I may have driven past Dayton on 75 countless times, but this evening was the first time I actually went into the place. I’m extremely irritated to report that despite the fact that Dayton, according to the 2000 census, has tens of thousands fewer people in it than Fort Wayne, it has something that the Fort seems to have lost. A downtown. That people go to and do stuff in. Huh. Nifty concept, that.

So, yes, it was Theology on Tap at a place called the Oregon Express. The group of young adults seemed quite strong – they have 6 fall and 6 spring sessions of TOT, but gather elsewhere in between sessions on the same night of the week for faith enrichment. Good group!

I was especially happy to meet Maureen of the Aliens in this World blog and the Maria Lectrix blog/podcast. The concept, in case you’ve not visited yet:

Maria Lectrix is my podcast of free public domain audiobooks, made from public domain books. Ideally, it goes out six days a week. Here’s the basic scheme of things:

Mondays and Fridays, I do whatever kind of literature comes into my head: short stories, poems, essays, history, even plays.

(Formerly, Monday was Clan Honor Monday — dedicated to the glory of the underappreciated 19th century writer and journalist, Fitz-James O’Brien.)

Tuesdays are also for any kind of literature, but they are currently dedicated to a long and funny serial novel by an overlooked 19th century English author named R.S. Surtees.

Wednesdays are for reading the Fathers of the Church and other Early Christian literature. As members of a diverse advanced civilization that is often hostile to their religion, their problems are very similar to ours.

Thursdays are for mysteries. I’m afraid I’ve ended up doing a lot of Dr. Thorndyke, but then, my life was largely barren of him until last year.

Saturdays are for the works of later Christians.

In general, the idea behind this podcast is that I catch up on my reading while sharing it with others. There are a lot of things that just work better read out loud; there are others that could go either way. Sometimes my choices may prove less than felicitous, since I’m often reading works for the first time. But I will try to keep things from getting boring.

She is obviously very smart, and she’s also very nice – having a bit more patience in dealing with one particular  questioner – in conversation afterwards, not during the talk.