Sightings, March 2004

Navigator readers may wish to know about two Web sites that have been established by scholars long affiliated with The Objectivist Center. Stephen Hicks, a professor of philosophy (and director of the Honors Program) at Rockford College, can be found at http://www.stephenhicks.org/index.php. In addition to his own material, Hicks maintains a running list of other authors' material that he considers worth reading.

David Mayer, a professor of law and history at Capital University, can be found at http://users.law.capital.edu/dmayer/index.asp. A special treat at Mayer's site is a substantial collection of quotations from a wide variety of sources: May it continue to grow! Mayer has also established a Web log. A must-read is his personal rating of U.S. presidents. Find out why the Bushes rank just below the Adamses, and Bill Clinton manages to keep Richard Nixon out of last place.

Shawn Klein, who handles Web matters for The Objectivist Center, has received word from Arizona State University's philosophy department that he has been accepted into the Ph.D. program. Klein received his Master's degree in philosophy from ASU in 2001, and, after working at TOC for two years, returned to serve as a faculty associate in the department.

Camp Indecon has announced that its 2004 program will be held in Woodland Park, Colorado, from July 17 through July 24, 2004. As many readers of Navigator know, the motto of Camp Indecon is: "If we don't formally teach our children how to think—society will teach them not to." With that guide, the staff of Camp Indecon has created a curriculum designed to teach children, formally, how to think for themselves and to be responsible for their decisions.

Camp Indecon has been teaching children Objectivist values in a fun setting for the past six years. Campers not only learn logical thinking and public-speaking skills, but are alos introduced to financial literacy. Building confidence through activities such as a challenging high-rope course is an important part of the curriculum as well.

Camp Indecon has provided campers with learning experiences not available in their private or government schools and has created a peer group of like-minded children. These children are communicating throughout the year by phone or e-mail messages.

The most fascinating development is that parents are pre-registering children for future years rights after they are born. Since the nine-and-ten-year-old group is currently limited to fifteen campers, parents are pre-registering their children very early. The newest pre-registered camper was born on February 24, 2004.

Camp Indecon hosts three age groups: children (ages 9-10 and 11-12), adolescents (ages 13-14 and 15-16), and young adults age 17 (limited to ten campers). More information is available at the Camp Indecon Web site: http://www.campindecon.org/index.htm.

The Objectivist Travelers have now scheduled an autumn tour of Scotland. The trip will take place from October 6 to October 14, 2004, and those who are interested can get a preview of highlights by going to www.ahitravel.com and searching for "Scotland" in the search box.

This will be the seventh trip that the group has made. The travelers will learn about the people of Scotland and the culture of the area. They will also have the opportunity to socialize with other Objectivists.

However, Charles Tomlinson (cet10@comcast.net) reports: "AHI tells us that we may have to share the trip with University of Colorado alumni if we don't fill it up, so tell your friends and let's make sure there is no room left on the bus."

Louis Torres, co-editor (with Michelle Marder Kamhi) of the Objectivist art journal Aristos, tells us that a new issue is out and available at www.aristos.org. To find out why this on-line journal and its editors are attracting the notice and respect of America's most prestigious periodicals, such as The Public Interest and The New Criterion, one has only to read through a few issues. Why not start with the latest?

According to The Atlas Society Web site (www.atlassociety.org) Anthem movie news Ayn Rand's Anthem may be made into a movie: "Writer-producers Jim Snider and Kerry O'Quinn announced that they have acquired the film rights to Ayn Rand's Anthem, according to their news release dated January 19, 2004. They are currently at work on a script, and hope to begin independent production during 2004. A short novel about a nightmarish collectivist future, in which all references to individual identity have been eradicated, Anthem has sold over three million copies during its 66 years in print."

The December Logbook reported on the creation of a Web site for fans of Ayn Rand's novels: the Atlasphere (www.theatlasphere.com). An e-mail from the organization has announced the beginning of a monthly e-mailed newsletter: "In the Atlasphere." "Each issue," we are told, "will provide you with the most recent news, headlines, and updates from the Atlasphere."

A recent visit to the Atlasphere showed that it now has more than 2,000 profiles registered in its network, with nearly 500 people signed up for its dating service. The most recent interview is with Jason Sorens, founder of the Free State Project. One particularly fascinating feature of the Atlasphere is its "Ayn Rand Meta-Blog," which links to on-line items of potential interest to Objectivists.

Correction

In the January/February issue, Logbook's listing of The Objectivist Center's 2003 contributors misspelled the name of a patron. She is Jane Ciaccio. In addition, one the The Objectivist Center's sponsors, Robert Poole, was not listed. The editors regret the errors.