"And here comes the heresy: I don't think much of Tolkien."
I had the exceptional good fortune to have a handful of teachers who weren't just good at teaching but were also good at teaching us to think for ourselves.
You have a recurring / nightmare about being / trapped in a Mason jar.
"I would like to have the focus to paint again. I would like to be able to remember what I did the day before, without confusing it with a day from forty years past. Or a hundred years past."
