Luke Shelton, PhD

Pack your pocket-handkerchiefs! Registration for #Westmoot26 is now open! Learn more & book your spot on our website. Hotel booking available soon!

The series as a whole is just remarkable. An author revisiting an re-visioning her work over a long timespan, and demonstrating literary and intellectual growth throughout. It really is unique

AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.

www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

Thanks for sharing @craigfranson.bsky.social

Rewatching the lecture videos of a science fiction course from @drahsturgis.universeodon.com.ap.brid.gy today. What a delight it is to be able to go back and go through lectures again after several years!

Reading Tolkien during the Insurrection I happened to be reading the final three chapters of The Lord of the Rings this week as supporters of an incompetent president attempted an insurrection in America. I am going through the book with…

With ICE and other extremist groups trying to claim #Tolkien, this old post still holds up:

“Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...”

luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...

April O’Neil? Is that you?

Donald Trump stands behind his desk in the Oval Office, completely useless as four people try to give aid to someone who has passed out. The word “America” has been superimposed over the person who has fainted. The meme as a whole is a comment on Trump’s indifference to the struggles he is creating for normal American citizens.

Screenshot of the top of a Bsky feed, with a red circle around the hamburger menu in the top left.

Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.

Here's how to turn it off.

First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner

Donald Trump stands behind his desk in the Oval Office, completely useless as four people try to give aid to someone who has passed out. The word “America” has been superimposed over the person who has fainted. The meme as a whole is a comment on Trump’s indifference to the struggles he is creating for normal American citizens.

My first Tolkien book!

10 Years since I made this meme, which is a perfect cross-section of Star Trek fandom and frustration with psychoanalytical literary theory.

So…you know…here it is, if you are into both of those things…

Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get 'The Lord of the Rings' Musk has recently used Tolkien references to push anti-immigration messaging, as has the Department of Homeland security. They've got it all backwards.

www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

Constructions of Childhood in Tolkien’s Legendarium (3): The hobbits as children This is the third part of a longer piece on constructions of childhood in Tolkien’s legendarium.

The 3rd and final part of my piece on constructing childhood in Tolkien’s legendarium is now out, this time focusing on hobbit childhoods and hobbits *as* children.
@uofgfantasy.bsky.social @tolkiensociety.org
#TolkienTuesday
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/constructi...

Tolkien Society Seminar 2025 – Arda’s Entangled Bodies and Environments The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. After the seminar, all paper recordings f...

If you’re not signed up yet, don’t forget to register for the @tolkiensociety.org seminar on October 18! It’s free and online! www.tolkiensociety.org/events/semin...

We frequently do a reading of Dracula or Night in the Lonesome October during Halloween season!

Shortly after I defended my viva, I met with some graduate students to do a Q and A about the process. One of them asked, “what are you going to do next?” And my answer was “learn how to be human again.” A PhD just takes so much that I honestly needed to remember how to do things like “have fun.”

*Any new LOTR thing is announced*

Me: Ok but does it involve complex interpersonal relationships that break down masculine stereotypes

I think you and @jrrtastrochick.bsky.social would be good friends 🤣

a poster that says science does n't lie on a blue background ALT: a poster that says science does n't lie on a blue background

It's that time again.
For the next 24 hours, drop any infectious disease and/or vaccine-related questions below in response to this post, and I will do my best to answer them. Responses are for information only and are NOT medical advice.
#AskAnIDDoc September 2025 edition.

This is the most anti-science thing I have watched today.
What is most shocking about this is all of these statements are being made without any scientific evidence to back it up.
There are very few safe options to treat pain and fever in pregnancy so this is also an attack on women's health.

On 21 September 1937: J.R.R. #Tolkien's The Hobbit was published.

The book tells of a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, and his journey with thirteen dwarves to recover their treasure from a dragon, Smaug. It's sold over 100 million copies and is one of the best-selling books of all time. #BookSky

If you've not read this essay, or even if you have, I can't recommend it enough. In the first place, it's incredibly insightful, well-written, and proof positive that brilliant Tolkien scholarship can and does happen outside the academy. In the second place, it makes me cry.

Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad my research is interesting!

Westmoot 2025 attendee, Zak Francis, dressed as Frodo Baggins in a green waistcoat, is holding Sting and a yellow ring, appearing heroic as he presents the One Ring to the audience.

From all of us at Westmoot, we hope everyone has a great time this weekend at #Oxonmoot, whether you are attending in-person or online!

Pictured here is Frodo Baggins- oops, we meant Zak Francis, carrying the Ring to Mordor and making a quick stop at #Westmoot25.

#westmoot #intothewest

Westmoot folks who are attending Oxonmoot this weekend- we’re going to take a Westmoot group photo in front of the dining hall at 11:30! Spread the word!

#westmoot #oxonmoot #intothewest

Westmoot folks who are attending Oxonmoot this weekend- we’re going to take a Westmoot group photo in front of the dining hall at 11:30! Spread the word! See you soon!

#westmoot #oxonmoot #intothewest

A graphic with text that reads, “Lesser-trod path with Dr. Luke Shelton” and “Athrabeth episode 86” with three images of co-hosts Stef and Jude, and guest host Luke Shelton.

When you first read the LotR, which character did you most relate to?

This month, Dr. Luke Shelton @lukebshelton.bsky.social explores reader response theory and the ways that personal experience and interpretation interact with criticism.

Thanks, Luke!

athrabeth.simplecast.com/episodes/epi...

I apologize to your listeners for making it an hour and a half episode, hah!

This was such a fun and engaging experience!

Thanks so much to @podcast.athrabeth.com for having me!

Huzzah! A way to get some of your excellent scholarship AND incredible artwork, all in one convenient package!