THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/23/02 -- Vol. 21, No. 8
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
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Topics:
Chesley Bonestell
The Art of the Frolic (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
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TOPIC: Chesley Bonestell
There is an article, with illustrations, about the space artist
Chesley Bonestell in the online "American Heritage of Invention &
Technology" at
http://www.americanheritage.com/it/2002/01/spaceart.shtml
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Art of the Frolic (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
One of the things I have been thinking about is that there are
many activities that I have not yet participated in and I would
hate to die without ever trying. I don't mean something like
drugs, but there are experiences in this world that you only think
in terms of someone else doing. You never give much thought to
just doing them yourself. That is kind of a pity because some of
them sound like they might be healthy exercise and enjoyable.
Anyway, let me get down to specifics. I am curious as to how one
goes about the activity known as "frolicking." Now that is a verb
I have just about never heard used in the first person. It sounds
like a lot of fun, but people nearly always use it in the third
person (or the third animal). Fishes frolic. Puff the Magic
Dragon frolicked. Occasionally you hear of people having
frolicked. But it is a verb you almost never hear used in the
first person. And you almost never hear it in the present tense.
Who is willing to even admit "I frolicked" much less "I frolic" or
"I am frolicking." I suppose if you are currently frolicking
there is rarely someone close enough that you would want to admit
it to, so even if it is true you just would never verbalize it.
Also I suppose it would be fairly obvious to someone, so you would
be unlikely to have to tell them you are frolicking.
Most people, if they have any desire at all seem more to want to
have frolicked rather than necessarily to actually frolic. They
want it as an accomplishment on their own mental resume of their
personal experience rather than actually to have the experience of
being in the process of frolicking. But because it sounds like
fun and I have the time I am wondering if I would like to try it.
Now this is not as easy as it seems. I do not think it comes
naturally to just everybody. There are no good books out there on
how to frolic. At least I find no helpful tutorial books on
Amazon. It would be nice to find a copy of FROLICKING FOR DUMMIES
or THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FROLICKING. But let me assure
you these books do not currently exist. I do not believe that
there exists an Arthur Murray of frolicking. Frolicking is
generally a self-taught talent.
If one is to start frolicking on one's own one has to find a
proper season and location for a frolic. The time of year you
choose to frolic is both unimportant and all-important. You can
frolic any time of the year, but it adds a distinctly different
flavor to your frolic if you choose to frolic amid the buds of
spring, in the richness of summer, on the fallen leaves of autumn,
or in the bracing snows of winter. In each case the frolic will
have a distinctly different meaning, I am sure, though the exact
meaning of any of them probably eludes me.
Frolicking indoors seems somehow unnatural. Like skiing or
parachuting you may study up indoors, but even the first time you
try it, if it is indoors you are probably doomed to failure. So
you need to find someplace out of doors. But you also have to get
away from people. You have to be free from prying eyes. It is
almost inevitable that the first five minutes or so you will be
embarrassed just seeing yourself frolic. But that embarrassment
will be infinitely compounded if someone else sees you frolicking,
and even more so if it is someone you know, more still if it is
someone you work for or intend to marry. Indeed, I think just
looking down and seeing yourself frolic may be a serious mistake
that could cause you to lose any desire to frolic. I suppose your
shape and your body image could be only too relevant.
In any case the moment will arise when you have to take your
preliminary steps into the frolic and you will inevitably ask
yourself what do you should do first. There is no easy answer to
this question. In fact I am not entirely sure there is any
answer, easy or not. Perhaps you are the type to look in the
dictionary to see what they consider a frolic. This yields an
answer, but it is one that is not particularly satisfying. They
will suggest that to frolic is to romp. Now there are some out
there who might question if I am not already too old to frolic.
Others may say that one is never too old to frolic. However, I
seriously doubt if anyone could look at me and suggest that I am
still in an age range when I could romp. I am afraid that the
days when romping was an option for me are long gone. I would
still like to believe that I retain some of the days when
frolicking is an option. There are heavy distinctions between
romping and frolicking. So to me that is not particularly
helpful. I do not think that old Webster fully appreciated the
differences between a romp and a frolic or he would have never
made that error.
But what to do? Somehow I think that I have a mental image of
what it might be like to frolic. I think that Charles Schulz
illustrated well with Snoopy in his Peanuts cartoons. I think
that if I could do an "It's Almost Dinnertime" sort of dance, I
could modify it into being my own frolic. But there is a big
difference between knowing what it looks like to frolic well and
to able to do it oneself with sufficient grace that it does not
look like a spasm of some sort.
So it is the art of the graceful frolic that I am now seeking. I
do not expect the quest to be easy, but what serious and important
artistic quest is? [-mrl]
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Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
People are always ready to admit a man's ability
after he gets there.
-- Bob Edwards
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