Hillsdale College historian Wilfred McClay discusses: the Sorcerer's Apprentice, allusion, Ariadne, Peter Lawler, Walker Percy, Ted McAllister, Blake, Burke, Chesterton, Emerson, Jaroslav Pelikan, tradition, heritage, Dana Gioia's poem "Planting a Sequoia," Mary Austin, WH Auden, Tocqueville, The Golden Thread, and the nightmarish possibility of an AI Thomas Jefferson.

Poem: https://danagioia.com/planting-a-sequoia/

Keynote address from the 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, March 13, 2026. Introduction by Claire Aguda-Baker, presentation by Wilfred McClay, question & answer period.

0:00 Claire Aguda-Baker introduces Wilfred McClay
7:44 Wilfred McClay, Dreaming of Ariadne: Thoughts on Cultural Restoration
53:54 How can we teach allusion to college students?
1:05:27 Orality is hard for us
1:10:25 History as Legend vs Fact

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• (00:00:00) - Claire Aguda-Baker introduces Wilfred McClay
• (00:07:44) - Wilfred McClay, Dreaming of Ariadne: Thoughts on Cultural Restoration
• (00:53:54) - How can we teach allusion to college students?
• (01:05:27) - Orality is hard for us
• (01:10:25) - History as Legend vs Fact