I place a high priority on tradition & properness. I always have, but it's not a standard traditionalism, i make my own rules, they are of course culled from our shared reality, i don't just pull this stuff out of my bottom. Nor should you. All of these traditions & "proper ways of doing things" carry a deeper, hidden code, a way of explaining things without using too many words. So much of what has been introduced to our world through the cold conveyor belts of modernism has been without cultural presentation & is just dumped off into our lives with an instruction manual that only pertains to functional use, not symbolic cultural existence. We are all the poorer for this.You could build an entire civilization using reruns of "Are You Being Served?" & things wouldn't be too bad, a bit tarty, but that never hurt anyone. You could build an unbelievably pleasant world using the works of Richard Scarry. If you've got a kid, make sure to include as many of his older books in your library as possible, they teach a visual cultural language that is unrivaled in picture books. Even though i grew up in a world that looked very little like that in Richard Scarry's books, i always knew his view was right, was correct & should be emulated!
I wholeheartedly agree about Richard Scarrey's view being "right" and "correct" although I remember some slight disappointment when I realized that his world was decidedly not "scary". But that was simply my 7 year old misreading and no fault of his own. I remember the first time I took my daughter to OMSI and when we got there she looked slightly confused for a moment and asked, in genuine 3 year old wonder, "Where's the zombie?"
ReplyDeleteha! OMSI should totally do an undead exhibit.
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