Liberal Arts Blog — Theodore Seuss Geisel (1904–1991) “Dr. Seuss” — “The Cat in the Hat,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs And Ham”
Liberal Arts Blog: Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, Fashion, and All Things Visual Day
Today’s Topic: Theodore Seuss Geisel (1904–1991) “Dr. Seuss” — “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs and Ham”
What are your earliest memories of learning to read? Did they involve Dr. Seuss? Which of his 60 books is your favorite?
Which rhyme echoes most in your mind? Which illustration gave you the most nightmares?
If not Dr. Seuss, what? Are you old enough to remember the “Dick and Jane” primers? How about the McGuffey readers?
If you are not from an english-speaking country, what were your equivalents?
Thanks to their simple language, repetitive patterns, rhyme and rhythm, whimsical stories, and garish illustrations, the stories of “Dr. Seuss” have been among the most popular of “Early Readers” in the US and “National Read Cross America Day” is celebrated on Geisel’s birthday, March 2nd.
Today, a few reminders. What is your favorite illustrated book of all time? The Little Prince? Treasure Island? Robin Hood?
A Christmas Carol?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE CAT IN THE HAT (1957) — “The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, it was too wet to play, so we sat in the house, that cold, cold, wet day”
1. “To wet to go out, too cold to play ball, so we sat in the house and did nothing at all.”
2. “So all we did was sit! sit! sit! sit! And we did not like it, Not one little bit!”
3. “And then something went bump! And that bump made us jump!”
NB: “We looked and we saw him step in on the mat. We looked and we saw him,
The Cat in the Hat! And he said, why do you sit there like that? I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny but we can have lots of fun that is funny.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_in_the_Hat
“GREEN EGGS AND HAM” (1960) — “Later in life, he said that Green Eggs and Ham was the only book of his that still made him laugh.”
1. “I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam-I-Am”
2. “Would you like them here or there? I would not like them anywhere.”
3. “I will not eat them in a house, I will not eat them with a mouse.”
NB: “I will not eat them in a box. I will not eat them with a fox.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Eggs_and_Ham
“HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS” (1957) — a latter-day incarnation of the Dickens character Scrooge (from “A Christmas Carol”)
1. “The Grinch hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season, Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.”
2. “It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right. It could be perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the jost likely reason of all, may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.”
3. “It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled for three hours, til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.”
NB: “Maybe Christmas,” he thought ,”doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps means a little bit more.” And what happened then? Well…in Whoville, they say, that the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day!”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Grinch_Stole_Christmas!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
Updating PDFs: 2023 — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned recently or ever related to art, sculpture, design, architecture, film, or anything visual.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. And to cement in your own memory something cool or important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that is close to your heart.
