I have been going through a bit of a reading phase recently and it has lead me down many weird and wonderful routes. At the moment my reading route has pulled up outside the Little House on the Prairie. Yes, I know, you really don’t need to say anything. My over riding memory of The Little House on the Prairie is the 1970′s children’s TV series which was all schmulch and sickliness and was the parental choice for viewing above something far more suitable such as the Wacky Racers with the much loved Dasterly and Muttley. That dogs’ laugh, I’m smiling now at the thought of it.
Well why am I reading this kids book which my partner pointed out was reading age 8+? I have just finished reading Cold Mountain which is full of pioneering strong women. The character Ruby is a case in point. The knowledge that woman has which allows her not only to survive but thrive in the teeth of a multitude of hardships, dangers and death is amazing and is in stark contrast to Ada, who has received no such education and is physically starving on a rich diet of Dickens and Mozart. So I wanted to continue finding out about these wonderful women, these pioneers of America. I totally understand that these pioneers have had a lot to do with the decimation of first nation people as they pushed back the boundaries of “civilisation” which is not a good thing, but there ingenuity, inventiveness and there integrity of how they lived their lives I am finding inspiring.
So far in the Little House, Pa has build a log cabin using hardily any nails and using little wooden pegs for fixings. Ma has conjured up amazing meals out of cornmeal, they have almost lost their beloved dog Jack, and outside surrounding them are a pack of 50 giant prairie wolves menacing and malevolent.
These people, might be fictional but they are based on fact. There were women and men like these through America before they discovered corporations. And they were taught skills that they needed to simply live from the time they were in the womb. Skills that became as much as a part of their life as breathing. And we need to regain these skills, we need to enjoy work. The kid series Little House on the Prairie was produced in the 1970′s the same time as massive oil shocks hit throughout the oil dependant countries of the world, I don’t think that this is a coincidence, come to think of it The Waltons were depicting depression era America in the 1970′s as well – I don’t know why but every time we went to visit our family in Wales the Waltons seemed to be always on. Maybe it’s time to brush of the TV schmulch and get back to what these stories were all about, ways of living with what you have created. However from 2011, sometimes I do look at the hard lives of these characters and think; “Verbs and all of them tiring”
Today I am Reading…….
I have been going through a bit of a reading phase recently and it has lead me down many weird and wonderful routes. At the moment my reading route has pulled up outside the Little House on the Prairie. Yes, I know, you really don’t need to say anything. My over riding memory of The Little House on the Prairie is the 1970′s children’s TV series which was all schmulch and sickliness and was the parental choice for viewing above something far more suitable such as the Wacky Racers with the much loved Dasterly and Muttley. That dogs’ laugh, I’m smiling now at the thought of it.
Well why am I reading this kids book which my partner pointed out was reading age 8+? I have just finished reading Cold Mountain which is full of pioneering strong women. The character Ruby is a case in point. The knowledge that woman has which allows her not only to survive but thrive in the teeth of a multitude of hardships, dangers and death is amazing and is in stark contrast to Ada, who has received no such education and is physically starving on a rich diet of Dickens and Mozart. So I wanted to continue finding out about these wonderful women, these pioneers of America. I totally understand that these pioneers have had a lot to do with the decimation of first nation people as they pushed back the boundaries of “civilisation” which is not a good thing, but there ingenuity, inventiveness and there integrity of how they lived their lives I am finding inspiring.
So far in the Little House, Pa has build a log cabin using hardily any nails and using little wooden pegs for fixings. Ma has conjured up amazing meals out of cornmeal, they have almost lost their beloved dog Jack, and outside surrounding them are a pack of 50 giant prairie wolves menacing and malevolent.
These people, might be fictional but they are based on fact. There were women and men like these through America before they discovered corporations. And they were taught skills that they needed to simply live from the time they were in the womb. Skills that became as much as a part of their life as breathing. And we need to regain these skills, we need to enjoy work. The kid series Little House on the Prairie was produced in the 1970′s the same time as massive oil shocks hit throughout the oil dependant countries of the world, I don’t think that this is a coincidence, come to think of it The Waltons were depicting depression era America in the 1970′s as well – I don’t know why but every time we went to visit our family in Wales the Waltons seemed to be always on. Maybe it’s time to brush of the TV schmulch and get back to what these stories were all about, ways of living with what you have created. However from 2011, sometimes I do look at the hard lives of these characters and think; “Verbs and all of them tiring”