Bright side of the Yellow Brick Road

[Guest guest]

Hello All,

The new poll has given me some cause to think about stress, dreams,

and medical situations in life. I have just finished a book

titled " Wicked " which is the extrapolated biography of the Wicked

Witch of the West from " The Wizard of Oz " . It follows her from birth

to death (at the hands of Dorothy) with much philosophising about

evilness, wickedness, and personal aspirations in life. How physical

deficiencies and oddities effect our outlook and success in life at

realizing those things we perceive as good to do with our lives.

This is pretty heady stuff, but I find it refreshing to follow the

story line and think of my own experiences in comparison to the WWOTW.

Her name was Elphabah and she was born with green skin and a set of

very sharp teeth which she used on every thing that came her way.

This did not endear her to anybody and she became picked on, outcast, and

reclusive. Eventually, she grew up and went to college which was the beginnings

of her socialization in life. In the end, she just about failed at realizing all

of her aspirations and felt that life had given her talents, love, family,

politics, friends, and maturity, but not success. She went down swinging and had

no notions of any after life as professed by herself, but also with some

questions and reservations deep in her heart. Sort of that existential feeling

that " I'm just a puppet on the stage of life without much free will. "

In a way, I have felt similarly, but also with strong feelings of

goodness and faith that I am contributing to the world in a positive

way and that it was better to haved tried and fallen short than to

renege on life and complain from the dark side. To paraphrase a

recently observed postulation, " Those who complain about the past,

fear the future, and fail to act in the present are missing the

meaning and joy of life. " So we who have this restrictive disease can broaden

our horizons by choosing to walk (as best we can - lol) on bright side of the

Yellow Brick Road and perhaps be happy with the view.

FYI - The author of " Wicked " does indeed explain all about the Yellow Brick Road

as to why it was built and what happened to it. Nasty politics that!

Well, I can heartily recommend " Wicked " to you as a slow to get into

read, but fascinating to the end.

EdM from NH

[Guest guest]

Ed in NH,

Thanks for the book suggestion. Very interesting, and I shall ask my

librarian to get it for me. Even more interesting that the WWOW went

to college - I am assuming this book is a fictional biography, yes?

One would think the WW would have had her world expanded at some

point, but perhaps her 'stinkin thinkin' and self-loathing got the

best of her.

If I remember, in the original WoOz book (and film which I think

I've seen about 30 times) the witch is set on fire at the end -

can't remember by who. But, doesn't Dorothy pour water over her (to

stop the fire) and in turn the witch melts? My brother, no CMT, and

a sci fi nut once told me that's because the witch was made out of

brown sugar, and fire and water melt brown sugar.

So, just thinking out loud here, the witch, being made of a type of

sugar, must have had goodness in her, just like we all do. Sometimes

we loose our way and step off the Yellow Brick Road onto unmarked

trails, or on uneven ground with no trail and end up lost in the

forrest.

As for me, I'm definitely on the Yellow Brick Road - just got to

watch out for that field of poppies before the Emerald City though!

lol

Do you think similiar 'biographies' on the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and

Cowardly Lion are forthcoming in the same venue?

On another note, in one writing class I took, we discussed the

possibility of the Wizard of Oz being a Christian allegory.

That's my 5 cents for now. Thanks for sharing.

~ Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Hello Gretchen,

What an interesting reply and entertaining too! LOL is good for the

soul.

It is fiction of course, but L. Baum wrote fifteen Oz books and

covered quite a lot of ground with the characters. All of it is quite

allegorical and worth some introspection. MacGuire had much

to work with when he wrote " Wicked " which was about ten years ago.

More recently he has come out with " Son of Witch " . This is the story

of Liir who was thought to be WWOTW's son by her lover. MacGuire also

interjected the notion that the WWOTW was the issue of the rape of

her mother by the Wizard himself. He has not produced any other Oz

based books so far. He did some other books about other fairy tale

stories such as Cinderella.

If we have an ear to hear, there are many allegorical stories dealing

with the hardrock of life. I guess part of our education is to see

the connections and reflect in them or own foibles and dreams.

EdM from NH

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/14/2006 5:55:44 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

gretchen.glick@... writes:

On another note, in one writing class I took, we discussed the

possibility of the Wizard of Oz being a Christian allegory.

I heard this one at church actually.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Wow, I haven't heard that 'alternative' universe or 'mirror' universe

concept in a very long time. Takes me way back....lol, many nights of

a lot of Tequila and alot of friends trying to get philosophical and

challenge truths. Of course, if there really are 'alternative'

or 'mirrior' universes, that means there's more CMT there doesn't it?

~ Gretchen

[Guest guest]

just to add; this is now a show on broadway and is supposed to be fabulous; look

out for it in your city.

Jackie

[Guest guest]

Exactly, someone else in another place and time just like me gets to be normal.

Anything I can do to be of service to others.

Yes, LONG nights and lots of LSD.

gfijig <gretchen.glick@...> wrote:

Hi ,

Wow, I haven't heard that 'alternative' universe or 'mirror' universe

concept in a very long time. Takes me way back....lol, many nights of

a lot of Tequila and alot of friends trying to get philosophical and

challenge truths. Of course, if there really are 'alternative'

or 'mirrior' universes, that means there's more CMT there doesn't it?

~ Gretchen

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Hi Ed,

I just saw Wicked the musical. It was awesome! I don't know if they are

doing a DVD of the musical but if they are you should get it - I have not

enjoyed myself so much at theatre in quite a long time!

The WwoW mother had an affair with the Wizard (the way it was portrayed on

stage) and he gave her a green potion which Elpheba saved and when she was

" vanished " with the water the Wizard saw and put two and two together.

Elpheba was quite cute onstage and wound up meeting a nice guy but were torn

apart due to Glenda and Glenda's ambitions.

But let's just say on stage anyway it was happily ever after! And the door

was left open to plenty of sequels!

Donna from London