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MAGIC

                                              July 7, 1992     
                                                               
Once upon a time, I was methodically reading through          
the Science Fiction and Fantasy books in my grade          
school library, because I reasoned that I wouldn't have    
access to them forever and I should get through them       
before I read the stuff my brother's had at home.          
                                                           
This was a really dumb idea, because the kind of          
fiction they tended to stock in the school library    
was intended to encourage Good Attitudes.             
                                                          
For example, I remember a tedious story about a young boy who        
was selected to be one of the first astronauts (because weight 
considerations precluded sending an adult). The entire book    
focuses on his training, and in the end they change their minds    
and he doesn't get to go. One scene I remember: the boy     
is briefly separated from his bodyguards in a crowd at a fair. 
A gang of kids hassles him, and he meekly gets on his knees and      
licks their boots as ordered. The moral being that he swallowed
his rage and avoided doing anything that might get him hurt and     
put the mission in jeopardy. So, remember boys and girls,      
passivity is the better part of valor. (In reality, guess what     
happens after you lick their boots.)                              
                                                                    
(I could've been reading Heinlein, or Asimov, or something          
when I was ten, but *no* I had to read dreck like this instead.)    
                                                                    
Here's a "fantasy" novel I read around the same time: A boy        
gets this one bottle of a magic potion that lets him sprout     
wings and fly.  He spends one summer sneaking out at night      
and flying around doing neat things, always coming home and     
speaking the magic words (or whatever) that transform him       
back.  Finally, the potion is running out, and he uses the      
last dose to produce his last set of wings.  He decides to      
spy on his mother and her new suitor who are sitting on the     
front porch.  He flies over there and lands on the roof,        
eavesdropping for a while; but then he makes a noise:           
they're going to look on the roof.  So what does he do?  He     
could fly away, but they'd see him with his wings,       
and maybe that would even scare away his mom's new              
boyfriend-- so he says the transformation spell, and all        
they discover is an embarrassed kid caught playing around on    
the roof, wearing a funny outfit.                               
                                                               
So, just because it's dressed up like SF & F doesn't      
mean it's not really mundane.  This stuff is all about    
the importance of fitting in, of being normal and         
grown-up and responsible.  "Home, sweet closet."          
                                                          
Me, I say, all this business about "magic" is            
symbolic of other things.... imagination,    
independence, intelligence, power...         
                                    
And if life hands you a wild card, you should
play it just as high as you can, even if it
means being different and strange.

And whatever you do, don't let anyone tell
you to throw away your last set of wings.
                                                       

                           All of this is one of the reasons
                           I like things like "Peter Pan" or 
                           "Bell, Book and Candle".  They 
                           look like they're going to end up 
                           being a celebration of being normal and        
                           boring, but instead some people slip 
                           through the net.  

                                There remains more 
                                than one way to go.                  



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