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Frodo’s Battle with Sin
Spiritual Sunday In my British Fantasy course I recently received essays from two students who were amazed to discover that The Lord of the Rings had a Christian message for them. Not only did...
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(Limitless Pity Makes All Large & New)
Jakob Steinhardt, “Jonah Preaches in Nineveh” (1923) Spiritual Sunday Today’s Old Testament reading is the episode in the Book of Jonah after that conflicted man returns from the whale episode and this...
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How Fantasy Saves Our Souls
Freeman in “The Hobbit” I have been reading essay proposals from my American Fantasy class so today’s post is designed to help my students with the theory portion of their papers. Feel free to read...
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Criminal Case: Turkish Prez & Gollum
Tweet of Turkish president Erdogan with Gollum Tuesday Here’s a small news item that has an interesting literary, or at least a cinematic, dimension: a Turkish doctor could be imprisoned for tweeted...
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British and American Fantasy Contrasted
Wednesday A former student alerted me to this Atlantic article arguing that Britain produces better fantasy than America and giving the reasons why. While the piece is stimulating and helps me...
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Ring Wraith Trump Wins in New Hampshire
Wednesday Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary last night with his ugly brand of nationalist populism. Add this to his second place in Iowa and he looks to have a real shot at building momentum...
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If Trump Tweeted Classic Lit Reviews…
Friday Among the many reasons for Donald Trump’s success this year is his mastery of social media. His twitter feed has almost seven million followers, and many of his tweets are widely circulated. My...
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How Trump Is Changing the Discourse
Friday I fear that this blog is becoming All Trump All the Time. In my defense, I think it is vital that we figure this man out and how to stop him. I believe Donald Trump to be the greatest threat to...
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The Road Goes Ever On and On
Thursday My mother and I finally got home yesterday after our flight out of LaGuardia was canceled Monday night and after we almost missed our connection on a rebooked flight Tuesday in Washington,...
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Novels with Waterfalls and Secret Caves
Illus. from “The Scotch Twins” Thursday The summer, which I’ve spent with my mother in my childhood home in the Southern Cumberland Mountains (in Tennessee), is rapidly coming to an end. Most of the...
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Will Ships Be Sent to Puerto Rico?
The Iwo Jima sailed to Haiti immediately following the 2010 earthquake Tuesday The devastation that category 4 Hurricane Maria has visited upon Puerto Rico is beyond imagining, but it’s not as though...
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Robert Mueller, the Eye of Sauron
Special Counsel Robert Mueller Monday Comedy is one of the few things keeping me sane these days as Donald Trump continues to attack democratic norms. Seth Meyers’s “A Closer Look” is one of my...
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Robert Mueller as a Savior Ent?
Treebeard, a primal force for justice Monday With every day that passes, we learn more about the different ways that Russia attacked and compromised the 2016 election. As The New York Times summed it...
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Frodo as Newly Minted PhD
Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins Friday I’m teaching Fellowship of the Ring at the moment and was amused by this humorous comparison of Frodo’s journey to the PhD process. Much of it is spot on. Applied...
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Reading My Way to Adulthood
Ralph Hedley Thursday Teaching Philip Pullman’s Subtle Knife, the second of his His Dark Materials Trilogy, has me thinking of how I used reading to negotiate the end of childhood innocence. Pullman’s...
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How Trump Is Changing the Discourse
Friday I fear that this blog is becoming All Trump All the Time. In my defense, I think it is vital that we figure this man out and how to stop him. I believe Donald Trump to be the greatest threat to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Road Goes Ever On and On
Thursday My mother and I finally got home yesterday after our flight out of LaGuardia was canceled Monday night and after we almost missed our connection on a rebooked flight Tuesday in Washington,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Novels with Waterfalls and Secret Caves
Illus. from “The Scotch Twins” Thursday The summer, which I’ve spent with my mother in my childhood home in the Southern Cumberland Mountains (in Tennessee), is rapidly coming to an end. Most of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will Ships Be Sent to Puerto Rico?
The Iwo Jima sailed to Haiti immediately following the 2010 earthquake Tuesday The devastation that category 4 Hurricane Maria has visited upon Puerto Rico is beyond imagining, but it’s not as though...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Robert Mueller, the Eye of Sauron
Special Counsel Robert Mueller Monday Comedy is one of the few things keeping me sane these days as Donald Trump continues to attack democratic norms. Seth Meyers’s “A Closer Look” is one of my...
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