Fencing Bear at Prayer

Having dipped our toes in the waters of iambic pentameter with Centrism Games , the poets of the Dragon Common Room are launching themselves on a new journey, this time with bears... Once upon a time, there was a polar bear who loved watching the Northern Lights. Every day, he dreamed of capturing their beauty in a glass. One day, an albatross flew by and told him about an even more beautiful light that shone over Antarctica. Because of that, the polar bear convinced three bear friends to go in search of the Light of Antarctica. Because of that, they found themselves on a journey that tested their courage, friendship, and faith. Until finally, they learned the true source of the Light. *  Once upon a time, there was a company of poets who wanted to write a story that would inspire young bears in the pursuit of virtue. Every day, they met in their Telegram chat to brainstorm characters, settings, motivations, story models, plot elements, and themes. One day, an artist who was skill...

 21. The Music of Creation In the beginning there was Eru, the One, who made the Holy Ones, the offspring of his thought, and propounded to them a great theme. But whose story was this, and how did it come to be written down? Who, other than the Father of All, could know the story of Creation to tell it? And how would such stories be known to Elves and to Men? In this episode, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown introduces Tolkien’s story of Creation as a puzzle both of framing and of purpose. Who speaks in the telling of the Music—and why should Creation happen through song? And what should a Christian think about the Ainur’s singing such a mighty theme? — Aired February 23, 2021 22. Melkor and the Leviathan As the Ainur sang the themes unfolded to them by Iluvatar, the greatest of their number, Melkor, or “he who rises in Might,” became impatient that Iluvatar took so little thought of the Void. Conceiving thoughts of his own, Melkor began to make a music of his own, troubling som...

  E. Michael Jones and I sat down in October 2020 to talk about the horror of Halloween and what happened in St. Louis... In June 2020, protestors across the United States of America called for the removal of statues they claimed portrayed or promoted the country’s founding sin of “white supremacy.” But one of the statues so designated by BLM activists depicted not an American statesman or general, but a medieval Christian king: St. Louis IX of France (d. 1270), after whom the city of St. Louis, Missouri, was named.  In this episode, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown talks with Dr. E. Michael Jones about his role in preventing the removal of the statue of St. Louis from Forest Park in St. Louis, and what the protest over the statue says about the relationship of St. Louis (the city) with St. Louis (the king). We talk about the role of King Louis in the Crusades, his orders for the burning of the Talmud, and his concern for the Muslim converts he brought back from the Holy Land, an...

Standing at the base of the Tower of the Cunning Mind, Gandalf warned Pippin and the others to beware of Saruman’s voice—but what power did Saruman of Many Colours have over the company, if his most dangerous weapon was his speech? In this episode, recorded on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2021, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown considers what Tolkien reveals about the dangers of trusting politicians by way of his characterization of Saruman and Gandalf as “messengers” of a particular kind. What kind of creatures were the  Istari , and why did they have the powers—and limitations—that they did to influence events in Middle-earth? What does Saruman’s temptation and fall reveal about the meaning of Power, and how did Gandalf defeat such a powerful foe? — Aired February 21, 2021 Watch with subscription at Unauthorized.tv! Full episode guide, including upcoming episodes and instructions on how to login with subscription, at The  Forge  of Tolkien . 

Once upon a time there was a bear who dared... In September 2017, Owen Benjamin, a.k.a. “Big Bear,” dared to post a tweet telling the truth about giving hormones to children (he called it child abuse)—at which he was banned...and banned...and banned...and banned from platform after platform for refusing to lie. “I might be wrong, but I’m not lying,” he insisted.  “How dare you!” gasped the entertainment industry, social media giants, payment platforms, and AirBnb—and cast Owen from their midst. Meanwhile, the Bears assembled, donning Bear names in support of their Big Bear, helping to start Unauthorized.tv  as a platform out of reach of the Social Justice Swarms (main site  https://uatv.infogalactic.com ), following Big Bear to The Beartaria Times , Unbearables Media , and beyond! (But not to the moon...yet.) Jacob Telling, a.k.a. Runnerbear, was one such Bear . He started watching Owen’s livestreams back in the mists of Beartime (a.k.a. when they were still on YouTu...

 Iambic birthday greetings in honor of the Professor of the Dragon Common Room ! Happy Birthday, Rachel! Thank you for being our champion! 𝕷𝖆𝖉𝖞 𝕽𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖑 I logged on to the chat at Telegram ; I spoke with trolls and poets on the net who sought to learn the meters and the rhymes; to shape the beautiful, the true, the good. We weren’t the only ones who felt a change of people caught between half-truths and lies, each longing for a world to recreate, to right the wrongs, to sing old songs anew. She hated seeing good men banned again, but she did more; she wrote and overcame. A woman who a half a decade back, named Rachel, a medieval studies Prof. in Shytown; when the wokeness brought a scourge upon Hyde Park; when both the students and scholars charged racism at every turn, she sought her voice and found it in the past.  In her office, among her books, alone except for faithful Joy who sat nearby. She thought aloud and told her of her fears, and said, “If I say nothing, th...

And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.   — Genesis 11:4 (Douay-Rheims) God promised Noah that He would never more punish the earth with a deluge. But, in His justice, He has many times visited the sins of men with a scourge which, in more senses than one, bears a resemblance to a deluge: the invasion of enemies. We meet with these invasions in every age; and each time we see the hand of God. We can trace the crimes that each of them was sent to punish, and in each we find a manifest proof of the infinite justice wherewith God governs the world.  It is not requisite that we should here mention the long list of these revolutions, which we might almost say make up the history of mankind, for in its every page we read of conquests, extinction of races, destruction of nations, and violent amalgamations, which effaced the traditions and character of the s...

After I ate all the cookies, Milo realized he needed to reassert some discipline over me—by asking me to talk about how to become Christian! We talk about what it means to pray the psalms, which psalms you should start with, what to expect from the demons , and how to break the magic spells the demons—and the Queen of the Elves —attempt to cast. We also explain why the Enlightenment was fundamentally an exercise in magical thinking and how Jesus taught us to resist the magic . Join us at  Friday Night’s All Right  on Censored.tv! See Bear On Air for a complete list of my video, radio, and podcast appearances. Check out “ The Forge of Tolkien ” at Unauthorized.tv for further tips on how to find yourself inside the story.  

An exercise in anapestic tetrameters A corporeal vision with hundreds of eyes and a silky white cushion-like cloud where he lies could at most be an angel—the dread seraphim— but more likely a spider which sits next to him. With the eyes of a spider and wings like a bird, in the flames of the seraphim burns the bright Lord. On his face is the terror of Satan’s lost kin. Do you wonder how Adam helped Eve to sin? In the mirror of ages, they tell of the fire with which Lucifer burned in his will to conspire. In their digital frenzy, they wove dark tales well to capture God’s children and bring them to Hell. But their lust made them hasty, and pride made them fall. In a gold scrying dish, Satan schemed to enthrall: “A grand war ‘gainst the Maker! We’ll fight o’er the fold!” But avast! with a scream, their foul end was foretold. For their silk is of fire, and they spin like a star; and the Heavens shine web-like with glass and white tar, where they fly in a net like the light in the web; ye...