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Finished Reading “The Real Wizard of Oz”

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  What was the world like before “The Wizard of Oz”? Nobody reading this today has such a memory. If you do, your memory must be very good because each of us was introduced to Oz at a very young age. Rebecca Loncraine gives a masterful guided tour of the world in “The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum.” Loncraine’s carefully researched work shows us how far we are removed from the influences behind a story that always seems to have been.  The timeless story of “The Wizard of Oz” is the story of the world seen through a child’s eyes. It is a land discovered, not invented. While not an allegory, everything in Baum’s fantasy is intentional. He witnessed the world become fantastical. Work and play changed, along with imagination. Epidemics were widespread and the death rate was high. The mood was uncertain, mysterious.  A careful reader will discover that Baum’s imaginary world is not as far away as one might think. Baum’s personal story begins before the Civil War and
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The Scientist

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Starting a new section in my reading guide on “Foundations of Science and Mathematics.” This song came to mind as it’s back to the start, reading through the ancient then 16th, 17th and 18th centuries sources, the founders of mathematical and scientific ideas (Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, et al.) Maybe the cooler nights will bring clearer skies for stargazing, to follow the moon and reflect on how we understand our world, to be a better person.  “Man is now a world traveler, who sees his motions projected into the sky and thus becomes the measure of all things.” — Curtis Wilson, Dean, St. John’s College
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Finished Re-reading

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Finished re-reading “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Why re-read? First, everyone should read this letter. Second, Plato reminded me to re-read this letter. Then MLK reminded me to re-read Plato. Here’s what happened.  I’m working my way through a twelve volume reading guide through The Great Books. You read that right: I have a 12 volume reading guide for a 50 volume set of books. I don’t own that 50 volume set, but I’ve collected each work contained therein independently. But I digress. Why do I read?  Educational philosopher Robert M Hutchins wrote that “. . . citizenship requires that you understand the world in which you live and that you do not leave your duties to be performed by others, living vicariously and vacuously on their virtue and intelligence. A free society is a society composed of free men. To be free you have to be educated for freedom. This means that you have to think; for the free man is one who thinks for himself. It means that you have t
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Going to be a long road

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 Fortunate to have not lost power or suffer heavy damage, but North Carolina and eastern Tennessee could be shut down for a year due to continuing mud slides and wash-outs. Entire towns gone. Search “North Carolina” in social media for more.  Our rivers are rising due to waters flowing down, some banks have overflowed. Reminiscent of 2015 floods for many. But still safe and dry here. Many areas here still without power. 
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Safe and dry

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The hurricane just brushed us by. Much of the state was out of power but it’s being restored. Western and central North Carolina are devastated. Entire towns are gone due to mudslides and flooding. And another storm is forming in the gulf.  Always be ready
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“We all want something beautiful” (Foo Fighters)

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 “.  . . when a beautiful soul harmonizes with a beautiful form, and the two are cast in one mould, that will be the fairest of sights to him who has an eye to see it.” Plato, Republic, book 3 
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Why?

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Rock Me, Epictetus!

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“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?” EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6 b –8 
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Always Remember

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Who writes this stuff???

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Update and “Retrievable Ideas”

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Last known picture

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Update

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First, let me say “thank you for your patience.” My work schedule has not been kind and my health is not what it once was. I am obviously not writing as much but hope to get that machine running again soon. I’ll get to the health stuff another time. I’m just getting old, that’s all.  Second, though I’m working, I’ve not stopped filling out applications, trying to re-enter higher education. Something promising is on the horizon, but time will tell.  Third, I get my hearing aids next week. 30% hearing loss in both ears. Tinnitus never stops. I blame the Foo Fighters concert I went to a few years back (was near deaf for 3 days). Actually, it’s hereditary, so now it’s my time. Speaking of hereditary, I still have all my hair to the envy of my dad and uncle.  I have a project I’ve been working on, but I’ll share that in another post.
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The Literature of Nature

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 “Where is the literature which gives expression to Nature? He would be a poet who could impress the winds and streams into his service, to speak for him; who nailed words to their primitive senses, as farmers drive down stakes in the spring, which the frost has heaved; who derived his words as often as he used them—transplanted them to his page with earth adhering to their roots; whose words were so true and fresh and natural that they would appear to expand like the buds at the approach of spring, though they lay half smothered between two musty leaves in a library—aye, to bloom and bear fruit there, after their kind, annually, for the faithful reader, in sympathy with surrounding Nature.” Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” (public domain)
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Beautiful

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 I love the summertime clouds 
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