Dear Insane Children,
Sometimes the only way we get to new and interesting places is through a journey in which we must sacrifice a great amount. In the modern world, that might mean investing the time and money to fly halfway around the world. Or sailing for a week to a remote island. Or hiking for days to a secluded mountaintop. But what if you lived on the featureless plains and Kansas and wanted to get somewhere REALLY interesting?
Some news illustrations from Gareth paint the picture…
Dorothy chases a tornado, clutching Toto in one arm and a bag of valuables in the other. She’s hoping to be pulled back into the Land of Oz after returning home and finding all she once loved is no more. Time passed more slowly in Oz – Dorothy barely aged a day. But all her family and friends lived decades in which they mourned and eventually said farewell to Dorothy.
And the progress brought on by the passage of time didn’t sit well with Dorothy so… back to Oz. To the land of eternal life. To a place where time is frozen and progress isn’t measured.
But not alone…
Because Dorothy realized it wasn’t Kansas or “home” she missed but her Em and Uncle Henry. And though they’d perished long ago, Dorothy knew that death is no obstacle to the magic of Oz. A sprinkle of The Powder of Life and they’d be right as rain. A bit shrunken and removed from all the bits below the neck… but much easier to transport to Oz that way! Torsos and limbs could be fashioned later – even better than the meaty old bodies they had before.
So, um, yeah… Dorothy revives the shrunken heads of her aunt and uncle so she’s not alone when she gets back to Oz.
How about some tentacles to lighten the mood? Joey did this excellent illustration of Alice mastering the tentacles as she reveals the secrets contained in Radcliffe’s Notebook.
We are still very much in Lockdown here in Shanghai. And it’s unclear when the situation might improve. And Yan is now less than 2 weeks from the Due Date of our next child – May 8th. So it’s looking like we’re going to have a Lockdown Baby! There are extra stresses introduced by Lockdown but we’re managing things as best we can. And fingers crossed that the city comes out of this soon.
From Shanghai with Shrunken Heads,
-American