Back in late June 2017 I had an idea for a children’s story (unusual for me since I don’t particularly like children). So I wrote down the bones of it:
A boy, of reading age (probably 6-7 years old, and a boy not a girl since I want the tone of this directed at the education of young men, away from learning violence)… This boy really likes to read and he collects his favorite books. He’s a tad obsessive about it, so when one day he discovers one of his favorite books is left with only its two covers intact, he’s appalled—all the pages have disappeared! Suddenly this starts happening to all the books in his collection. It’s a mystery he’s determined to solve!
Eventually he learns what’s going on: a hideous, large insect has been eating the pages of his books. He instantly wants to kill the bug, but learns he can communicate with it (it isn’t easy, but they make contact and the boy learns the monster insect actually likes eating paper with ink, but certain other things he doesn’t like eating). The boy tries to convince the bug that’s it’s more enjoyable to read the books rather than eat them, so he tries to find a workaround so the bug can eat but also learn to enjoy reading, so they can share the books together.
It’s essentially an allegory about how we’re losing books and readers in the world and that instant gratification (eating) needn’t come at the expense of long-term progress and cooperation with things (or people) who aren’t like us and maybe cause us to fear or loathe them.
I tell this story because discovery can come from within and outside ourselves. I probably got this idea when I was trying to kill a silverfish in a previous apartment bathroom, and I wondered at the time how sentient it was about my trying to kill it.
(It escaped, if I recall, unharmed.)
This week’s “In the Sandbox,” (our Friday community confab around each aspect of Daytalking, Nightwalking, and Stargazing, where we workshop a bit and share ideas with each other) takes another look at Stargazing—where we get to flex some curiosity muscles and have fun, too.
Furthermore, interacting with the rest of our Substack community brings in possibly new and untried ideas and encourages further reflection, support, and action. So don’t be afraid to dive in and join the conversation! We’re here to help each other out.
Now, the creativity prompt is simple but will take some time:
Go on a Fascination Excursion and report back. It could be later this week, next week, but soon. You’ll be glad you did and we’d love to hear about it. Post your comments here!