January 2017

Film Review: “Moana (2016),” a Fable for the Trump Era

Sometimes, you want a movie that helps you to see that it’s not all hopeless, that…
Legalizing Repression: “Muslim Registries” and English Recusants

Originally posted on Metathesis: On my last day at the Early Modern Theatre and Conversion symposium…
Reading “The Lord of the Rings”: “Minas Tirith”

I’ve always found the first half of Return of the King to be some of my favourite parts of the…
Reading Tad Willams: “The Dragonbone Chair” (Book One of “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn)

A recent piece in The Guardian made the trenchant point that Tad Williams, author of the…
Reading “The Lord of the Rings”: “The Choices of Master Samwise”

We have finally come to the concluding chapter of The Two Towers, and one of my very favourite…
Persuasive Performance: Theater and Conversion

Originally posted on Metathesis: “We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious…
Tolkien’s Heirs: Tad Williams

When I heard the news that Tad Williams, one of my very favourite fantasy authors, was…
Reading History: “The Taming of the Queen” and Donald Trump

In the wake of November 8th, it’s really difficult–nay, impossible–to not read and watch everything produced…
Un/natural Citizens: Naturalization and Conversion

Originally posted on Metathesis: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the…
Film Review: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and the Pain of Endings

Spoiler: Full plot details for the film follow. As anyone who has read this blog is…