Gwyneth:

More memories of my Welsh Granny, who was born in 1933. When she was ten years old, her mother and father took her to Cardiff for a weekend. In Cardiff, there was a cinema. This was the first time my Granny had ever been to the cinema.

The film was The Wizard of Oz.

I’ve already mentioned that my Granny loved films, and I guess if your first film was The Wizard of Oz, it would be easy to get hooked. I think my first film was The Little Mermaid, which is wonderful in its own way. Now that I know some real mermaids, the Syrupy Adventures Of Ariel makes me giggle a bit.

Anyway, it seems The Wizard of Oz has affected many Realms, because one of the sizeable shopping fairs that comes round quarterly has this time around a Wizard of Oz theme. I was delighted! What fun it was to shop for clothes and fun little things inspired by the film. I felt like a kid myself. It’s funny how that particular film continues to appeal, despite how long ago it was made. I imagine my Granny, rapt in the darkness, clinging to her mum through the cyclone—and then the sudden magic of Technicolor!

I guess even Fae Queens need to play “let’s pretend” sometime.

I guess even Fae Queens need to play “let’s pretend” sometime. And I may not be exactly Over the Rainbow here, but it’s a good start.

And of course, when Dorothy escaped from her life, all she wanted to do was go back home. Home. Do I want to go back home? Sometimes. Sometimes, I feel an intense longing for petty academic politics, lunch at some little organic grocery with great coffee, the attentions of normal, broken young men. I miss my students. Some of them. I miss mobile phones and the Internet, but I can get that in a quick Realm-hop, and rumour has it I might even be able to get it on a regular basis if I can just find the right place.

There is no, “Why then, oh, why can’t I?” in this little song.

There is no, “Why then, oh, why can’t I?” in this little song. Poor Dorothy, stuck on a farm in Kansas, plagued by the postmistress, probably looking at the equivalent of maybe two GCSEs in her whole intellectual life. I don’t know what kinds of books she would read, how she would feel, how she would think, because when I think about the film, all I can think of is Dorothy as a bit o a victim. She whinges. She simpers. She is Mary Sue with a terrier. And the moralistic lesson she learns is, “Don’t think above your station, little girl: find the beauty in the lot you’re given.”

Personally, I’d have stayed in Oz, at least long enough to figure out how to get someplace better. Like Faeryland.

Style Card:

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Destiny
Ears: Logo, Expressive Elf Ears (with appliers from Lumae)
Eyes: Mesange, Kelpie Eyes (Omega appliers)
Skin: Lumae, Eirtae Bare, T1
Hair: Runaway, Dorothy Hair (Available at Enchantment!)
Dress: Una, Dorothy Dress (Available at Enchantment!)
Shoes: Astralia, Dorotea Shoes & Socks—the socks are a gift! (Available at Enchantment!)
Necklace: Snowpaws, If I Only Had a Heart—a gift! (Available at Enchantment!)
Poses: An Lar, the Layna Series, one and five
Setting:
Cloud Base: 8f8, Dreamer’s Cloudland
Rainbow: Lunar Seasonal Designs, Menu Driven Rainbow
Trees: The Little Branch, Mystic Oak

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never let my primary role-play character make sweeping generalisations about a beloved children’s book heroine without it!