A Study of Fairy Tales (Laura F. Kready): Part 1

I would first like to introduce this section by lamenting the lack of information available about Ms. Laura Kready, author of the book I recently downloaded to read: A Study of Fairy Tales. I had hope to introduce her to you, but I have no information regarding her, aside from the fact that she had this book published by Houghton Mifflen in 1916.

A Study of Fairy Tales is a fascinating book that both analyzes fairy tales, and provides very motivating evidence to prove the worth of the fairy tale's presence in early education (kindergarten - 1st grade). The introduction and first chapter of the book are devoted entirely towards establishing the worth of the fairy tale in traditional early educational curriculums, by both providing evidence of their worth in developing character traits and also providing information regarding their value as an art form separate from traditional literature.

One of my favorite quotes from this portion of the book actually is from the Introduction, written by Henry Suzzallo, Ph.D. (then President of the University of Washington):

"The diet of babes cannot be determined by the needs of grown-ups. A spiritual malnutrition which starves would soon set in if adult wisdom were imposed on children for their sustenance. The truth is amply illustrated by those pathetic objects of our acquaintance, the men and women who have never been boys and girls."

We all know someone who has suffered from a severe lack of proper stimulation as children - and I fear that many of the kids I know now will also suffer from this. Not from an overabundance of grown-up wisdom forced upon them, but because of the absolute dearth of worthless shows, books, and other falsely stimulating products of our media-driven culture. While there is, of course, inherent value in the (occasional) mindless episode of a NickToon or Cartoon Network feature, they shouldn't be the primary diet of childhood - I think the next 10 years (if not the past 5) will quickly convince us of the lack of moral structure or guidance offered by these empty shells.

By contrast, literature such as traditional fairy tales, and enriching stories not built on easily-merchandisable characters offer kids both the escape they need to keep them stimulated (after all, even us adults can barely stay tuned into the real world anymore), but also gives them a real and unmovable foothold in what is right and wrong, what is worth pursuing and what is worthless, and so on.

::set soap box aside::

Now that I've vented properly, on to Ms. Kready's work.

In the first chapter, she outlines the qualities of fairy tales that make them essential for any child's education. They are:

1. Fairy tales bring joy into child life.
2. Fairy tales satisfy the play spirit of childhood.
3. Fairy tales are play forms.
4. Fairy tales give the child a power of accurate observation.
5. Fairy tales strengthen the power of emotion, develop the power of imagination, train the memory, and exercise the reason.
6. Fairy tales extend and intensify the child's social relations.
7. The fairy tale as one form of the story is one part of the largest means to unify the entire work or play of the child.
8. Fairy tales employ leisure hours in a way that builds character.
9. Fairy tales afford a vital basis for language training and thereby take on a new importance in the child's English.

And most importantly to me, Ms. Kready's greatest point is made in the final paragraph of this first chapter.

"Then [after being acquainted with reading through fairy tales] reading will take purpose for him, and be accomplished almost without drill and practically without effort.

How better to keep our children interested in real, hearty literature that actually feeds the soul and fuels the heart, than to bring them up on the sweeter and kinder versions of the same?

Appeal to Freyja

Last night I had a very interesting experience. I wrapped up my evening (of AWESOME fun with the Fellowship stuffing envelopes for the Tenafly Nature Center) by lighting a candle to Brighid and then another to Freyja, a little reflection and then a lot of hitting the hay.

At 12:30AM, my work cellphone rang (which never happens). I picked up the line, and there was a very distressed sounding woman on the other end. Now, my employer provides security and investigative services to corporations, but we do not do work for individuals. It can be a bit awkward, especially when I want to help people, but know that our policy restricts us and I have to protect the company by not offering my own brand of sage advice.

Without going into detail, her boyfriend was going ballistic over some calls in her call history. We couldn't provide services to her because she is an individual. However, after all my years of experience on various hotlines for women, I know when a situation is bad. Or at least I have a pretty good inkling.

So after having to tell this woman that we couldn't help her, I advised her to call law enforcement immediately. I told her that if she was scared and felt endangered, she needed to call someone right away, which she agreed to do. Then I had to do that hardest thing - hang up and hope for the best.

Instead of going back to bed and stewing incessantly about this woman's fate (my traditional coping method), I went right to my altar for Freyja. I told her what had happened and lit some incense as an offering to her, asking her to help guide this woman out of harms way and protect her from any danger. I let the smoke waft around my room for a while, then went to sleep feeling very calm, and very like I didn't need to be in control of the situation (a BIG thing for me).

It was wonderful to give up those worries and concerns and know that I had done all I could, and had asked for help outside of myself. I could rest in the knowledge that it was being given. It was a good night. And I'm grateful for her help. :-) Hail Freyja!

Something Worth Writing About

It has been an awfully, awfully long time since I've productively blogged these past few seasons. I was a little lost in what I would be writing about - there aren't many people who would be actively interested in the comings and goings of my life, and I wouldn't want to subject anybody to that anyway.

After I stopped looking into the Irish Travelers (upon a sensible request from my father - when research starts requiring contacting law enforcement, it's probably good to back off), I suffered from a major lack of inspiration. I have a lot of education going on in my life right now - between the MBA program (looking to top off in November 2010!), various stops-and-starts in linguistic pursuits, and all the research I'm doing for spiritual stuff, I was surprised not to feel more inspired blog-wise. But I think I finally came up with something that will keep both me happy and engaged, and everybody else actually interested.

Fairytales! Not the Disney nonsense - while I like the animated mice in Cinderella as much as the next over-stimulated American, don't mistake those for anything other than watered-down versions of the real stories. I am talking about the real folklore, legends, and bed-time stories where not every ending was a happy one, and the good guys and bad guys were often not terribly easy to tell apart. I've always loved the Grimm fairy tales - and I became especially enamoured of even modern spinners of fairy-tales like George MacDonald. But the stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and Iona and Peter Opie, those are what are truly worth study.

The Grimms and the Opies had a dedication to keeping to the truth of oral storytelling that few others during their time had an interest in. I find the Grimms particularly interesting, since the fairy tales they collected were a by-product of their real research. The brothers were linguists, and their dedication to tracking down the true patterns and origins of their language (German) were what enabled them to keep a clear focus on writing down the stories exactly as they were told.

Oral traditions are an extremely important part of every society's culture - the European folk stories that give us Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood (told to the Grimms by Wilhelm's own wife and chilhood friend), and countless others tell us an enormous amount about the cultures, mythology, traditions and beliefs of our forefathers.

I'll start my research focusing on the stories gathered by the Brothers Grimm. I'll try to keep up with one meaty post per week - it ought to be fun!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

It has been a VERY exciting few days! Last week I was cleared of any more bladder tumors (three months before I have to get tested again, woo-hoo!), and I started setting out on some pretty fun ventures. Not to mention all the stuff (good stuff!) that's going on at work.

Right now I'm managing several large projects around the office, ranging from an upgrade of our accounting system to launching a graphics and standards manual for use of our logo. There's definitely enough going on to keep me busy, and it has been a fun time. I've been really lucky in how understanding everyone has been regarding my multiple medical absences - hopefully they have come to an end!

On top of that, there are lots of things going on at the shelter and I'm gearing up for school again in the fall - and that's on top of studyiing for my certification for a paralegal and as a certified associate in project management. I''m going to be drowning in certificates by the time I'm through!

I'm also launching some other exciting projects right now - more to come on those later. But for now, after almost killing myself with smoke inhalation from putting too much incense on my new charcoal burner (lesson learned), it's off to bed to get ready for another full day!!!

Lammas

Today was the Fellowship's Lammas celebration. It was really wonderful - the Craft Night we held on Friday yielded some great bread, and I made a bit extra to 'fill in the gaps'. Jen, (one of the awesomest people ever) made a fantastic Lugh out of bread, and let's just say he was 'anatomically correct' :-D.

The ritual went fabulously - it was our first Open, and considering the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR we experienced this morning, we had a great turnout. I got to see a few group members I haven't seen in a while, and there also a bunch of new faces. I'm hoping to see some of them at the Craft Night we have coming up in September, when we're making masks and costumes for Samhain.

The Fellowship has been really wonderful - I'm glad to be part of such an excellent group. They've really opened up my horizons spiritually, and I'm constantly challenged to stretch myself and exercise all my faith-muscles. It really is a great experience.

Last Saturday, I got to be a part of a really special ritual with the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, down near Dover DE. It was a beautiful and intense ritual (and private, so no details), and I was honored to be a part of it. I'm hoping to have many more opportunities to work with them in the future.

Anywhoodles, that's all for now. Here's hoping I get to posting more regularly.

Offensive, or Good Fun?

Ever since that ridiculous news story "News of the Weird" that covered pagans who blessed President Obama's inauguration this year, I've been a bit on edge in terms of how the media treats witches. On CNN today there is an article called: Calling All Witches: Cave In Need Of New Hag. I honestly can't tell if I'm just being overly sensitive, but GOODNESS.

Apparently some small town in England has a folk story about a witch who terrorized the village, blighting crops and causing all sorts of mischief. She was defeated when a cleric threw holy water on her, and was turned into stone. Since then, the town has built an amusement park and tourist trap around this myth. And apparently, part of the parcel is a full-time, live-in "witch" who lives in the cave that was supposedly the original witch's haunt.

So, okay. It's an old folk story and has value as a myth - albeit one that (as usual) portrays a woman being struck down by a representative of the patriarchal religion-in-charge. There are always going to be warty Halloween masks and Evil Witches of the West, but do we really need to have auditions for a live-in 'witch'?

I guess I'm probably drawing this out a bit further than it needs to be - 'all in good fun' and the whole bit. But it's an interesting question: how do we delineate between modern Witches, practitioners of paganism and the caricatured 'witches' of the past? Just some musings.

DnD

I have to say, DnD is not nearly what I thought I would be. It is quite entertaining. More to come!