School's Out for Summer!

Summertime!

Well, it's here.  School is out, kids are headed to beaches, amusement parks, and summer camps.

For me, well, it's time to commune with nature.  But only after an ample supply of mosquito repellant and zinc oxide (forget that 30 SPF stuff) have been liberally applied.  [Yes I recognize the redundancy of the previous statement~ and I embrace it.]

For me, embracing nature, also means embracing my own true nature.  It means sleeping in to get the full eight hours of sleep my body yearns for nine months of the year.  It means being able to eat when I want, and what I want (good, healthy stuff), versus the slew of fast-food-on-the-go things that I invariably snarf on my way to a meeting I'm already five minutes late for because if I don't grab something now, I won't get another chance until Thursday.  

And summer means being able to find a forest, or a lake, or a pond,  feed the ducks, listen to the birds and frogs, and  take a bit of time to just relax.  Read.  Write.  Read some more.   Traveling, visiting, touring are all wonderful, and they are part of my-own-true-nature self nurturing regimen for the summer.  However, when my legs are weary, my wallet is light, and I am faced with the mild inconveniences of day-to-day life, I can always escape in a book.  As I have told students for more than ten years now,  "With a book, you can go anywhere, be anyone, experience anything."  

Therein lies the magic.   

I am planning to go back in time and study the history of Wales, and maybe do some frolicking with Christopher Moore's  Jester (medieval, satirical...what's not to like?)  And then there's always that stack in the upstairs study that grows by a  book or two every conference or bookstore I hit.  TMB TLT  (too many books, too little time).

Enough of my rambling.  It's summer and somewhere,  daylight is waning!  Grab a tale, take a load off, and find your own moment of respite.   Any favorite reads, or hope-to-read tales on your summer reading lists?   Do tell.  

   

Layering. We layer our clothing and we layer our cakes. Are we ourselves layered?

Several years ago I watched a movie called Layer Cake. Daniel Craig spent the better part of two hours trying to maneuver through the layers of a plot that was almost Hitchcock-ian in its multi-layered plotting.

More recently, I have become a fanatic for LOST, which comes to an end this weekend after six years. The show, and its complexity, have given me a basis for some self examination.

I adore books and shows with complex plots. I have never thought of myself as a particularly complex person, yet if friends and relatives were queried, I suspect they would laugh at me and reveal me to be one of the most complex individuals on earth.

A simple plot is boy meets girl, they fall in love, they live happily ever after. Or Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, fell off, and died. (For those of you who follow the theatrical thread of my thoughts, that would be a Shakespearean tragedy). Now while we all love a happy ending or a truly dark tragedy, the fact is that such simplicity is, from a dramatic point of view, not entertaining enough to keep us reading or watching or even listening (books on tape).

My life is simple enough (somedays I'm the girl with the happy ending, somedays I feel a bit like HD). But for entertainment purposes only, I'll take the complex plot everytime.

Consider just about any story by Charles Dickens. What a monumental knot of duplicity, secrets, surprises, love-lost, and treasures revealed. Sprinkle in a little tragedy, madness, and a smidge of true love, and there is enough to entertain everyone. The same is true of Diana Gabaldon's books. Layers, hurdles, mysteries.

And don't even get me started on Twin Peaks.

Years ago someone did a survey and discovered that young urban professionals with high-stress jobs loved Telly Tubbies at the end of the work day because it was simple, mindless, comforting. They could let their brains and bodies rest and just absorb the simplicity of childish play, bold colors, soft sounds. No pressure. No conflict. No stress over characters' tribulations.

For me, Lost (which could have turned out to be a dramatic cross between Gilligan's Island and Knot's Landing), epitomized the concept of plot layering. The simplicity of people trying to survive the plane crash morphed into Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, retold with a modern twist. My brain spins with the concepts condensed into the few short minutes that the writers feed the audience each week. Alternate realities, good vs. evil, morality, mayhem, Mythology, espionage, and the classic love triangle.

Complex plots challenge us. Like crossword puzzles, chess, Jeopardy, or Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me (NPR), complexities generate our brains to use grey matter that I suspect doesn't get used on the daily drive to work.

So, as Lost comes to an end, and Law and Order fades into the sunset, give me some feed back. Do you like your stories simple and soothing? Or, do you live vicariously by suspense, multiple plot lines, and the one who got away...

       Alright, folks,  it's a culture check.   I recently introduced students to classical music.  I opened by querying their knowledge of different types of music.  Yikes...so many knew so little about various styles.  I was surprised to realize that my household seems to be an anomaly.  

       In my house we heard everything from 20's style ragtime to classical, to blues, to rock-and-roll, to country, to spiritual...it was all good.  Likewise, my husband grew up knowing his Bach from his Bluegrass.  

       I remember the day my eighteen-month old shouted from the car's back seat, "This is jazz!"  Never a prouder moment~sigh.  I didn't even know she knew jazz.

       I encourage parents to surf the radio for various music styles and play games with your captive audience  (spouses, kids, and pets), for the duration of the drive.  Challenge each other to learn about the different styles of music.   While not every style appeals to everyone, it is safe to say that one song does not a music genre make.  I've heard Christian Rap I  thoroughly enjoyed, and mellow Beatles songs that left me cold (pretend you didn't read that last one, and I'll pretend I didn't write it).  

      As I try to instill in my classes.  Learning about the art, and analyzing it (or enjoying it), tells us something about the culture that produced it.  Music is such a fine example for this.  From the lilting waltzes of Strauss, to the compelling, nature-inspired works of Aaron Copeland.  We can look through the eyes of the composer, and "hear" what they saw.  

Break out of the bonds of conformity, find a composer or a style that is as foreign to you as a new language, and immerse yourself in the wonder of its melodies.   Blues, Opera, Baroque, Celtic, Tribal, Bluegrass, Country, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Spiritual, Rock-n-Roll, Show Tunes , New-Age, Contemporary, Movie Scores, Folk music, Salsa, Classical, Big Band/Swing, Tin-Pan Alley...orchestral, chamber, garage-band.  

Did I mention I learned the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, as did my Eighth-grade classmates, by listening to School House Rock?  Talk about cross-curricular instruction! And don't get me started on Les Miserables.  From history, to literature, to musical composition~what's not to like?

Do you wander up and down the dial?  Do you dabble in music diversity?  Or does your stereo only have one station?  Rise up, take up the charge, and change your tune.  You might like the beat of a different drummer.  

Imagine...not

Where has imagination gone? It is surely on the endangered list.

Remember when, as a child, you would play for hours on end in the front or back yard, using little more than imagination, and perhaps an old spoon from the pantry?  

My father used to stack hay bales together to build me a clubhouse.  Inside my cave of straw, I could pretend that I was hiding from outlaws, or that my prison was a castle turret.  Close by, in our small woods, I kept company with the likes of Robin Hood, faeries, and the creatures from Jungle book, or pirates from Treasure Island (yes, I was an only child).  

Our property had once been a drive-in cinema, which held such promise for an imaginative child.  The overgrowth of bramble, the trees with bowing limbs, the dark crevices of the cistern shed, all were portals for adventures. These were the beginning of great tales.

I have seen people who had a difficult time with classic tales because the characters were fantastic (face it, beavers do not talk in real life, and rabbits do not wear vests).  Thus, such people cannot enjoy the Tales of Narnia, or Alice in Wonderland, or anything that exists “outside of the box” .   Why I know students who cannot entertain themselves if they do not have a visual aid (television or videogame) in their hands.  They will not read. They cannot daydream. They cannot make up stories.

I did a show recently where I needed mermaids.  The local store had mermaid tales that were tailored and all the same color.  My life probably would have been easier if I could have used them~alas, I could not.  They were too much like cookie cutter costumes.  Instead, I used sequined scraps, and the flouncy skirts from old dance costumes to make billowy fishtails for four mer-princesses.  Each mermaid was unique...and beautiful, and proud.

Encourage children to use imagination and ingenuity.  I once had students make 3o-demensional books with their favorite story scenes coming out of the book.  Some of them were wonderful~ribbon spools became clock faces, birdhouse charms became flying houses, cotton became clouds. One student, however, spent money instead of time, going to the craft store to buy a pre-made book, a wooden pre-cut pig, and a plastic spider.   

Not one item in the project was made by hand; the text had been copied from a printer; and the margins were perfectly set.

Comparatively, another child, had a hot air balloon she had made from a real balloon, glue,and tissue paper, had built a house of foil and ribbon, and had used an old worn and discarded paperback novel, painted and bound for the base. 

Without imagination, scientists would never have found subatomic particles, or a cure for smallpox.  The Eiffel tower would not be a landmark, and a mouse would not be an ambassador for children everywhere.  Without imagination, the telephone would not have been invented, and we would not be able to view the ponderences of people sitting halfway round the world.

What will we do as a society, when imagination becomes extinct?

Fodder for fable is fuel for the imagination.

I’ve been glued to my local news channel all week.  Between Eyjafjallajökull and  the lost treasure of the Saxons, I have been a news junkie.  

“What Saxon treasure,” you ask?  Gasp and guffaw!

Well, last summer while I was investigating Tintagel, Glastonbury,Stonehenge, and my favorite spots in Wales, apparently, someone was doing a bit of treasure hunting a bit  to the north in Staffordshire.  Had I but known...

It turns out that a man with a metal detector, a dream and some spare time on his hands quite literally stumbled on the largest  collection of Saxon gold and silver that Britain has ever seen.  There is even a jewel encrusted sword hilt (ooh, visions of Excalibur dance in my head).  All of this dates to the Seventh century A.D. 

Be still my heart.  Just when I was wondering if my plot was going in the right direction, here comes National Geographic to reassure me. Sigh...

With no cable, I must depend on the kindness of others to see the special tonight.  So far, I’ve sneaked a peek online, and on the morning news whetting my appetite for the mysteries yet to unfold regarding the gold, garnet, and silver weapons and trinkets found in a farmer’s field.  

Check out  the National Geographic website~http://www.nationalgeographic.com/   

to take a look at this and all the assorted articles that thrill nerds, such as I am.  

Scientists figure it will take years to get to the truth of this archaeological treasure trove.  I already have some ideas of my own.   Anyone else out there interested in guessing about the treasure???

Could this be the fodder for the legend of Arthur’s knights, the roundtable, and Excaliber?  So far, I’ve checked out medieval hill forts,  ancient Roman/Briton sites, Tintagel, Merlin’s mound, the glass lake area, old abbeys, subterranean caves, and stone circles all around Britain (England, Scotland,and Wales), plus various sites around Ireland.  There is not much evidence to support that the stories have no basis.  

Remember, somewhere between fact and fiction lies the real stories that help build the myth...and therein lies the magic.

Fodder for fable...fuel for the imagination.

I’ve been glued to my local news channel all week.  Between Eyjafjallajökull erupting all over Iceland, and interrupting  the rest of the globe,  and  the lost treasure of the Saxons, I have been a news junkie.  

“What Saxon treasure,” you ask? 

Gasp and guffaw!  I can't believe you don't already know!

Well, last summer while I was investigating Tintagel, Glastonbury,Stonehenge, and my favorite spots in Wales, apparently, someone was doing a bit of treasure hunting a bit  to the north in Staffordshire.  Had I but known...

It turns out that a man with a metal detector, a dream and some spare time on his hands quite literally stumbled on the largest  collection of Saxon gold and silver that Britain has ever seen.  There is even a jewel encrusted sword hilt (ooh, visions of Excalibur dance in my head).  All of this dates to the Seventh century A.D. 

Be still my heart.  Just when I was wondering if my plot was going in the right direction, here comes National Geographic to reassure me. Sigh...

With no cable, I must depend on the kindness of others to see the special tonight.  So far, I’ve sneaked a peek online, and on the morning news whetting my appetite for the mysteries yet to unfold regarding the gold, garnet, and silver weapons and trinkets found in a farmer’s field.  

Check out  the National Geographic website~http://www.nationalgeographic.com/   

to take a look at this and all the assorted articles that thrill nerds, such as I am.  

Scientists figure it will take years to get to the truth of this archaeological treasure trove.  I already have some ideas of my own.   Anyone else out there interested in guessing about the treasure???

Could this be the fodder for the legend of Arthur’s knights, the roundtable, and Excaliber?  So far, I’ve checked out medieval hill forts,  ancient Roman/Briton sites, Tintagel, Merlin’s mound, the glass lake area, old abbeys, subterranean caves, and stone circles all around Britain (England, Scotland,and Wales), plus various sites around Ireland.  There is not much evidence to support that the stories have no basis.  

Remember, somewhere between fact and fiction lies the real stories that help build the myth...and therein lies the magic.

DragDragons rule!

Dragons Rule!

Hurrah for mythical creatures.  Hurray for the imagination that creates such wonderful stories through books, films, and art.

When I was a child, my father plucked a thorn from a rose stem, stuck the flat side to my head and said, “There, you’re a unicorn.”  What magic there was in those words.  I was four.  Around the same time I saw Sleeping Beauty for the first time.  Though she was the antagonist, I saw the beauty in that animated fire-breathing creature that existed within Malificent’s being.  It seemed that the power of a thorn had transformed mad faerie to dragon.

I’ve loved unicorns and dragons ever since.  When I was in college, I attended a renaissance faire and chanced upon “Lancelot”, a unicorn  (a goat bred with one horn).  He was traveling the  renfest circuit, and making quite a hit with the crowds.  Love at first site.  He trotted over to me and, yes, plopped his head down in my lap and sat contentedly. No laughing out there~seriously.

This week, I am consumed with a sense of wonder for those things the modern world considers mythological.  The Greek and Roman gods, creatures, King Arthur, etc.  I’ve skulked around caves in Cymry (Wales) and Cornwall (England), and can verily imagine such beings and beasts.  Such architectural marvels as exist in some of the most remote areas of the world give me cause to wonder at their creation.

Of course, that leads me to simultaneously marvel a the commonalities in folk tales around the world.  From faerie tales, to pour-quoi tales, there exist many common factors.  Giants, beasts, dragons, angels, sea monsters,  treasures, fey, miracles.  

So, tell me, dear readers, what  creatures do you believe in? What creatures or tales inspire a sense of wonder in you?