NATURE, BOOKS, CHILDREN

Following this post, I pose three questions which all hold similar relevance to one another. Nature, books and children all are very different mediums. However they are similar in the fact that they teach. When a person is having a bad day and needs somewhat of an escape, they can delve into a good book, take a hike, or watch children, who show them the simple pleasures that life has to offer. A person doesn't need money or fame to be happy. Joy and pleasure are easy to find. Nature, literature and children are reminders and great producers of joy...

What is nature?

Nature is anything in the natural world that brings you joy.

Nature is all around you.

Some people travel far and wide to enjoy nature.

Others go as far as their front door.

Some people go through their whole lives unappreciative of the amazing wonders surrounding them.

I feel very lucky to appreciate nature each and every day.





As the great Romantic poet William Wordsworth says:"Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher."

What is a book?

After looking on the internet I came across a website,http://www.artistbooks.com/editions/wiab.html, where many people put in their two cents about what they think constitutes a book:

A book is something you pick up and read."
Richard Seibert
"What is a book? A series of little printed signs--essentially only that. It is for the reader to supply himself the forms and colors and sentiments to which these signs correspond. It will depend on him whether the book be dull or brilliant, hot with passion or cold as ice. Or, if you prefer to put it otherwise, each word in a book is a magic finger that sets a fiber of our brain vibrating like a harp-string, and so evokes a note from the sounding- board of our soul. No matter how skillful, how inspired, the artist's hand; the sound it wakes depends on the quality of the strings within ourselves."
Anatole France

"...All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been...is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
Thomas Carlye

"While many viewers may not think of books themselves as works of art, the idea that art books contain works of art is not foreign. To take the next step and experience an artist's book as the sum of its part; binding, text and visual imagery is not that difficult."
David Edlefsen

"In a book the artist controls the combinations and ordering of different bits of information."
David J. Henry

"Paper will stand anything you write on it."
Lenin

"In theory, there are no limits upon the kinds of materials that can be put between covers, or how those materials can be arranged." Richard Kostelanetz

"To understand something, is to understand the structure of which it is a part and/or the elements forming the structure that that something is.
Ulises Carrion

"No mode of creation is more direct or naturally arrived at than the accumulation and agglomeration of materials found close at hand." William C. Seitz

"There are three things which the public will always clamor for, sooner or later: namely, novelty, novelty, novelty."
Thomas Hood

"When you sell a man a book you don't just sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue. You sell him a whole new life."
Christopher Morley

What an author likes to write most is his signature on
the back of a check. ~~Brendan Francis

What is a child?

A child is anyone who is willing to have fun and live life to the fullest. When I was younger I would run around the yard for hours without a care in the world. Sure I would wonder what my sister and her friends were up to, and if they happened to be plotting an attack. After all, they were older and had complete authority over me. As I got older I acquired responsibilities that I did not necessarily want but were unavoidable. Now that I am in college I have to devote a lot of my time to studying. A child is someone who still gets excited about the simple and easy things in life. My friend Bradford, 21, personifies the child. , September 29, Bradford called me asking if I wanted to hang out. I asked what he had in mind and he said he wanted to go get big pieces of paper and then trace each others bodies. I said I was pretty busy, but I might be able to stop by and let him trace me after he bought the supplies. He said I had to commit to the whole process. I unfortunately had too much homework and had to pass. I really admired the random activity Bradford wanted to partake in. I cannot think of anyone else our age who would have thought of such an interesting idea.

Displaced Fairy Tales

After two days of my classmates reading their short stories that are fashioned after a fairy tale of their choice, I have laughed and I have sometimes been a little appalled by the connections. Most of the stories read are of fiction, but a few of my classmates have used historic events and tied them to fairy tales.

Adam Bensen
"Three Little Pigs"
Speaks about the different houses he has lived in

Dustin Cichosz
"Beauty and the Beast"
Fluffy the beautiful little puppy and a pound dog fall in love

Cassi Clampitt
"Hansel and Gretel"
Jake gets lost in LA and is attracted to a cellphone store

Samantha Clanton
"The Little Matchgirl"
Samantha sang a lovely song connected to this story

Katey Crystal
"Sleeping Beauty"
A little girl gets kidnapped and taken across the border, only to be awakened by her unexpected "prince charming"

Aaron Danno
"Hansel and Gretel"
Pat and Chris from Florida come to Butte and get a rude awakening when they go down into the mines

Erin Doherty
"The Little Mermaid"
Read from a journal column where a girl gives everything she has for a thankless male

Lynn Doyle
"Beauty and the Beast"
Tells about a woman in a windowless cubicle who falls in love with a intelligent but unstylish man in town

Montana Duncan
"Little Red Riding Hood"
Connects story with the life of Anne Frank

Ashley Dunigan
"The Little Mermaid"
Connects story with the life of Princess Diana

Chris Clark
"Goldy Locks and the Three Bears"
Gary, a theif makes three attempts before he finds the Golden bowl he is after in a child's room

Ryan Early
"Bluebeard"
A man falls to his death leaving a bloody rope behind while wearing blue

Julie Federer
"Beauty and the Beast"
A girl goes to prom with an unattractive but fun boy who she ends up adoring

Stephanie Findley
"Rumpelstiltskin"
After going to lawschool at Yale her damsel gets distressed when she meets a mysterious and no-good male

Aaron Hansen
"Beauty and the Beast"
Talks about a slighty non-fictitious martial arts event that led him to love by candlelight (all night long...)

Danielle Hawley
"The Frog Prince"
After two clumsy highschool kids break enough of one another's belongings, they become more acquainted through a frog dissection

Kalli Hendrickson
"Beauty and the Beast"
She tells a medical account of "a broken heart"

Lisa Hiller
"Hansel and Gretel"
A story about a reckless teen who gives up her children who are then abused and eventually put into child services

The Triple Goddess in Rapunzel

In Rapunzel, the Triple Goddess, which can also be seen in Greek mythology, is depicted. The Triple Goddess is historically portrayed as the Crone(elderly woman, Mother and Maiden(virgin). This idea was popularized by Robert Graves in the 20th century. In Rapunzel, the mother and the witch play the other two legs of the Triple Goddess that Rapunzel's father and prince are forced to reckon with. It is no easy task dealing with this "triple threat." When the prince has his virgin alone he is able to show strength and confidence. However, when the witch comes along the prince does not show the same poise and grace.

RAPUNZEL

William Blake "To See a World" Fragments from "Auguries of Innocence"

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
A Robin Redbreast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons
Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions.
A Dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus’d upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fiber from the Brain does tear.

He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar.
The Beggar’s Dog and Widow’s Cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The Gnat that sings his Summer song
Poison gets from Slander’s tongue.
The poison of the Snake and Newt
Is the sweat of Envy’s Foot.

A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the Lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for Joy and Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro’ the World we safely go.

Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are Born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight.
Some are Born to sweet delight,
Some are Born to Endless Night.

Patty Hearst

Fairy tales are often anything but fiction. Whether they were based on fact or become fact after they are written, again and again themes from some of our favorite childhood fairytales appear in our lives. Patty Hearst is one example. A very rich girl was kidnapped in 1974 by the Symionese Liberation Army and eventually brainwashed. After her compliance with her kidnapper, Heast robbed a bank with her abductor.




Symbionese Liberation Army
Kidnapped Berkeley, CA (4-Feb-1974)
Ransomed
Tortured
Raped
Bank Robbery Hibernia Bank, San Francisco, CA (15-Apr-1974)
Assault Mel's Sporting Goods, Inglewood, CA (16-May-1974)
Robbery Mel's Sporting Goods, Inglewood, CA (16-May-1974)
Unlawful Possession of a Firearm
FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
Took the Fifth
Granted Immunity
Pardoned (Jan-2001)
Hearst Family

This age old story can be related to the story of Peresphone who was kidnapped by Hades in Greek mythology. When she was taken to the underworld, she enjoyed being the Queen.

http://www.nndb.com/people/363/000025288/
Persephone would have stayed in Hades if it weren't for her concerned mother, Demeter.

In fairy tales portals are used to transcend a child living a normal, everyday life into a secret and unfamiliar world. This world is full of magic, mystery, and often times danger. There are many types of portals. One is a rabbit hole.
Another is a bean stalk.

In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy is taken from her mundane life in a tornado to the land of Oz. Although she must go through many trials and tribulations while in Oz, in the end of the story she would not trade her experience for anything.

In the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a closet acts as a portal.

All literature is displaced myth. In one way or another portals come into a fairy tale. Children are little creatures of repetition so they are thrilled when they see a similar theme come into a different stories again and again. Fairy tales become canonized by using a similar equation that is easy to follow. There is usually a moral and a little bit of magic. Realism doesn't have any place in fairy tales. After all, why would someone want to read a dry story when they could my magnetized by adventure and lore that is impossible in everyday life?

Fairy tales are responsible for shaping lives. By hearing these canonized stories again and again in childhood, we cannot help but remember these make believe masterpieces in our adult lives. Even if one's mind flashes back subconsciously when they hear any type of reference to a Red cape or a glass slipper, fairy tales are still very prevalent and will be for years and years to come.

A clean slate for Little RED Riding Hood? I think not...

Little RED Riding Hood




I chose this photo because Little Red Riding Hood has always been depicted wearing a RED cape over her small and vulnerable frame. Some have come to see this colored cape to represent sin. Little Red Riding Hood does go against her mother's wishes in more ways than one. She not only talks to a DANGEROUS stranger, but tells him where she is going. Then she stops for a while to pick flowers when she was suppose to specifically go to her Grandmother's house. This story shows children that simple directions are made for a reason. Disobeying one's parent's can lead to the death of a family member or death of one's self.

I like the black and white illustration because it gives Little Red Riding Hood a second chance. She can still obey her mother, ignore the wolf, and go straight to her Grandmother's house. She most likely will not. If she ignores the wolf, what kind of fairy tale would that be? BORING, that's what kind.

reflections of my initial brush with fairy tales

When I was growing up my favorite fairy tale was that of The Little Mermaid. After all I have red hair, and I first saw that movie when I was in kindergarden. I used to make my mother put salt in my bathtub and my father made me a big shell and painted it turqouise, which became the head-board of my bed. My hair was to be envied by all the little girls in my kindergarden class. That is my first vivid memory of fairy tales, and how they affected me. To this day I still could sing all the songs sung my Ariel in the Disney movie. I can still remember and how dreamy I thought Eric, the prince was to me back then. Fairy tales have a way of enchanting little girls and boys alike. This summer I had a conversation with my co-worker who is a few years older than me. He told me the last Disney movie he saw before he was "too old" was The Lion King. It is a shame that one thinks that after a certain age they are too old to imagine and bask in the idea of the unreal. I still enjoy watching and reading stories of fairy tales to this day, and cannot wait to pass on stories to my children and their children.