cyrano | Defender of the Child

Not much in the mood to listen to Chieftains, but they're up on the ripping schedule. So there is much tweedling and hooting.
I made the mistake this evening of watching the Wizard of Oz with my jaundiced and less than innocent eye, and indicated that I thought that Glinda and the Wizard were less than altruistic folks. I also outlined how the Wizard used Dorothy to get rid of his political rival, the Witch of the West, and how Glinda used Dorothy to get rid of her political rival, the Wizard.
I'm too young to be this cynical, I'm told. Why can't they all be trying to help Dorothy become a better person? Why can't this just be a learning dream? Why does everything have to be a conspiracy?
Well, my friend, you're not a conspiracy. I think you're trying to help me become a better person. But my default assumption is that strangers I meet are looking out for their best interest rather than my own, and my best hope is that they intersect. I don't instinctively trust people, and I make them prove themselves to me.
I guess that makes me like the Wizard and Obi Wan, and maybe that's why it's so easy for me to see it in other people.
If I ever lose that fear, and give people the benefit of the doubt, maybe I'll become the Queen of Munchkinland. It looks like a nice place.

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But if you haven't, you should absolutely read Wicked, by Gregory Maguire. It's absolutely brilliant (though I didn't like his second book, on Cinderella, nearly as much). For another, very harsh take, read Was, by Geoff Ryman. It's almost hard to get through in places, but is very, very good, and is a fascinating take on Dorothy, the idea of Oz, and even Judy Garland.

Oo. In fact, I own the first and raved about it to you. (: Still interested in reading the Cinderella book someday. And very interested in the second, perhaps will steal it away from you stealthily some day.

Oh! I'm a flake and completely forgot, it would seem--but I'll bring Confessions tomorrow night! Was, you'll have a hard time getting from me, because I borrowed it from the MV library, my favorite place of late. ^_^

Defender of the Child

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