A Blog on McConnell Center Life

This past summer I was rummaging through some letters of C.S. Lewis and discovered a note where he was enthusiastically recommending a new book by Charles Williams. It was called The Place of the Lion and was published in 1931. It is a fantastical novel whose basic plot will be familiar to anyone who has taken my leadership courses at U of L. Students always find it difficult to wrestle with Plato’s theory of the “forms” where he proposes that our world is merely a flawed reflection of the true world where perfection dwells. In William’s novel, the world of the forms begins to seep into our material world. This gives Williams the chance to reflect on ancient, medieval and modern philosophy, love, sacrifice, religion, the nature of time, and the nature of evil. It’s a penetrating book but is also a relatively short and interesting novel that can make a quick read (though I would recommend more time puzzling over passages and letting the images sink in deep.) As I read it, I am wonde...

I wrote this little story a few years ago. A third grade class once read it and made me a little book about it, which I have and treasure. No one else has seen it until now. Use your imagination to put the pictures in place as it is written to eventually be a picture book for kids. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you will take this Thanksgiving to ask your parents or grandparents about the stories they were told from their grandparents. Pappy’s Grasshopper and the Thanksgiving Turkey by G. L. Gregg Every Thanksgiving in my house, grandpa would sit all the kids on his lap after their Thanksgiving meal and would tell us stories. We all loved Grandpa’s stories. But, most of all, we loved to eat Pumpkin pie when he was done! Granda would tell stories about kings and queens, dragons and leprechauns. But the last story was always my favorite. He always told it just before he would stretch, scratch his belly and say “I’m ready for some pie, anyone with me?” It was the story of ...

Tonight Alan Keyes, former presidential candidate and conservative activist came to campus. He was supporting a Republican for the U.S. Senate and they both advocated strongly for a national prohibition on abortion. This raised a serious debate when an audience member pointed out that the 10th Amendment left all such decisions to the states or to the people themselves. This same audience member wondered, then, if Keyes and this candidate were really defenders of the Constitution or if they were no better than those on the left they attacked for undermining the Constitution in favor of their own political goals. Keyes then passionately defended his position saying the Declaration of Independence was part of the constitutional order and its defense of inalienable rights gave the government the power to stop abortion. This is a most important and interesting debate, it seems to me. It goes back at least as far as Lincoln and has profound implications for the constitutional order. Here...

The McConnell Center celebrated the opening of the new Senator Mitch McConnell and Secretary Elaine L. Chao Archives with a Veterans Day event that included guest speaker Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Though the Archives are still being sorted, the Civics Education Interactive Media Gallery is open to the public. Located in the Basement of the University of Louisville's Ekstrom Library, the Gallery is open during normal library hours. Visitors can do fun things like take the U.S. Citizenship test, watch two short films, and view and rate old campaign commercials, all while learning about two stories in the strong tradition of American leadership.