Sightings from Navigator 4, 2

Camp Indecon has recently announced that this summer's session will be held in Florissant, Colorado, at the Blue Mountain Ranch. The ranch is surrounded by Pikes National Forest and is located thirty-five miles west of Colorado Springs, near the Garden of the Gods, the Cave of the Winds, Pikes Peak, and the Florissant Fossil Beds Monument. The camp will be held July 17-24, 2001. It hosts two age groups: children ages nine to twelve and adolescents ages thirteen to sixteen. Admission for this year's camp is capped at forty students.

At the heart of the camp is its Montessori-based curriculum. Designed by Objectivists Marsha Enright and Mark Berger, past camps have held sessions on the history of philosophy, how nature governs itself, the nature of philosophy, free will, life-planning skills, ethics, religion and atheism, and basic principles of money management. Each class is consistent with the philosophy of Maria Montessori: Each session was crafted to guide students through a series of activities and exercises that allows each camper to discover independently the importance of ideas.

In addition to these sessions, campers will also have the option of participating in a number of activities including hiking, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, campouts, rope climbing, riflery, baseball, and basketball.

The inaugural camp took place August 1-8, 1999 in Deerwood, Minnesota, which also was the site of the second camp, held July 15-22, 2000. Feedback from past participants and parents has been extremely positive

For more information on registering for Camp Indecon, call (314) 514-9125 or visit its Web site at www.campindecon.org, which features photographs of past camps and an online registration form.

The Independent Institute has recently announced the 2001 Olive W. Garvey Fellowship contest. Since 1974, this program has awarded fellowships to outstanding college students around the world through a competitive essay contest on the meaning and significance of economic and personal liberty.

This year's topic is: "Does the new economy require a free economy?" Any student who is thirty-five years old or younger and who is enrolled at a recognized college or university anywhere in the world is eligible to enter this contest. Essays are not to exceed three thousand words and are to be typed and double-spaced. Deadline for entry is May 1, 2001.

First prize in this year's competition is $2,500; second prize is $1,500; and third prize is $1,000. The Independent Institute also publishes winning essays on its Web site and seeks to have them published in major magazines and journals. All entries become the property of and are copyrighted by the Independent Institute.

For more information--including a recommended reading list and examples of past winning essays--visit the contest's Web site at http://www.independent.org/garvey.html or call Carl P. Close at (510) 632-1366.

On January 23, former TOC senior fellow Stephen Hicks was interviewed on the Hugh Hewitt Show on the subject of postmodernism in American culture. The Hugh Hewitt Show is a nationally syndicated radio talk show heard throughout the U.S., including the morning drive in Los Angeles, Phoenex, San Diego, Seattle, and Denver.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged tied with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as the best novel of the twentieth century, in a rating by the readers of Mensa Bulletin. According to the publication:

"These two books tied in every way possible, and each had approximately twice as many first-place votes as any other book, whether fiction or [nonfiction]. They are unquestionably your top choices for best reading of the 20th century."

Robert A. Levy, TOC trustee and Cato Institute senior fellow in constitutional studies, has joined the battle against an outdoor smoking ban in Friendship Heights, Md. The case, Rodriguez vs. Friendship Heights, was filed by fellow Cato staff member Jacobo Rodriguez, a non-smoker who lives in the Washington, D.C., suburb; it has, temporarily, blocked the outdoor smoking ban.

Reportedly the nation's strictest ordinance of this sort, Friendship Heights's ban prohibits outdoor smoking on all public sidewalks, grassy areas, and parks. The court ruled that this ban should be delayed until it can determine whether Friendship Heights is authorized to levy penalties against violators.

Proponents of the ordinance claim that outdoor smoking is a public-health concern. Levy, an expert on tobacco litigation, vigorously disputes this claim. He says: "No reliable data suggests that outdoor smoke in an open area is a health risk to nonsmokers or increases the rate of teen addiction. This is just the nanny state out of control."