Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
This is a continuation of the infamous thread New Zealander Builds Hobbit Hole originally posted on January 26, 2001 by John Farson, who at the time undoubtedly thought he had found a rather obscure article that would elicit a few replies and die out. Without knowing it, he became the founder of the Hobbit Hole. For reasons incomprehensible to some, the thread grew to over 4100 replies. It became the place for hobbits and friends of hobbits to chit chat and share LoTR news and views, hang out, and talk amongst ourselves in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
In keeping with the new posting guidelines, the thread idea is continuing here, as will the Green Dragon Inn, our more structured spin-off thread, as soon as we figure out how to move all the good discussion that has been had there. As for the Hobbit Hole, we will just start fresh, bringing only a few mathoms such as the picture above with us to make it feel like home, and perhaps a walk down memory lane:
Our discussion has been light:
It very well may be that a thread named "New Zealander builds Hobbit hole" will end up being the longest Tolkien thread of them all, with some of the best heartfelt content... Sorry John, but I would have rather it had been one with a more distinguished title!… post 252 - HairOfTheDog
However, I can still celebrate, with quiet dignity, the fact that what started as a laugh about some wacko in New Zealand has mutated and grown into a multifaceted discussion of the art, literature, and philosophy that is Tolkien. And now that I've managed to write the most pompous sentence of my entire life, I agree, Rosie… post 506 - JenB
Hah! I was number 1000!! (Elvish victory dance... wait, no; that would be too flitty) … post 1001 - BibChr
Real men don't have to be afraid of being flitty! Go for it. – post 1011 – HairOfTheDog
Seventeen years to research one mystical object seems a bit excessive… post 1007 - JenB
Okay...who's the wise guy who didn't renew Gandalf's research grant?… post 1024 – Overtaxed
To the very philosophical:
…Judas Iscariot obviously was a good man, or he wouldn't have been chosen to be one of the Apostles. He loved Jesus, like all of the Apostles, but he betrayed him. Yet without his betrayal, the Passion and Crucifixion would never have occurred, and mankind would not have been redeemed. So without his self-destruction infinite good would not have been accomplished. I certainly do not mean this to be irreverant but it seems to me that this describes the character of Gollum, in the scenes so movingly portrayed above… Lucius Cornelius Sulla
To fun but heartfelt debates about the integrity and worth of some of the characters…
…Anyone else notice how Boromir treats the hobbits? He's very fond of them but he seems to think of them as children - ruffling Frodo's hair, calls them all 'little ones'. He likes them, but I don't think he really respects them… post 1536 - JenB
Yes... Tolkien told us not to trust Boromir right off the bat when he began to laugh at Bilbo, until he realized that the Council obviously held this hobbit in high esteem. What a pompous dolt… post 1538 - HairOfTheDog
…I think almost every fault of his can be traced directly back to his blindness to anything spiritual or unseen. He considers the halflings as children, because that is what they look like. He considers the only hope of the ring to be in taking it and using it for a victory in the physical realm. He cannot see what the hobbits are truly made of, he cannot see the unseen hope of what the destruction of the ring might mean--the destruction of Sauron himself, and he cannot see the unseen danger that lies in the use of the ring itself… I just feel sorry for Boromir--he is like a blind but honorable man, trying to take the right path on the road but missing the right path entirely because he simply cannot see it… post 1548 - Penny1
Boromir isn't a jerk, he's a jock… post 2401 – Overtaxed
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Oh, I think by the time Frodo reaches the Cracks, he's not even himself anymore! I think he's not only on the brink of a dangerous place physically, he's on the brink of losing himself completely during the exchange with Gollum. But for some reason, the take-over isn't complete till he actually has to throw the Ring in. The person speaking to Gollum is not Frodo, but the "Wheel of Fire" that Sam sees. After the Ring is destroyed, Frodo not only comes back to himself, but comes back with the unbearable (to him) knowledge of what it's like to be completely without compassion. I think that's why it's so important to him to be compassionate in the Shire… post 2506 - 2Jedismom
…Regarding Frodo's compassion... it's a little too much at the end. Even Merry tells him that he's going to have to quit being so darn nice. But you're right. He's learned a lesson about evil that very few ever learn since it wasn't an external lesson but an internal one. (Those kinds of lessons have the greatest impact) Not only did he totally succumb to it, but he was rather ruthless to my little Smeagol… post 2516 - carton253
Well that Frodo was a big mean bully! (to Smeagol)… post 2519 – Overtaxed
So as you can see, everything JRR Tolkien (and Peter Jackson) is welcome here in our New Row, our soon-to-be familiar New Hobbit Hole…; philosophy, opinion, good talk and frequent silliness.
But I don't think the beans are too good for you..
Yes the idea that you avoid violence by restricting yourself to history and the Bible is a rather odd viewpoint.
Who would have thought that that whistle in the "Concerning Hobbits" would lead to this?
If we couldn't use a broad brush on FR, we would lose about half of our posts, IMO. I am very fond of it myself.
I do have concern about homeschooling as a movement. It is only our side that is leaving. If the schools have swung to far left, then I would rather conservatives got involved and fixed it... Go to school board meetings and if that doesn't work, run for the school board. If all the conservatives just go away mad and homeschool their kids, there is no one left to cause the pendulum to ever swing back to center for the majority of kids that are left there. You guys want to and are able to homeschool. Great. Not everyone can or should need to homeschool as the only Christian, or even decent, alternative. To me, fixing the schools in the community I live in is a better idea for the whole than abandoning them to the left. If we conservatives are right in our principles, we ought to be able to win hearts and minds in public, instead of bugging out and letting them win.
Isn't that a reasonable concern?
Remember, I am not (yet) a parent. I am thinking about the forest, not the trees. Homeschooling may work fine for all the individuals here... I realise, of course that your kids will be fine, and I know that Jen is fine. I did not mean to imply otherwise! I hope you don't feel like I am asking you to defend yourselves, I am asking you guys because I like each and every one of you! I have concerns for the future of the schools, I am not concerned about your kids.
Regarding the other things I brought up, I have some preconceptions about the logistics of homeschooling, that I am asking you guys to answer so that I can know better, that is all. I am not even thinking of trying to talk you out of it.
You will be sorry the first time you want to go to the beach in January. Why not do the snowbird thing?
Well there are also private and religious schools, which is where the teachers in the worst school districts send their own children. I believe in fighting for what is right in the school system, but not if I have to put my own kids on the front line.
BTW, I'm getting a digital camera this week, so hopefully I'll have pictures of my *3* Jedis up on my profile page soon!
Well said.
Many children are born and within 6 weeks, slapped in a daycare center because there was a breakdown in planning somewhere and Mom has to work to make ends meet. Or Mom likes to work. Then, after living the majority of their lives being raised by people who may or may not even care about them in a herd setting, they are sloughed off on a school system...public or private, makes no difference to me. There they spend the majority of their lives till college. Then they go through college and then on to work. And we wonder why adults act so silly sometimes? Selfish and childish? Because they are frozen in time... I believe these people yearn for the freedom to be little children. They never were.
In approximately 2 hours, I have completed Matthew's schooling and he is hard at work doing things that make him a kid. Playing, swimming, reading...he has leisure time.
My very personal opinion is, daily institutional type schooling (public or private) robs the child of their childhood. I wouldn't send them to them if they were the very best schools in the world. And I don't care if it splits the nation! :-)
Well, there are extreme examples of incidents that happen, certainly, but most schools generally represent the community they are in, and I would propose that most are not so far gone that it would be a cruel experiment to send your kids there... It isn't THAT bad. The High School Penny and I went to was a good school then, so I think it probably still is now. (It hasn't been that long has it Penny?)
I think you are brain-washed by your culture! ;-)
You know that Mac commercial where the woman comes running in and tosses that hammer into the big screen, shattering what everyone is watching? Well, that's what I see myself as doing. I'm shattering what is considered normal, at least where my kids are concerned. Other people are bound to notice and I already know there will be variable reactions. Some are intrigued, some intimidated, some just angry. I don't care...I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.
And that is the best argument for it I have heard, really. Especially with the little ones!
I don't bundle homeschooling with daycare vs. stay at home parents, because they are not mutually exclusive... Kids being raised from 6 weeks on in daycare is a different problem than leftist schools, and I am actually, because of you, becoming quite a fan of homeschooling for very little ones... It can go hand in hand with motherhood, but mom being there before and after school would solve the other unnatural problems you bring up about daycare and such.
My mom stayed home with us until we were in school, and then went back to work teaching while we were in school. (She taught mentally-disabled adults job and life skills)
One change in the public schools since I was there is that kids did have more free time when I was there, and I think we were taught just as much. My friends' elementary-aged kids are attending school all day and coming home to a couple hours of homework. I KNOW I never did homework until occasional projects in High School... Their time would be much better spent playing outside, and for that your kids are very lucky indeed. Little kids are going to learn all that they can absorb in a few hours of well-focused time. then let them go... I agree.
...and we had one of the best, didn't we Hair? After becoming acquainted with the difficulties in the Seattle area schools, I have to admit, I appreciate my old school district and hometown so much more than I used to.
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