Eric Scheske

A Walled-in Life "Sir, you have to go." The middle aged man stirred on the bench outside the drug store. "Go? Go where?" he asked. "Home, sir. You can't stay here," the man said firmly, but trying to be kind. He

"Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bless of leisure." E.F. Schumacher

Sauron: Control Freak Sauron is a pretty plain character: Evil, unadulterated and cunning and powerful evil. But it's the nature of his evil that's interesting. Tolkien told his publisher, Stanley Unwin, that Sauron's evil stemmed from his obsession with power. Sauron, the “reincarnation of

Elven Sleep After the defeat of Sauron and celebration, Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, the Hobbits and everyone else bedded down. But not Legolas the Elf. He said he would rather walk in the woods and dream of crossing the Sea. Elves are immortal, saving violent death. They weren't

"If you would make a man happy, study not to augment his goods; but to diminish his wants." Orestes Brownson

Giant on Giant In January, 1910, H.L. Mencken wrote of Chesterton's George Bernard Shaw: "The cleverest man in all the world, with the second cleverest as his subject, is here doing his cleverest writing. . . Not since St. Augustine have the gods sent us a man who

Every unkind thought reflects a defect in my soul, which is connected to my mind, which is connected to my brain. Therefore, how can I ever be sure that my unkind thought is accurate? And if I'm not sure it's accurate, shouldn't I keep

EntsThe lovable Ents. The most ancient of peoples of Middle Earth. They were the shepherd of the trees, and, like their wards, they were trees–but mobile and with the gift of speech. They were slow to jump to conclusions or to judge, a trait we'd expect of

"Where all are free to aim to be first no one is contented to be second." Orestes Brownson

St. Gandalf There were five of them. Not gods, not elves, not men. They came to Middle Earth early in the Third Age. Forming the Order of Istari, the wizards were sent by the Valar to help the elves and men in their efforts against evil Sauron. Though Tolkien never