Hello! My name is Shannon Choudhari, and I am writing to you from beautiful Petaluma, California where I live with my magical baby girl, fantastic husband, and whole host of chosen family. I am a recent graduate of the Signum University MA program in Language and Literature with a focus on Tolkien Studies. My thesis was on The Notion Club Papers, offering a stylistic and narratological analysis of Tolkien’s unfinished story about a time-traveling Oxford society, arguing that this peculiar tale’s intricate plot, narrative complexity, and unfinished state construct a unique vehicle perhaps best suited to delivering a radical vision of creative mysticism, a vision that is consistent, if somewhat obscured, within Tolkien’s larger body of fictional and personal writings.
Beyond Tolkien, I received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia, with my studies in anthropology and religious thinking worldwide informing my current research. I also have a background in home organizing, where I used models focusing on intentionality and essentialism to help clients craft personal narratives in their lives and homes. I also spent three years as a homeschool educator, developing project and play-based curriculum oriented toward semester-long units on ancient civilizations. Along with my family, I am a Petaluma-proud resident of Northern California, where we enjoy games, hiking, community events (our biggest festival is the annual Butter & Eggs parade :), and adventures like escape rooms, hot air balloons, and coastal-scrambling.
My interests center on the notion of story-based living, crafting personal and community narratives from the stories we love and living with active intention in pursuit of magic and wonder – and it’s been a magical ride indeed! I look forward to using this blog to further my scholarship on Tolkien, explore many threads of ideation and find where they intersect, and engage with the most excellent community of scholars that gather around this enchanting legendarium.
Notions in Progress 