Taking the world in through a child's perspective is a useful thing.
Lewis writes, "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
"Childlike" is something to be guarded.
The faith of a child, the unbounded love, the belief without logic those are precious commodities.
One of the reasons I decided to write to children is because their mind can more easily relax into situations of fiction. Where an adult might think, "Now how did he get that bunny to come out of that hat?" a child would think, "Woah! A bunny!"
I got a phone call today saying that a little boy I recently went on vacation with is spreading the rumor at his daycare that I played a large role in drowning him. After my threatening phone call to the kids he told, I couldn't help but laugh ;)
Devon is four and embarked on his virgin voyage to the beach last week. I took him out into the ocean to give him a ride on the boogie board with careful instructions to keep his mouth closed as there are few tastes as bitter as a big gulp of salt water. Being four he must have forgotten because he got a big gulp of it the second time we tried and after I helped him cough it out he stated simply, "I drownded." Myself and others tried to reassure him otherwise, but he was bent on painting me as a killer to other boys and girls.
Lewis points out in an essay of his that a tree doesn't shed rings as it grows, it maintains the old ones while it aquires the new. The same is true with people. We shouldn't shed as we get older but rather build, expand, grow.
He writes, "to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development." This is said because what people tend to do is to label arrested developement as anyone who has a taste for childlike things, when really it's their own fear of childishness that inhibits.
Honestly I'm at a loss on how to end this blog because I could go on.
All I am saying is give kids a chance.
Throw a sippy cup in the air and sing THAT outloud.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
V-A-C-A-TION
Good news-I made it through my week of vacation with my mothers voice singing in my head "V-A-C-A-TION" only about three times. That's a record.
Along with about 300,000 other Americans we went to Myrtle Beach and got our relaxation on this past week, and it was an experience. Traveling with 11 other people can't be anything but.
I learned that the best thing when traveling with that large of a group is to slow your brain down to twenty miles under the normal speed. That way you don't expect things to happen quickly and your expectations are met.
It's funny how the trip going and coming yields two completely different feelings.
Going, you're glad to have your life in a to go package, you're excited about what's to come so you over look little things like toddlers screaming behind you. Nothing matters, you have miles of the beach to enjoy in a couple hours. The unknown is fueling your senses, at this point your daily routine is ment to be forgotten.
Coming back, you find yourself envious of every person you see walking down the street in any town. You think how they've got everything settled, all that they own is exactly where it's supposed to be in a pre-determined place, while you're stuff is somewhere around this fifteen passenger van probably under the empty bag of cheetos. You think, if only that toddler would quit crying we're in an enclosed space for cripes sake, and thank God we're about to get back to our routine. Our routine that includes a MINIMAL AMOUNT OF PEOPLE. Good GOD I've had enough of the unknown.
At least that's all in theory of course.
If vacation is good for one thing its the break from your everyday. A new thought pattern may occur to you, a cross breeze in the corners of your mind.
Really, it's all very refreshing regardless, for sitting alone with my laptop is now a luxury I'm more than happy to enjoy alone.
Along with about 300,000 other Americans we went to Myrtle Beach and got our relaxation on this past week, and it was an experience. Traveling with 11 other people can't be anything but.
I learned that the best thing when traveling with that large of a group is to slow your brain down to twenty miles under the normal speed. That way you don't expect things to happen quickly and your expectations are met.
It's funny how the trip going and coming yields two completely different feelings.
Going, you're glad to have your life in a to go package, you're excited about what's to come so you over look little things like toddlers screaming behind you. Nothing matters, you have miles of the beach to enjoy in a couple hours. The unknown is fueling your senses, at this point your daily routine is ment to be forgotten.
Coming back, you find yourself envious of every person you see walking down the street in any town. You think how they've got everything settled, all that they own is exactly where it's supposed to be in a pre-determined place, while you're stuff is somewhere around this fifteen passenger van probably under the empty bag of cheetos. You think, if only that toddler would quit crying we're in an enclosed space for cripes sake, and thank God we're about to get back to our routine. Our routine that includes a MINIMAL AMOUNT OF PEOPLE. Good GOD I've had enough of the unknown.
At least that's all in theory of course.
If vacation is good for one thing its the break from your everyday. A new thought pattern may occur to you, a cross breeze in the corners of your mind.
Really, it's all very refreshing regardless, for sitting alone with my laptop is now a luxury I'm more than happy to enjoy alone.
Friday, July 17, 2009
the secret to being cool
I don't claim to be the gatekeeper of Cool. Really, Coolness can't be fenced in, and neither could Bugs Bunny who is arguably the Coolest cartoon character of all times.
I am claiming to have insight, so consider me your Coolness Liaison (maybe you consider that the same as being the gatekeeper, if so, disregard the first sentence).
Lets not go overboard and think of the Cool that I'm referring to as sauntering into every room, hair slicked back, ciggy bobbing from your lips James Dean style. What I think of when I use Cool is the "comfortable in your own skin-takes a lot to be embarrassed or have an awkward moment about yourself" kind of Cool. The easy, breezy kind of smooth that no one notices at the time, yet later as they think of you in passing stop for a second, nod their head to some silent beat and smirk that you are one Cool cat.
If you just moved closer to the computer screen then I'm assuming that's the kind of Cool you are looking for. The way you get it is by being you. Simple enough. Actually to cut it into smaller bites, really just--be, period.
Track with me for a second: the opposite of Cool is awkward and awkwardness comes when there is large amounts of undo pressure on a situation, pressure usually arises when someone is trying too hard therefore if you try too hard to be cool you will fail.
That's the mistake most kids make. They calculate what to say and how to say it in order to come off sounding cool but their mistake is made before the awkwardness comes barreling out of their mouth--their first mistake was to calculate. If you are simply yourself you don't have to "come up" with things that try and make you sound cool, you just are.
I actually have a scripture to back me up on this. Luke 14:11, "But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."
Coolness can ooze from your pores if you allow yourself to relax in who you are.
And the benefit to that is, once you've got that down you become an even better person just like that verse says.
Just be. It's even simplier then Nike thought.
"what good is being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?"
-calvin and hobbes
I am claiming to have insight, so consider me your Coolness Liaison (maybe you consider that the same as being the gatekeeper, if so, disregard the first sentence).
Lets not go overboard and think of the Cool that I'm referring to as sauntering into every room, hair slicked back, ciggy bobbing from your lips James Dean style. What I think of when I use Cool is the "comfortable in your own skin-takes a lot to be embarrassed or have an awkward moment about yourself" kind of Cool. The easy, breezy kind of smooth that no one notices at the time, yet later as they think of you in passing stop for a second, nod their head to some silent beat and smirk that you are one Cool cat.
If you just moved closer to the computer screen then I'm assuming that's the kind of Cool you are looking for. The way you get it is by being you. Simple enough. Actually to cut it into smaller bites, really just--be, period.
Track with me for a second: the opposite of Cool is awkward and awkwardness comes when there is large amounts of undo pressure on a situation, pressure usually arises when someone is trying too hard therefore if you try too hard to be cool you will fail.
That's the mistake most kids make. They calculate what to say and how to say it in order to come off sounding cool but their mistake is made before the awkwardness comes barreling out of their mouth--their first mistake was to calculate. If you are simply yourself you don't have to "come up" with things that try and make you sound cool, you just are.
I actually have a scripture to back me up on this. Luke 14:11, "But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."
Coolness can ooze from your pores if you allow yourself to relax in who you are.
And the benefit to that is, once you've got that down you become an even better person just like that verse says.
Just be. It's even simplier then Nike thought.
"what good is being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?"
-calvin and hobbes
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thank you Sloane Crosley
Today, as made evident by my twitter, I visited the bookstore.
I had two books in mind that I wanted to catch up with, the first was "I was told there'd be cake" by Sloane Crosley which is a collection of essays told by a girl who could sneeze and it would be witty, and the second was the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart which is a children's book I've now decided to read as it is on the New York Times best seller list along with it's sequel.
Why I have just told you those things, I'm not sure. My purpose has been distracted. What bothers me even more is the fact that I just did a question and answer thing at the first of this paragraph. Do people who pose a question simply to make a point by answering it themselves make me want to scratch their eyes out? Yes. (voice rising in pitch with each word).
Ah yes. My intentions. I was going to include some quotes I lifted from the Cake book. Well, actually I was and then I wasn't, the thought of rewording them and stamping my own name at the bottom DID cross my mind, but hey we can keep this between ourselves, yeah? If you hear me say any of this at a party turn to the person next to you and say, "How inspiring she is!"
From Sloane Crosley's "I was told there'd be cake":
"I started crying the kind of hysterical tears made justifiable only by turning off one's cell phone, putting it to the ear and pretending to be told of a death in the family."
"She gave me looks so stern I believe she burned calories creating them."
"It's a trip down memory lane, which, if you don't turn off at the right exit, merges straight into the Masochistic Nostalgia Highway."
I had two books in mind that I wanted to catch up with, the first was "I was told there'd be cake" by Sloane Crosley which is a collection of essays told by a girl who could sneeze and it would be witty, and the second was the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart which is a children's book I've now decided to read as it is on the New York Times best seller list along with it's sequel.
Why I have just told you those things, I'm not sure. My purpose has been distracted. What bothers me even more is the fact that I just did a question and answer thing at the first of this paragraph. Do people who pose a question simply to make a point by answering it themselves make me want to scratch their eyes out? Yes. (voice rising in pitch with each word).
Ah yes. My intentions. I was going to include some quotes I lifted from the Cake book. Well, actually I was and then I wasn't, the thought of rewording them and stamping my own name at the bottom DID cross my mind, but hey we can keep this between ourselves, yeah? If you hear me say any of this at a party turn to the person next to you and say, "How inspiring she is!"
From Sloane Crosley's "I was told there'd be cake":
"I started crying the kind of hysterical tears made justifiable only by turning off one's cell phone, putting it to the ear and pretending to be told of a death in the family."
"She gave me looks so stern I believe she burned calories creating them."
"It's a trip down memory lane, which, if you don't turn off at the right exit, merges straight into the Masochistic Nostalgia Highway."
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Worth My Salt
It just thundered, how perfect. I love rain.
----no segue-----
In the back of my cumulative version of the Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis has an essay entitled "On Three Ways of Writing for Children."
The first time I read it (as I have owned the book for years I would not allow myself the pleasure of reading the essay till I re-read the chronicles in this form) I felt as if I was given the high honor of sitting down with my authorial hero and chatting about children's books.
It has become my national treasure.
So I am re-typing the essay for two reasons-one, because my desire is to mimic his recipe and what better way to do that then to pick apart his ingredients, and two, because this way I can mark all over the page.
I'm catching all sorts of things I didn't the first time. One such example I just typed out was something he said that makes me very proud of my history as a reader.
He says,
"Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time-table" (773).
If I were in an actual conversation with him I would quickly slip in that by the time I was 16 I had read almost every John Grisham novel out there and now that I am 25 have books such as "Ramona Forever" (from the Ramona Quimby series) on my reading list.
I would probably follow that fact with a smug smile and a coy sip of my tea and wait for him to praise me but instead be met with his return to the conversation on writing fantasy for children.
"Silly Clive," I would say, "do go on."
----no segue-----
In the back of my cumulative version of the Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis has an essay entitled "On Three Ways of Writing for Children."
The first time I read it (as I have owned the book for years I would not allow myself the pleasure of reading the essay till I re-read the chronicles in this form) I felt as if I was given the high honor of sitting down with my authorial hero and chatting about children's books.
It has become my national treasure.
So I am re-typing the essay for two reasons-one, because my desire is to mimic his recipe and what better way to do that then to pick apart his ingredients, and two, because this way I can mark all over the page.
I'm catching all sorts of things I didn't the first time. One such example I just typed out was something he said that makes me very proud of my history as a reader.
He says,
"Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time-table" (773).
If I were in an actual conversation with him I would quickly slip in that by the time I was 16 I had read almost every John Grisham novel out there and now that I am 25 have books such as "Ramona Forever" (from the Ramona Quimby series) on my reading list.
I would probably follow that fact with a smug smile and a coy sip of my tea and wait for him to praise me but instead be met with his return to the conversation on writing fantasy for children.
"Silly Clive," I would say, "do go on."
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
blank
If the portion of my brain that comes up with things to blog/twitter about were a store front right now it would read "out to lunch".
At least that's my explanation for why I can't think of anything to say.
When I go through these spells I know it's a good time to read. Of course I like to think any time is a good time to read, but most especially now.
See you when my mental break is over.
At least that's my explanation for why I can't think of anything to say.
When I go through these spells I know it's a good time to read. Of course I like to think any time is a good time to read, but most especially now.
See you when my mental break is over.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Post-Posts
This may come across self absorbed and prideful, but I enjoy taking time to read my old blogs.
I don't do it often, but when I do, I laugh (and I'm always ready for a good laugh).
Sometimes I laugh at my old way of thinking/writing, other times I laugh cause I'm a genius when it comes to being funny ;)
Here's a quote I found that I wrote about blogging in my second blog that I still agree with and thought it was worth re-posting...
"Although blogs may not always give us facts or definitions, they do give us insight into other peoples lives allowing us to momentarily escape our own. They're like 30 second books, or a two minute pass to look through someone's window without being considered a creep.
I love blogging because it's an open venue to say and write whatever I please. No deadlines, no restraints, no grammar rules just me, the cursor, and you (the non-creep peering through my window)."
Anyway I appreciate your taking the time to read this. I know that since I've started this blog probably millions more have popped up all with varying interests in mind, but if you're still a frequent customer at MusEings know that you're a valued one.
Happy Wednesday everybody!
I don't do it often, but when I do, I laugh (and I'm always ready for a good laugh).
Sometimes I laugh at my old way of thinking/writing, other times I laugh cause I'm a genius when it comes to being funny ;)
Here's a quote I found that I wrote about blogging in my second blog that I still agree with and thought it was worth re-posting...
"Although blogs may not always give us facts or definitions, they do give us insight into other peoples lives allowing us to momentarily escape our own. They're like 30 second books, or a two minute pass to look through someone's window without being considered a creep.
I love blogging because it's an open venue to say and write whatever I please. No deadlines, no restraints, no grammar rules just me, the cursor, and you (the non-creep peering through my window)."
Anyway I appreciate your taking the time to read this. I know that since I've started this blog probably millions more have popped up all with varying interests in mind, but if you're still a frequent customer at MusEings know that you're a valued one.
Happy Wednesday everybody!
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