Poet, playwright, and critic Jane Scharl joins us to explore her debut poetry collection Ponds, the moral labor of finding a poetic voice, and the enduring power of language in an age increasingly dominated by abstraction. In a wide-ranging conversation, she reflects on the poet’s vocation, the dangers of reducing words to mere “tokens,” and why great poetry always returns us to reality.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How a spontaneous dramatic monologue in college revealed Scharl’s poetic vocation
📖 Why poets and philosophers diverge—and what poets understand about language that analytic philosophy often misses
📖 The influences that formed her imagination—from David Jones to classical Chinese poetry
📖 What it means to “find a voice,” and why the journey is as moral as it is artistic
📖 The state of contemporary poetry—and where readers can go to find work that still matters

LINKS:
➡️ Ponds by Jane Scharl (Wipf & Stock): https://wipfandstock.com/979838521064...
➡️ Jane's writing: https://https://jcscharl.com/

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Dr. Thomas Varacalli, Dean of the Honors College, and Dr. Christine Boor, Chair of Classical Liberal Education, join us from Belmont Abbey College to discuss the revival of Catholic liberal education, the distinctives of the Abbey’s Honors College, and the formative power of friendship, contemplation, and intellectual tradition. Together they explore what it means to build a genuinely Christian college in an age of fragmentation.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 The founding vision of the Belmont Abbey Honors College and how it integrates faith and reason
📖 How the Great Books shape students to become seekers rather than specialists
📖 Why friendship is at the heart of the Abbey’s intellectual life

LINKS:
➡️ Belmont Abbey Honors College: https://www.bac.edu/academics/honors-...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Art Department Chair Meg Salazar and High School Principal Robert Robinson of Liberty Common Charter School join us to tell the story of Festival of Ideas—a decade-long experiment in classical community-building that has become one of the most vibrant regional events in the movement. They share how the festival began, how it has evolved, and why cultivating a culture of leisure, wonder, and cross-disciplinary learning matters for classical schools today.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How the Festival grew from in-house PD to a regional classical symposium
📖 Why public, content-rich events strengthen school culture and parent confidence
📖 How Liberty’s festival is inspiring other classical schools across the country

LINKS:
➡️ Liberty Common Charter School: https://libertycommon.org
➡️ Festival of Ideas: https://libertycommon.org/festivalofi...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Policy analysts and educators Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Merino Doan join us to discuss their new book Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books)—an eye-opening look at the decline of liberal education in America’s most prestigious universities. Together they uncover what’s gone wrong with general education, what’s missing from modern curricula, and why the recovery of real learning still matters.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How the Ivy League abandoned the core curriculum and the study of Western civilization
📖 What their research uncovered in hundreds of “slacker courses” at top universities
📖 The historical shift from classical to elective education—and how Emerson and Eliot helped pave the way
📖 Why Columbia remains the lone Ivy preserving a true core curriculum
📖 How reform might begin—through trustees, states, and new classical colleges

LINKS:
➡️ Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation (Encounter Books): https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/...
➡️ National Association of Scholars: https://www.nas.org

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Writers and editors Timothy Lawrence and Timothy House join us from FilmFisher—a community of classically minded Christian film critics dedicated to bringing the Great Tradition into conversation with modern cinema. Together they discuss the site’s origins, its recent relaunch, and the enduring need for thoughtful film criticism in an age of algorithms and crowd-sourced reviews.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How FilmFisher emerged from the classical education movement through Christopher Perrin and Joshua Gibbs
📖 Why film criticism matters—and how it can once again become humane, literary, and formative
📖 What sets great criticism apart from “thumbs up/thumbs down” crowd scores
📖 How to watch films more attentively by learning the language of images and perspective

LINKS:
➡️ FilmFisher: https://filmfisher.com
➡️ FilmFisher Substack: https://filmfisher.substack.com
➡️ Jedi Archives (Timothy Lawrence’s Star Wars lectures): https://explicatingstarwars.substack....

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Former congressman Bob Schaffer and physician Dr. Randy Everett—co-founders of Liberty Common School in Fort Collins, Colorado—join us to tell the remarkable story of how a small group of parents built one of the nation’s most successful classical charter schools. From living-room meetings to legislative battles, their work helped shape both Liberty’s founding and Colorado’s charter school law itself.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How a parent movement in the 1990s became a model for classical education nationwide
📖 The political and legal fight that made Liberty Common possible
📖 Why E.D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy became the foundation for the school’s curriculum
📖 How conviction, scholarship, and community built a school that still defines excellence thirty years later

LINKS:
➡️ Liberty Common School: https://www.libertycommon.org
➡️ Core Knowledge Foundation: https://www.coreknowledge.org

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Philosopher and educator Dr. Wes Siscoe joins us to discuss the renewal of philosophy as a lived practice—one that can transform not only university classrooms but also the wider culture of learning. Drawing on his work with the Philosophy as a Way of Life project and the Philosophy Teaching Library, Siscoe shares how a discipline often seen as abstract can again become formative and humane.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 How teaching in the Mississippi Delta reshaped Siscoe’s vision of education
📖 Why philosophy must move beyond specialization to recover its practical vocation
📖 The “Philosophy as a Way of Life” movement and its call to form whole persons
📖 How the Philosophy Teaching Library helps students engage the great texts directly

LINKS:
➡️ Philosophy as a Way of Life Project (University of Notre Dame): https://philife.nd.edu
➡️ Philosophy Teaching Library: https://philife.nd.edu/philosophy-tea...

Are you interested in teaching at a classical school? A school administrator in need of talent and resources? A supportive parent, business owner, or lobbyist?

Classical Commons is building a network of classical K-12 schools, exceptional teachers, and pedagogical resources to advance classical liberal arts education in the 21st century. We're a unique digital community connecting growing schools with job searchers and other interested parties within the movement.

Join us every Wednesday at 1 PM ET for conversations from the cutting edge of K-12 classical ed, and join our community at www.classicalcommons.org.

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior

Classicist, translator, and educator Brian Lapsa joins us from Europe to discuss faith, culture, and classical education across the Atlantic. A scholar of ancient education and an advocate for living Latin, Lapsa reflects on the decline of the humanities, the renewal of moral formation, and his work bridging British and American classical traditions.

In this episode, we discuss:
📖 The “long withdrawing roar” of faith in Britain—and why there’s still hope
📖 How late antiquity modeled education through imitation and moral exemplars
📖 What active (or “living”) Latin offers modern students
📖 How classical learning can restore intellectual virtue and cultural confidence

LINKS:
➡️ Memoria College: https://www.memoriacollege.org
➡️ Verbum Sapientiae Institute: https://www.verbumsapientiae.org

...

For viewers interested in: Classical education, liberal arts, ICLE, SCL, ACCS, CLT, Classic Learning Test, Jeremy Tate, Susan Wise Bauer, Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Spencer Klavan, Latin schools, Great Hearts, Memoria Press, Tracy Lee Simmons, Hillsdale College, University of Dallas, UDallas, UATX, University of Austin, Joshua Gibbs, CiRCE, Jonathan Pageau, Anglican schools, Orthodox schools, Catholic schools, Reformed schools, Doug Wilson, Inklings, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Pints with Aquinas, St. John's College, Great Books, the trivium, the quadrivium, John Senior