Grief and Sorrow in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth: the Importance of Lament and the Wisdom of Gandalf | The Washington Institute What does it mean to lament? What does lament mean to you? At a basic level, to lament is to express sorrow or grief—usually visibly or audibly (or both), often in prayer or song or poetry. Lament can...

Newly posted essay on #jrrtolkien and his #middleearth writings:

washingtoninst.org/grief-and-so...

Continued: “Men are whole not only insofar as they make common cause with each other, but also insofar as they make common cause with their native earth, which is to say with the creation as a whole, which is to say with the creator.”

Replacing “men” with “persons”, I would agree wholeheartedly.

WENDELL BERRY, The Hidden Wound
“…no man is alone, because he cannot be; he cannot arrange it so that either the good or the bad effects of his life will apply only to himself; he can only live in the creation, among the creatures, his life either adding to the commonwealth or subtracting from it.”

I will be speaking at this #jrrtolkien conference in Zurich in March on “Leadership in Middle-earth.” tolkien-tagung.ch

There’s a great cast of speakers & it’s hybrid; online participation is free: tolkien-tagung.ch/contact-us

My talk will focus on lament and leadership esp modeled by Gandalf.

For those who live in the northeast and enjoy wildlife and wilderness landscape art.

#middleburyvermont
#photography #painting #art

D. Art McKinney recommends Ents, Elves, and Eriador An excellent analysis of Tolkien and his approaches to the environments of Middle-earth. Thought-provoking with well-supported information both within and without Tolkien's world.

A new review of an older book about #jrrtolkien and #ecology

www.bookbub.com/reviews/6463...

On the other hand, to balance it being Tom Riddle’s great grandson, given all the years you listened to me talk about JRRT at dinner (and everywhere else), and I studied Old English in graduate school under a former student of JRRT. you can probably claim to be Tolkien’s academic great-grandchild.

Also, your great-grandfather (after whom you were named indirectly) is Tom Riddle.

So… um… do your muggle friend know that?

Moonlight falls on the snowy woods, meadow, solar panel & woodshed. Cedar & pine, black birch & ash & sugar maple. And in the distance, a lone spruce where two mornings earlier four deer were browsing on spruce tips while an owl hunted from solar panel perch. #winterinvermont #lastdayofchristmas

Are you calling the roads “sketchy” just because i got double flats 50 miles from the nearest pavement and 2.5 hours from the nearest place I could get them repaired???

Words of wisdom from Norman Wirzba @nwirzba.bsky.social

Certainly something I want to have in mind as a teacher.

Thanks for sharing. Very cool.

For the next nearly six months I get to watch the sunrise slowly moving northward. Wherever it comes up, I always enjoy its first peeking of the morning over the Green Mountains.

#morningwalk on the Maine coast in mist

Want to live on (escape to) another planet? I understand the impulse! Here’s a profound and important idea from my current read: “This Sacred Life”, by philosopher & writer Norman Wirzba @nwirzba.bsky.social whose many books I have found deeply thoughtful and moving.

#goodbooks
#transhumanism

Thanks for the reminder of this poem… and the wonderful issue in which it appeared, and all the work that went into that.

Ep 166: Native Fish and Biodiversity, with Matthew Dickerson — Fish Untamed Matthew Dickerson is a freelance writer who has published in The Drake , Backcountry Journal , American Fly Fishing , Written River , and Fly Fishing International. He has also written many book...

I really enjoyed this conversation about rivers, fly fishing, ecology, and native fish with Katie for her Fish Untamed podcast. It’s a wonderful podcast with some great guests and topics.

www.fishuntamed.com/podcast/epis...

#flyfishing #riverecology #nativefish #alaska #dollyvardenchar #trout

Glacier National Park (and its Native Trout): An Introduction YouTube video by Trout Downstream and Heart Streams

I made this 8 yrs ago as part of a series, after serving as artist-in-residence at Glacier NP. I watched again today, reminded of what a priceless treasure our national parks and public lands are. What a loss if they get sold & exploited. #glaciernationalpark #nationalparks

youtu.be/eorkWtTNUh0?...

Want to come down to Bristol and cut wood with me and make a donation? We just need a way to haul it. If you have others who will come alongside is, I have the wood (not shortage) and a splitter. And be happy to donate to the hearing bank. We just need laborers.

Wow. The ad. Sounds like quite the racist dog whistle. Is there any other way to read it. Please tell me there is so I can have some hope.

#morningwalk #walkinthewoods

Went for a walk in the woods this AM in between the rain and the predicted rain. We were surprised to find one of our neighbors hunting in our meadow not far from our house. But the neighbor seemed remarkably unsurprised and non-threatened by us. Perhaps it was visiting from #Narnia. #barredowl

Capitalism, Fascism, and the Wisdom of J.R.R. Tolkien | The Washington Institute As last century wound to a close, author and scholar Tom Shippey published J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, one of the most important works in the field of Tolkien studies. In the book, Shippey ...

For those folks who appreciate the wisdom of #jrrtolkien and #middle-earth here is a new piece I had published just this morning on Tolkien’s insights gleaned in the 20th century and how he portrayed fascism and tyranny and capitalism in his writings: washingtoninst.org/capitalism-f...

The next day’s harvest of Lawyers Wig from the same patch also proved very good both in eggs and sautéed on the side. I have died since eating either meal. They keep coming up. When they do, we have 1 day to pick and eat them. The others are being used to make ink. (Seriously.)

They turn ugly very fast. Window for harvesting is small. Once harvested they need to be eaten quickly or they turn to ink. But they are quite tasty when white and are good for souping because they release their water very quickly. The evil corn dogs also come up in great abundance in our yard.

I didn’t even have to steal these from Farmer Maggot!

#mushrooms #hobbits #foraging

I am not a mushroom forager. I don’t know enough & don’t want to die or fry my brain. But these were in our backyard — 2 lbs! — and are considered one of four varieties safest to eat in terms of trustworthy ID. So #mushroom soup for dinner. I think Frodo, Merry, and Pippin would approve. #hobbits

I’m still at 0 times

Those trees!!!