The Tolkien Society of Kansas City

 Tolkien is a brilliant writer that inspires me with hope and positivity. His works have a persistent theme of hopefulness, which can be found in some significant quotes from his wonderful book, The Hobbit. I wanted to share my thoughts on these quotes, and how they have motivated me. I hope that these reflections can bring some light or joy to your life, and maybe you can find something of yourself in my thoughts and musings. --- "While there's life, there's hope!" - Bilbo, The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien pg. 214 Sitting in an adamantine darkness, unsure of what chance they have, and trapped between a rock and a dragon, the dwarves had begun to lose hope. Bilbo, as he does often throughout the journey, rises to the occasion and rouses the dwarves into action. This led to Bilbo and the dwarves finding their long-desired hoard of gold and, more importantly, their escape from the dragon-reeking caverns of Erebor.  Everyone goes through dread periods and tumultuous times in t...

At the recent January meeting, we discussed chapters 15 - 17 of The Hobbit, and then took turns reading aloud chapter 18.  Nine members were in attendance, including one new person! We'll be holding our next meeting on Wednesday, February 26, at Cardboard Corner Cafe, at 9240 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS.  We'll be in the Sci-Fi room, the more appropriate Fantasy Room being unavailable once again!  We'll be discussing the final chapter of The Hobbit, which is chapter 19 as well as The Quest for Erebor, which is available in Unfinished Tales, and also in The Annotated Hobbit. We also made lots of plans for future events: (I stole heavily from Elizabeth's Discord post for the following!) We talked about Westmoot, and having our folks involved volunteering as Stewards. Elizabeth will be organizing volunteers soon, email tolkiensocietykc@gmail.com for details. We decided to start doing Hobbit Happy hour again, 2nd Mondays at 6:30pm - meeting virtually in the Party Tree ch...

We'll be holding our January meeting on Wednesday, January 22, at Cardboard Corner Cafe, at 9240 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS.  We'll be in the Sci-Fi room, the more appropriate Fantasy Room being unavailable! At the recent holiday party, even though everyone was making rather merry, we were able to discuss the chapters assigned, so this month's discussion will be on chapters 15-17 of The Hobbit!

Holiday Party! We'll be holding our December Holiday Party meeting on Wednesday, December 18, at  Cardboard Corner Cafe, at 9240 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS.  We'll be in the Fantasy Room. We'll be having a White Elephant Gift Exchange.  Keep the gift under $20. You can make it yourself or buy it. Wrap it as you see fit.  Keep it fun and simple. Several examples of gift ideas that we  discussed included books, food items (lembas, a box of tea, baked goods, a bottle of "Beorn's honey", a jar of jam, etc.), and so on. Several crafty folks mentioned they may make something. Finally, we will discuss the next three chapters of The Hobbit-chapters 12, 13, and 14.  I'm trying a new approach to our blog.  Instead of one big monthly newsletter with everything, I'm going to put out individual blog posts for each meeting or event, and link to them from Facebook.  I'll also send them via email and Discord. --Bob Clark, chief Newsletter Hobbit

  October 2024: Updates from the Smial of the Withywindle This month's newsletter is a little late, mainly because a lot happened Tolkien-wise right at the end of the month, and then things were very busy at my house for several days! Bob Clark, chief newsletter Hobbit A Busy October We had our regular meeting on Wednesday, October 23, at Cardboard Corner.  Our reading for this meeting was chapters 6-8 of The Hobbit .  Seven people attended, including one newcomer! Also, Middle Moot, and Trivia!  More details below. Middle Moot Report Middle Moot was held in Kansas City, on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at The National WWI Museum and Memorial. The theme of the Moot this year was  "Consolation, Recovery, & Hope in Faerie" .  There were seven presentations, which included art, music, audience participation, and scholarly papers on Tolkien's legendarium. About 40 people were in attendance in-person, and about 10 were online.  Everyone appeared to have a...

  September 2024: Updates from the Smial of the Withywindle Lots of news this month! Middle Moot is coming up in October, and there will be a trivia event in conjunction with the Moot, details below!   Please Note, since Thanksgiving and Christmas conflict with our meetings, or nearly so, we've moved the meetings in those months to the third Wednesday, November 20, and December 18! We'll be arranging a Toast to the Professor meeting also, on January 3, 2025, so watch our Discord and Google Group for details!    Bob Clark, chief newsletter Hobbit Meeting Recap The Tolkien Society met on Wednesday, September 25, at Cardboard Corner Cafe, in the Sci Fi Room, where we discussed Chapters 3-5 of The Hobbit .  We had a great discussion, one of the main topics was how different editions of the book treat the Riddle Game. For our next meeting, the reading will be chapters 6-8 of  The Hobbit !   Middle Moot! This year, Middle Moot is back in Kansas City, on...

  August 2024: Updates from the Smial of the Withywindle Meeting Recap The Tolkien Society met on August 28, at Cardboard Corner Cafe.  We had a large group, 10 of us, including two newcomers, and the main room was loud and crowded.  We realized that we couldn't fit in the seating area near the window, but we were fortunate to score a private room in the back.  They are usually booked in advance.  The cost for the room is $25, but several people chipped in and we covered the cost easily.  We're now looking into booking a room there for the future. For our next meeting, the reading will be chapters 3 - 5 of  The Hobbit !     Bob Clark, chief newsletter Hobbit Middle Moot! This year, Middle Moot is back in Kansas City, on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at The National WWI Museum and Memorial. Registration and Call for Proposals are now open, at the following link: 2024.10.26 Middle Moot, October 26, 2024 - Signum University The theme for Midd...