Author | Conflict Analyst | Presenter | Professor
Michael Livingston

The Blog

Tolkien Article Revisions

Back in June I wrote about the odd communication I received from the editors of a Prestigious Journal to which I’d submitted my most recent Tolkien article.  I’ve now heard back officially, and it seems my hypothesis was pretty accurate: they sent the piece to two readers, one of whom …

Picture of a Molecule

I don’t care who you are, you have to admit that this is cool.  I mean, that’s an image of a single molecule, showing the lattice structure of the atomic bonds.  It’s boggling. Next thing we know they’re going to be getting shots of individual electrons caught in their quantum …

Cutler and My Column

So yesterday I got an unexpected gift: a lengthy comment on my post about the Media Mythologies Surrounding the Jay Cutler Saga. I’m quite certain the commenter, Dale, did not intend for me to be smiling as much as I was when I reached the end of what he wrote — …

First Day of Grading

We haven’t yet had a week of class and already I’ve had a weekend knocked out to grading: my 101 students wrote in-class essays on Friday, and I just finished grading them. On the plus side, these initial assignments are very useful for honing in on where the classes stand: …

Phil Collins on Drums

This evening I was driving home from the Citadel beach house (yeah, we got that) when Phil Collins’ old hit, “Take Me Home” came on the stereo. Hadn’t heard it in a while, and I was quite struck by the drum sequencing. Say what you want about Phil Collins, the …