The previous issue of Praesidium (Summer 2012) may be viewed by clicking here.

 

John R. Harris, Ph.D. Executive Director Thomas F. Bertonneau, Ph.D. Secretary Helen R. Andretta, Ph.D. York College-CUNY Director Michael H. Lythgoe Lt. Col. USAF (Retd.) Director

 

Contents of This Issue

        Literary Analysis

        The Beautiful Female Face--And Its Feminist Enemies       Peter T. Singleton

Treating photographic representations of the feminine face as works of art has fallen out of style, to say the least.  Ironically, this author believes that the same feminist ideology which has "saved" women from being thus reduced to "objects" can be charged--precisely by rummaging through photographic history--with debasing women far beneath the level of beautiful objects.  

 

        Proverbs in Greco-Roman Antiquity: One Key to Unlocking Cultural Evolution        John R. Harris 

Scholars of oral-traditional cultures have conventionally viewed proverbs as a monolithic artifact of such cultures--but this assumption is careless, and at last indefensible.  As we find after carefully shifting proverbial relics from ancient Greece and Rome, the content and authority of the proverb radically change along with the culture that produces it.

 

        Short Stories

        Something to Be Done        Or Amit 

The author notes that this brief exercise in dark humor was in some measure inspired by Waiting for Godot, notes that this brief exercise in dark humor was in some measure inspired by Waiting for Godot,

         Pomeroy's Reign in the Days of Vast Decline        Ivor Davies 

The contemporary professor is often required by "Higher Powers" not just to do the impossible, but to do the absurdly impossible.  Pomeroy manages to pull it off by being, perhaps, suicidally thought-provoking.

        Dirge for Brown Thrasher       George Shirley

        The Worst Sonnet in the History of the Universe       David Crookes

        Review of The Effects of Mass Immigration on Canadian Living Standards and Society       Mark Wegierski

A Canadian himself, Mr. Wegierski applauds the attempt of this anthology to draw his countrymen's attention to an issue they would rather not examine... yet he doubts that the effort will ultimately succeed.

         Folly, Lunacy, and Downright Stupidity: The Testimony Against Progressives in Their Own Speech and Writing       John R. Harris

Progressivism is a disease of the soul, and it can be deadly to entire societies as well as to individuals if the afflicted enjoy political power.  This much is transparently clear to people who themselves possess a sane understanding of human nature and who analyze the language used by progressives to portray their worldview.  

        The Sinkhole of Racial Determinism       Meredydd

Christianity was instrumental in abolishing slavery in the West and then in mitigating its bitter aftermath

         "Scipio's Dream", from Cicero's De Re Publica         Staff

Once universally known among educated people as classical antiquity's most eloquent expression of belief in a higher power--very nearly a Christian profession of faith in its fusion of moral purpose, cosmic coherence, and overarching beauty--this otherworldly fantasy of the Stoic Scipio has improperly been nudged out of the canon

         Water, Climate Change, and Individual Freedom

What if ordinary water vapor were inducing a planetary greenhouse effect--and what if we could reverse this effect simply by taking personal charge of our water resources?