Tag: life
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The Color of Art
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This instruction suggests that one ought to participate in an environment’s modus operandi. For example, find yourself in Portland? Drink coffee and ride a bike (though maybe not simultaneously). I like this expression and employ it regularly, though I’ve since debased it to the point of being…
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The Old Woman
Prompt: Write two versions of the same story, narrating back and forth between a ‘now’ scene and a ‘then’ scene. Version A should be in first person or third person, version B should be in the other. Version A should be all in present tense, all in past tense, or ‘now’ in present tense with…
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A Roadmap to Fairyland: an “On Fairy-Stories” Analysis
The road to Faërie is a perilous one. For starters, the realm itself is indescribable (though not imperceptible). If we are to commit to this journey, “we must travel hopefully if we are to arrive.” While in early development of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote an essay titled On Fairy-Stories in which…
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Portrait of a Man
“Who am I, Gamling?” King Théoden asks of his lieutenant in a calm-before-the-storm moment of hopelessness and self-doubt. I like to consider my identity as that of a Renaissance Man of the People. This may be considered a compound epithet merging, of course, the phrases Renaissance Man and Man of the People. A Renaissance Man…
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I am a puzzle
A maelstrom of identities To be flipped and sorted and examined Five hundred, a thousand, and more hats to wear In each moment Some too proud Others too timid Few just right But each eventually finds its place Only to be determined Through trial and good intent The true work begins As attention finally shifts…
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Fever Dreams & Delusions of Grandeur – Part 2
“Dark have been my dreams of late,” King Theoden says, triumphing against depression as Gandalf literally shows him the light, “but I feel as one new-awakened.” The more I read and live, the more I realize that the meaning of life is art. Centering art as the meaning of life entails the following prescriptions: 1)…
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Art not Power
J.R.R. Tolkien was a prolific letter writer, so much so that there is an entire tome compiling his correspondence. In Letter 131, Tolkien writes that “[Elvish] ‘magic’ is Art… and its object is Art not Power, sub-creation not domination.” Distilling this into a theme of Art versus Power, this magic of Tolkien had already meant…
The AM Intrigue 