Year of Oz
There are times when you can split your life into Before and After. This phenomenon stands out the starkest to me in my own life in sad moments, like the passing of a loved one. But there are happy moments as well, like really discovering a favorite artist, movie, or book and you just know it's going to change your life as you're listening, watching, or reading.
And there are some moments where you must have experienced something for the first time, but can't recall because it's been a part of your life for as long as you can remember.
For me, The Wizard of Oz is the latter - surely there was a First Viewing, but I must have been too young to fully remember it. The story of a lost girl trying to find her way back home feels as if it is something that has always been with me.
I have specific memories of subsequent viewings: rushing home a childhood friend's house so I could watch it air live before I had ever heard of a VCR; seeing it in a movie theatre for the first time and the girl in the row behind me singing along; seeing a stage adaptation with my grandma and younger siblings where one answered a very rhetorical question from the Wicked Witch of the West with a resounding “No!” and made the whole audience laugh; seeing a dinner theatre production of it and feeling like a kid again, sitting in front of the TV with rapt attention.
At some point, The Wizard of Oz became My Thing and people started getting me Oz-related gifts for everything. My mom started by gifting me older copies of the original L. Frank Baum books. I've had 10 of them for almost as long as I can remember.
But! A few weeks ago, I finally completed the set, purely by happenstance.
I've been wanting to read all 14 of the original books for awhile. I know, I know. "If I haven't even read them all before how can I truly call myself a fan? etc." Gatekeeping and establishing one's nerd or fan credentials is overrated. Also, I'm a completionist and I've wanted to read them in order, in hardback, in quick succession and just hadn't had all 14 to do that. But now I do.
I've also been wanting to write more in general and thought this might be a good project to get back into the habit of blogging. It might branch out to include more than just my thoughts on finally reading through all of the original Oz books (reading through the Wicked Years, for instance), but it might not. I might not continue this blog past this initial year and project, or I might. The style and look of the site will fluctuate and change as I learn more about web development since I've insisted on crafting this site from the ground up. We'll see how things go and I'll try not to get in my own way with it.
So, welcome to my Year of Oz.