I’ve been thinking about the claim I heard — that the 9/11 hijackers were anti-imperialists. It may have been deliberately provocative but had a germ that’s sat with me. It sparks my hate for the phrasing of “the war on terrorism,” as it was an empty and abstract phrase. A…

This project examines one set of texts from the Golden Age of Science Fiction — Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. The Foundation Trilogy was first published as a set of connected stories from 1942 to 1950. From 1951, these stories were collected and expanded on as they were published in three…

Defended 11/10/2021 Good afternoon. Welcome to my defense. As an introduction, I want to talk about four things. The process, my challenges, what I’ve learned, and possible extensions. First though, I want to thank everyone here for their role in getting me to this place. It has been a bit…

Final Project Proposal Presented 5/3/2021 Literary study gives the critic many lenses to examine texts through. What I hope to do in my writing project, currently titled “The Impossibility of Psychohistory: Hayek, Asimov, and the Search for Utopia” is to extend the lenses we have by introducing an economic frame…

Final Project Proposal 2/6/2021 Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series was first published as a set of connected stories from 1942 to 1950. From 1951, these stories were collected and expanded on as they were published in three novels: 1951’s Foundation, followed the next year by Foundation and Empire, and finishing with…

I graduate with my master’s degree in English this week. I’ve been meaning to write up a bit on it. But I haven’t yet. I think part of it is that after writing the project I am not in the mood to sit in front of the computer on my…

I’m a bit of an untraditional case when it comes to student loans. My wife and I met in graduate school where we were both working towards MAs in English. In 2007 she graduated, and I left the program without a degree. We moved to Chicago where we both got…