Somewhere Over the Rainbow

May I say that I am always thankful for the gift of a new poem by our Many-Colored Vic? It so valuable to hear a different voice, a different perspective. New ideas always illuminate both new and old connections.

His poem reminds me of my childhood fascination with map making. I loved drawing up the imaginary lands of my favorite books, and I spent many hours mapping Oz. Exotic lands, strange creatures, and incredible adventures in uncharted territories. In Oz, the people who inhabit the lands actually have skin color to match the color of their country! You may know that the people of the Emerald City of Oz are green, but did you know that the land of Oz was also inhabited by Red Quadlings, Blue Munchkins and Purple Gillikins?

My personal favorites were the peaceful Yellow Winkies — the native land of the Tin Woodman in search of a heart. If you look at the map, you will see that Winkie Country is located in the East. The Country is yellow, and the Tin Man eventually returns Winkie Country to rule as Emperor... The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick. Hmmm... is there an intentional allegory about China hidden in there? The Wizard of Oz was written by Frank L. Baum in 1900, the year of the Boxer Rebellion, when the tensions between East and West ran high. Of course, as a young reader, I had no interest in real world politics, but I was certainly taken with learning everything there was to know about the complex history of the technicolor Land of Oz.

I'm sure that mapping helped me to better understand this fantastical place which took hold of my imagination. Time is never truly wasted when drawing out daydreams. Frank L. Baum said, "Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity."

Grownups, hang on to that childhood love of mapping the world! The New Yorker covers of two impishly astute artists come to my mind. Artistic imagination combined with a dose of realism, Steinberg and Kalman's maps reflect the time and place of their creation.

Saul Steinberg's View of the World from 9th Avenue, 1976.
http://cartophilia.com/blog/images/newyorkview.jpg

Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz's New Yorkistan, 2001
http://www.mairakalman.com/newyorker/newyorker-8nyorkistan.html

As the verse goes...

When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There's a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain...