I had placed an order with Amazon.com for several Chistmas gifts for
people, and they should be arriving any day--they were shipped on the
21st. So when I called Bob to tell him I was starting home, I asked if
there were any boxes on the front porch for me. He said he didn't notice
any when he came in, but he went out to look again, and said no, there
wasn't anything there.
But about fifteen minutes later, he called me back and said UPS had just
come, and there was now a box from Amazon for me. It wasn't the
order I'd placed, though, it was a birthday gift -- a compilation of
Madeleine L'Engle's writing -- from Jen.
I had picked up this book while I was browsing in the bookstore a couple
of weeks ago and opened it to this page on "Writing Fantasy:"
I think the most important thing about fantasy and myth is the grounding in
reality. You must start with something that is accessible to the reader,
something as homely as a liverwurst and cream cheese sandwich. (Which is,
by the way, a very good sandwich. It's ever nicer if you put a slice of sweet
onion with it.)
I think that food is helpful in grounding the reader in reality--or something
that smells, such as the smell of wet earth in the spring. Before you can
take your flights of fantasy, before you could explain what a tesseract is,
you have to make the reader comfortable in something homely, as the English
use the word homely, which is more homey than homely.
- Madeleine L'Engle, Herself
I put the book back on the shelf, but I've been remembering that advice as
I write, and I put the book on my Amazon Wish List so I would remember
to look for it if I had some extra money to spend on myself, and
someone bought it for me, which is extremely cool. I think the
Wish List idea is great. It gives me a way to keep a list of things
that I would like to have, sometimes books that I can request at the library,
and sometimes things that I would love to own, but can't spend the money
on for myself.
When I opened the book tonight, it fell open to exactly the same page, so I
figure that must be an important one . . .
Also in the mail tonight was another birthday gift--Innocence and
Despair, the album put together by a Canadian gradeschool back in the
70's, and recently rediscovered. I heard a story about it, and an interview
with the teacher who spearheaded the project, on the radio a few months ago,
and the children's renditions of such 70's rock standards as "The Long and
Winding Road" and the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" are imperfect, and breathtaking.
One nine year-old
girl sings "Desperado" and it brings tears to my eyes, as does David Bowie's
"Space Oddity." I'm not sure what
it is, but the children's voices are eerily poignant, and it's so easy
to visualize them standing in the school gym singing at the tops of their
voices and banging on their instruments as their music teacher conducts
them. And he's easy to visualize, too--a musician and guitar teacher looking for a steadier
job to support his family, who knew next to nothing about teaching music to children, and
just went with his instincts.
I knew nothing about conventional music education, and I didn't know how to
teach singing. Above all, I knew nothing of what children's music was supposed
to be. But the kids had a better grasp of what they liked--emotion, drama,
and making music as a group. Whether the results were good, bad, in tune or
out was no big deal--they had élan.
- Hans Fenger, Music Director, Langley Schools Music Project
That one was from Holly.
I get a weekly report of searches that are run on my sites; I usually don't
pay a whole lot of attention. I glance at them, and then delete them. This
week's was sort of interesting, though:
- 2 for "chihuaha dogs"
- 2 for "horses"
- 2 for "waterfalls"
- 1 for "whatever"
I doubt I've ever mentioned waterfalls, let alone horses or chihuahuas.
Whatever.
