Whimsy Wednesday

“There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magic. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”. I believe this is completely literal. I believe that magic is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events. A grimmoir for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar. Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people’s consciousness. And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman.

I believe that all culture must have arisen from cult. Originally, all of the faucets of our culture, whether they be in the arts or sciences were the province of the Shaman. The fact that in present times, this magical power has degenerated to the level of cheap entertainment and manipulation, is, I think a tragedy. At the moment the people who are using Shamanism and magic to shape our culture are advertisers. Rather than try to wake people up, their Shamanism is used as an opiate to tranquilize people, to make people more manipulable. Their magic box of television, and by their magic words, their jingles can cause everyone in the country to be thinking the same words and have the same banal thoughts all at exactly the same moment. 

 In all of magic there is an incredibly large linguistic component. The Bardic tradition of magic would place a bard as being much higher and more fearsome than a magician. A magician might curse you. That might make your hands lay funny or you might have a child born with a club foot. If a Bard were to place not a curse upon you, but a satire, then that could destroy you. If it was a clever satire, it might not just destroy you in the eyes of your associates; it would destroy you in the eyes of your family. It would destroy you in your own eyes. And if it was a finely worded and clever satire that might survive and be remembered for decades, even centuries. Then years after you were dead people still might be reading it and laughing at you and your wretchedness and your absurdity. Writers and people who had command of words were respected and feared as people who manipulated magic. In latter times I think that artists and writers have allowed themselves to be sold down the river. They have accepted the prevailing belief that art and writing are merely forms of entertainment. They’re not seen as transformative forces that can change a human being; that can change a society. They are seen as simple entertainment; things with which we can fill 20 minutes, half an hour, while we’re waiting to die. It’s not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience. They would be the artists. It is the job of artists to give the audience what they need." 

--Alan Moore

Whimsy Wednesday: Keep Calm & Make Magic

Save it. 

Print it.

Post it. 

Live it. 

Weeee!

Kitchen Magic

Q:What can you make
with left over veggies?

OK. I really wanted to expand that last "Things I love" post about food into something more substantial. I wanted to post about the simple things we cook when there isn't anything in the fridge except left overs. I wanted to ask about the simple things you bake when there isn't anything in the pantry except flour, sugar, and some baking powder. I wanted to write about the simple Magic We Make in the Kitchen when there doesn't seem to be any Magic at all.

A: Veggie Wontons!

I've been really into food bloggers lately. I've been smitten with this blog especially. I love looking up recipes and making something wonderful out of the bare minimum of ingredients. The less ingredients required or more ingredients I actually have in my reach that are required the better. I love the Magic one can make from the simplest things. Flour, sugar, water, and a little hot oil... funnel cakes, anyone? Don't know what I'm talking about? When was the last time you woke up an hour later than usual on a lazy Saturday morning and decided to make a breakfast for you and your loved ones? Is Pancakes a special Sunday morning tradition?

What I'm getting at is this: When do we take the time to make some Simple Magic? It's not that far away. Simple Magic is as close as the kitchen. But, when do we take the time and breathe and relax and make something that we usually don't make (a stack of blue berry pancakes, Nutella filled crepes, cheese and sausage biscuits, lavender and earl grey scones)? Do we keep ourselves busy, filling ourselves with cheep and easy and quick things to eat because they are just that? Don't get me wrong, I love me some Ramen. But, why don't we let ourselves indulge in simple kitchen Magic as much as we could?

Lazy Saturday Blueberry Pancakes!

My challenge for you, Spatulans, is this: Make something for yourself this week that you normally wouldn't make. Make something you either haven't had the time, the ingredients, or the will power to make or because the next episode of Alias is on and you'd rather watch that. Clear that schedule, buy those ingredients (or find a new yummy recipe that requires things you already have) and get to making some delicious Magic for you or someone special. Simple Magic is only 15 minutes at 350 degrees away.


Also This: It's a playlist of 16 songs for the 16th. The only thing is... I posted on the 15th thinking it was the 16th. So wait until Monday to play this. Or, you can play this while you are baking up some Magic this week.

Montana (Sans Hannah)

Safely returned home after four flights and a little bit of jet lag. I am sad that I had to leave our beloved S. Kemp in Missoula, but could not be happier for her. I thought I'd share a few of the pictures from the trip, and let them do the talking. Hope you enjoy!

Driving thru- or attempting to- Ashville, NC.

Eventually winding up in Nashville, TN and getting some much needed sleep. (And much needed time seeing my little sister who attends Vanderbilt! Smarty. ;) )

The second day was spent going from Nashville to Kansas City. Where we paid tribute at the World War I Memorial. (Sadly, they are closed on Mondays. Poo.)

We passed thru The Badlands of South Dakota and took a rest in Custer. (Such a cool place!) Somewhere along the lines we saw a bunch of old rockers. 

[Part Two of our adventures coming next week!]

The Magic of Hello

Recently my sister and I have been keeping in touch through video blogs. It’s a new idea for me. I reserve thoughts and deams and “what I did today’s” for a red spiral-bound notebook, and seeing all of those things coming from my face in a video blog is a little unnerving. Admittedly, I was inspired to start vlogging after watching the youtube channel, vlogbrothers. Two brothers reconnect with each other wherever they are in the nerd universe through youtube. There is a lot of talk of star wars and nerd fighters and I just can’t help myself when people star talking nerdy.

So, my sister and I have been vlogging just to say “hello” and report some silly thing like “I saw Elvis yesterday in the canned fruit isle at the grocery store.” I love you, I miss you, and I’ll see you later are constants.

Sometimes I cry a little inside at how ridiculous I think I sound. I shake my head to think how idiotic it may seem to someone who happens to put in “ta2” in a youtube search and up pops the video I made for my sister about corny jokes. (What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck.)

In my mind, any college cinematographer would have B-rated nightmares for months after watching one. But, the magic isn’t in the vlog’s quality - it’s the hello. My sister doesn’t care how ridiculous I am. In fact she loves that I’m ridiculous, and I think the videos I get from her are little pieces of magic. I get to hear and see her. She is only two hours away at college but she doesn’t travel home often, thanks to exams, student teaching, and other various perils of college life like indigestion from refried burritos.

The magic comes from knowing she’s thinking of me. When she says, "Hello, sister. I have so many things to tell you," I just get so happy inside. Actually, there’s a little magic that comes from knowing anyone is thinking of me. Like when someone smiles at me walking down the street, or when a friend calls and says, “Hi there I just heard Mmmbop on the radio and thought of you.” And I’m completely undone when I get a text from that special person, “Hey there pretty girl, I hope your day is going well.”

I call these feelings "the happy inside body squeeze." You may have a different name for it but I know you know what I'm talking about. These videos and the little hello they contain, like the little hello's everywhere, are what I call magic.