...and among Tolkien fans and scholars everywhere, all other activities came to an abrupt halt...

Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond's edition of Tolkien's collected poems is a tremendous achievement, possibly the greatest contribution to Tolkien studies by anyone not named Christopher Tolkien.

I still can't really believe that this is real, but even if it isn't, I'm honored that ANYONE would put me in the same line as Tom and Verlyn, that all-time greats.

I truly do not understand why anyone ever worshipped Baal. I mean, he's a freaking COW who wants you to sacrifice your children. Lamest and most pathetic god EVER. What the hell were people thinking?

National political media must aggressively select for people with an overpowering humiliation kink. Why else would they gulp down toad after toad, claws and all, with a big s-eating grin on their botoxed faces, saying "Delicious! May I please have another toad, sir?"

My daughter Rhys will run the Boston Marathon 2025 in honor of her late brother Mitchell, raising funds for Learn2Cope, which did so much to help us both before and after Mitchell's passing. If you would like to donate, here is a link to her page. givengain.com/project/rhys-r…

A related but even bigger scam than USAID is how political campaigns of BOTH parties (and of minor parties, for that matter) launder money into the pockets of the candidates by hiring companies for "consulting" who are made up of spouses, friends, cronies, etc.

That's also how dishonest NGOs and 501c3s line the pockets of their directors: get a grant for something that sounds charitable, then hire at an exorbitant rate the "consulting" company you or your spouse or crony owns. There are webs of grants among non-profits to launder $.

We have small local charities desperately trying to find donations for mental health care for addicts; volunteers paying out of their own pockets to keep lights on; good organizations perpetually cash-strapped, while skeevy grifters like Bill Kristol get government grants.

Young American artists, dancers, singers, musicians, who don't have family $ to get careers started can no longer make ends meet waiting tables, etc. Why are there govt grants for plays in Ireland, opera in Colombia, comicbook in Serbia, but no support for our own young artists?

I'll be in NYC this weekend to be part of this panel discussion at New York Encounter 2025 New York Encounter

Next public event: "Making I=👁️: How the One Ring works in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings." UMass Lowell, Mon., March 24, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

"I use antlers in all of my decorating." The reason that Hrothgar built his hall "horngeap" and named it Heorot.

I've been saying that we are headed for a 1536-39 repeat, and that one way the Distribution of the Endowments will be like the Dissolution of the Monasteries is that most people will either not care or will think academia deserved it. No one listened. Now it may be too late.

This year was MUCH harder than anyone expected. Several of my students were hospitalized and >2/3 struggled with depression, anxiety, worsening ADHD. The young are paying for what was done to them during covid. Accountability is preferable to revenge, so choose wisely. Soon.

🚨 New TOLKIEN Book Alert 🚨 The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien's Creation by Tolkien scholar Michael Drout (cofounder and editor of the journal Tolkien Studies)! Releases December 2025 📚 amzn.to/3YOT6Sx

Join me this October: scholarlysojourns.com/all-sojourns/i…

Uncorrected galleys have arrived, but Lancelot isn't impressed--he'll be 112 in 10 days; he's seen a lot of stuff.

Release is two months from today! (Dec 2) Thank you, W.W. Norton. I think the audio book from Recorded Books comes out at the same time.

Just learned this morning that The Tower and the Ruin will be translated into Ukrainian! Сьогодні вранці я дізнався, що першою іноземною мовою, на яку перекладуть «Вежу та руїни», буде українська!