Michael Szarek writes: On Wednesday, October 22, the Kean University (Union, New Jersey, USA) MALS Colloquium will include a graduate thesis presentation by yours truly on J.R.R. Tolkien’s motivation behind the writing of The Lord of the Rings. My thesis concerns Tolkien’s desire for England to have, as he put it, “stories of its own.” If anyone is in the Union area that night, at 7 PM, you are more than welcome to attend. [www.kean.edu]