Yesterday, as I was preparing to go horseback riding, I first began thinking of super heroes: Rubber Man came to mind. This then lead to the thought that I should give life to Bacon Boy. I briefly thought that he was Little Rototiller but decided no. Little Rototiller is locked in time, circa 1996. Sammy Sausage and Megan Bacon of course live on. Of course, once you give a character life, it assumes a life of its own.

As we were out riding (I walked Tinni, in part so that I could give this all some more thought), I thought some about the nature of imagination. Without imaginations, we are like corn husks, rattling in the wind. Imagination seems to me to becoming increasingly less valued – perhaps because our numbers are on the increase. For example –many now fill their time talking on cell phones,

Bacon Boy

playing computer games, or watching TV. Maybe we’re afraid to (as Vladimir Nabokov once said) “Invent, play, create the world.”

Most don’t remember a television show that was on for one season – 1969-70. It was called “My World and Welcome to It,” which was loosely based on the life of James Thurber. William Windom played the TV character John Monroe, who worked for a magazine called the Manhattenite – it was based on the New Yorker magazine. The show was about his life as a cartoonist, and included cartoon like images of his mental flights of fancy.

Thurber remains one of my unsung heroes in part because he found himself a niche. For many years, he wrote and drew cartoons for the New Yorker. He was blinded in one eye as a child, and in his later years went blind. His canvases, large pieces of paper, filled with words and images, got bigger and bigger.

I’m now using a new medium to express myself. Taking photographs and writing share a central similarity, which is that both involve problem solving. The more one knows, the more complicated the problems get. I have an idea that I’m going to act on later. I’m going to draw some large images of myself, stand next to them, and take some photos. Should be fun.

Today I will both give life to Bacon Boy and finish Raudi’s Story.

Next: 76. 2/21/12: P-e-t-e!!!!!