features delightful and skillful portrayals of animals from The Tortoise and the Hare, The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and other classic fables by Aesop.” For more information, see http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/news2007/news081.html
4. How Election 1936 gave us Election 2008, a Wynnewood Institute lecture by Amity Shlaes on Thursday, February 21, 7:30 p.m. From the Wynnewood Institute website, “Before the 1930s the role of the federal government in American society was small. There was little federal regulation of the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt, however, changed the course of American history and the very nature of American society by deliberately inaugurating an active role for government in solving the economic problems of society at the time of the Great Depression…” Our students will have a wonderful historic perspective on how the role of government has changed over the last 75 years, and the implications for the upcoming elections. The lecture will be help at Wyndham House, Bryn Mawr College, with a reception after the lecture. TAA students and families, please RSVP as soon as possible to Mrs. Anthony. Others may contact the Wynnewood Institute as described on their contact page. To read more about Ms. Shlaes, visit http://www.amityshlaes.com/index.php

5. 11th Annual Lincoln Symposium: The Image of the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Battle for Public Memory, featuring keynote speaker Harold Holzer, Co-Chairman, United States Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 4:00 p.m. Reception, 4:30 p.m. Lecture, 5:45 p.m. optional tour of the Union League. This event is sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia, in cooperation with the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to celebrate the President’s Day month of February. TAA students and families, please RSVP to Mrs. Anthony as soon as possible.

Wednesday, November 21 was our annual fall fencing tournament in Philadelphia, held at the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, at Lancaster Avenue and 36th Street. We had an enthusiastic crowd of cheerleaders from TAA, including friends and relatives of our students. Captains Joel Fink and Barbara Matejova did a great job of warming up the team, and helping the fencers when help was needed. Our opponent was Christ Classical Christian Academy, and a great time was had by all. We anticiapte a great re match in the spring, and all are invited.

On Monday, January 14, students from grades 7-12 attended a special Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) lecture, entitled Hizballah’s Military Strategy.  The lecture was presented by Andrew Exum of King’s College, London.  From the FPRI website:

Andrew Exum served in the US Army from 2000-04, leaving active duty as a captain. He was decorated for valor in 2002 while leading a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan. Subsequently, he led a platoon of Army Rangers into Iraq in 2003 and into Afghanistan in 2004. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he has lived in Beirut, where he studied at the American University. He is author of This Man’s Army: A Soldier’s Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism (Gotham, 2004).

TAA has received an invitation from our friend Ms. Marianne Hansen, assistant curator of Rare Books, and we plan to take our students to the Bryn Mawr College Library Rare Book Room spring exhibit on Books of Hours, which are medieval illuminated prayer books.  Bryn Mawr has one of the great liberal arts college libraries in the country, with more than a million volumes and nationally significant collections on the history of women, classical antiquity, the early development of printing, and many other fields. Unfortunately, time and handling have taken their toll on many of these books, resulting in broken bindings and damaged pages that put their long-term survival at risk.

On January 3, a group of 12 TAA’ers attended Anthony Lawton’s production of CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters at the Lantern Theater in Philadelphia.  A clever staging used the character of Toadpipe (Screwtape’s demon-personal secretary) to deliver the letters from nephew Wormwood, demon in training, who just couldn’t quite capture the soul of a Christian young man in WWII London.  We all agreed that the choreography segments were “a bit much,” but nevertheless it was a worthwhile evening and much discussion was generated.  We were thrilled to have two TAA grads able to join us: Kate Anthony UPENN ’10, and Julie Soper Swarthmore ’11.

Congratulations to the following students whose poems have been accepted for publication in Creative Communication: Sam Anthony “The Rhyme Scheme-Meter Challenge,” Josh Carroll “Gory Goblin,” Danny Carroll “The Wrong Way,” Patrick Devine “Right Down Santa Claus Lane,” Joel Fink “Frangar non Flectar (I Will Break Before I Am Bent),” Maggie Harnish “A Horse Named Pete,” Molly Harnish “Bedtime with Sisters,” Nathania Hofstetter “Party,” Hyunki Joo “Fall Wonders,” Mark Luber “My Bad Writing,” Noelle Ludlum “The PSAT Trial,” Samantha Ludlum “School,” Tad Lyon “A Trip to Japan,” Catherine Lyon “Fat Cat,” Albert Manginelli “Fabulous Fall’s Grand Opening,” Gianni Manginelli “Big Bunches of Books,” Nathan Master “Attack of the Ants,” Hanna Master “Train Game,” David Matej “Spring Baseball and Winter Basketball,” Barbara Matejova “Not Yet Right,” Stephanie Meell “Rules Rule the Roost,” Samuel Miller “Writing a Crummy Poem,” Felicity Miller “What Is He?” David Null “Terrifying Tornado,” Sarah Null “Sewing with my Mom,” Laura Null “Woof Woof,” Ace Robinson “Dad Travel,” Mikhail Shevchenko “Whipping Wind Weather,” and Peter Shevchenko “Splashing, Swimming, and Sliding.”