Interesting link to a 1950s letter by RB:

http://disneygeeks.blogspot.com/2007/07/daily-figment-07.html

Thanks for that, Phil!

I know whereof he speaks. Our dad used to drive us all the way there from Seattle in the '50s and early '60s. I still get misty just walking onto "Main Street".

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
I still get misty just walking onto "Main Street".

Could be the smog!

But no - I tease you Mr Braling. I love the Mouse that Walt built, too. I can think of few things that are more fun than going to spend a day or two at the Wonderful Land of Disney (unless it's June, July, or August!).

Mr B tells me they may erect "The Halloween Tree" there this 31st of October. I said if so, I'll see you there!

Bradbury, Disney, and Sagan are right: Without imagination you go nowhere. With it, you go anywhere.

That's why I've NEVER been bored. I thought it might be unusual to have never experienced boredom, because as a TEENAGER I frequently heard other teens complaining of boredom. I thought it was just cool to complain of boredom, life sucks James Dean teenage angst, and all that. Then, as I got older I continued to hear this from adults. So, I told my brother about my never being bored, thinking I was special, and he said that he'd never been bored either. Ditto with my other brother. Mom did something right, and I hope it's not too late to pass it on to mine.

By the way, Mr. Dark... books in every room.

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Yeah, Grassy, Father Thomas Hopko once said something to the effect that if you're bored, you have no inner life.

I forget where I read it, but I'll always remember "A well stocked mind is safe from boredom."

Indeed, grasstains, "Books in every room." One of the crimes of the modern western world is we have access to so much information, yet we don't seem to enjoy reading. As you allude, my brothers and sisters and I grew up on a house where books and bookshelves were in every room in the house. The presence of ideas, for me, didn't fully take root (although the seeds were definitely planted) until I read F451 and realized how powerful and pleasurable ideas could be. My kids, also, grew up in a house filled with books. In the case of two, reading is a fundamental part of their lives, in the case of two others, the seed has yet to sprout . . . but I constantly hope . . .

I gave a copy of the new HP book to a step daughter yesterday, and my inscription said something to the effect that "The imagination is one of God's greatest gifts to man. Don't neglect it."

As several on this string have noted, a love of reading, ideas, and reflection, is the ultimate cure for boredom.

Although I love film, the power of reading is, in part, the requirement that our own imaginations fill in the story. In film, the director, writer, and actors, decide how the character looks and sounds, and all visuals are determined for us. In reading, we fill all this in ourselves as we read. Reading is not intellectually passive, it is extremely active.

As Thoreau wrote in Walden:

"To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written."

In this fantastic chapter in Walden ("Reading") he also states something that is true for me:

"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book?"

F451 was that book for me. It opened a new chapter in my life. That opening has been the key to many other experiences with books and ideas that have driven my life, and given me both personal satisfaction and entertainment for years and years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mr. Dark,

From 1965, a Ray Bradbury essay in HOLIDAY Magazine, "The Machine-Tooled Happyland".

http://holidaymag.wordpress.co...adbury-october-1965/

Thanks, Linnl! This article wasn't available at either college where I was doing research but I am now able to mark that I have an electronic copy. In cases where electronic copies are available online I'll post links to each article. Trouble is, this opens a rather daunting possibility. Some of the articles the colleges do have may be online--great as it saves me a ton of time and money copying--but many they don't have may also be online--weighing me down with a ton of reading I thought I'd get out of through being unable to locate copies! (See the Complete Non-Fiction Listings thread for an idea. Note that I still have over twenty years of listings to enter!)

In celebration of both Ray and Hallowe'en, I visited the Happiest Place on 31 October. I got a shot of Ray's Halloween Tree.

See?

At least I hope you can see.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doug Spaulding,

I can see. Good pics.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
I can see. Good pics.

The picture of the tree with the lack-o-lanters is actually The Halloween Tree which is in front of Frontierland. There is a plaque at the base of the tree dedicating it to Ray.