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The Baum and Bugle Corps
Apr. 28th, 2005 05:48 pmToday is my mom's birthday. It's also Terry Pratchett's birthday, and I believe Saddam Hussein's as well.
Yesterday, I checked my mail, and found that I had received my federal income tax refund, a mix CD from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
revme, and the latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the International Wizard of Oz Club's journal. Much of the issue was made up of tributes to the late Fred Meyer, who served as the Club's secretary for years. He was a charter member when the Club started in 1957. I first learned about the Oz Club in a book I had called Amazing Days, which identified a holiday or celebration for every day of the year. The book included both L. Frank's Baum's birthday (15 May) and Ozma's birthday (21 August), and I believe it was under Baum's birthday that they mentioned the Club, with Fred as secretary. I was kind of surprised to find that, when I finally joined the Club years later, Fred still held that position. I remember communicating with him on some of the quizzes that I wrote for the Munchkin Convention, as well as a few other Oz-related matters. He also ran the Oz Story Circle. The one article on Fred, written by Michael Patrick Hearn, mentions how he never got caught up in the Club's warring factions. Why a non-profit organization based on a series of children's books would even HAVE such factions is beyond me, but I guess that's the nature of organizations of people.
The Bugle issue also includes two reviews of Philip Lewin's The Witch Queen of Oz, one largely positive and one generally negative. That's a book I would like to read at some point, despite the one negative review (which mostly concentrates on the illustrations anyway). It's a small-press publication, but I know Books of Wonder distributes it. I wonder if they would have any copies at their Manhattan store. Not that I have plans to go to Manhattan anytime soon, but getting it there at some point would be preferable to paying the shipping fees.
One other thing worth mentioning about the Bugle is that it finally includes the second part of Kenneth Shepherd's "Imperial Oz" essay. The first part ran in the first Bugle I ever received, back in 1993. Better late than never for the second part, I guess. The kind of research that treats Oz as if it's a real place is my favorite kind, and something that hadn't really been appearing in the Bugle enough as of late.
Maybe I should share this kind of stuff with the Regalia list, where someone might actually care, rather than here, where I'll bet no one does. That reminds me that I should finish re-reading The Wicked Witch of Oz soon, so I can make some comments about it there.
( Adjective Thesaurus Test results )
I seem to be less adept at coming up with ideas for entries than I used to be. I usually do better when I have a jumping-off place than when I'm forced to work from scratch, and there haven't been all that many good things to jump off from as of late. (Okay, I guess I'm never FORCED to write anything, but I feel like I have somewhat of an obligation to post to this journal.)
Yesterday, I checked my mail, and found that I had received my federal income tax refund, a mix CD from
revme, and the latest issue of The Baum Bugle, the International Wizard of Oz Club's journal. Much of the issue was made up of tributes to the late Fred Meyer, who served as the Club's secretary for years. He was a charter member when the Club started in 1957. I first learned about the Oz Club in a book I had called Amazing Days, which identified a holiday or celebration for every day of the year. The book included both L. Frank's Baum's birthday (15 May) and Ozma's birthday (21 August), and I believe it was under Baum's birthday that they mentioned the Club, with Fred as secretary. I was kind of surprised to find that, when I finally joined the Club years later, Fred still held that position. I remember communicating with him on some of the quizzes that I wrote for the Munchkin Convention, as well as a few other Oz-related matters. He also ran the Oz Story Circle. The one article on Fred, written by Michael Patrick Hearn, mentions how he never got caught up in the Club's warring factions. Why a non-profit organization based on a series of children's books would even HAVE such factions is beyond me, but I guess that's the nature of organizations of people.The Bugle issue also includes two reviews of Philip Lewin's The Witch Queen of Oz, one largely positive and one generally negative. That's a book I would like to read at some point, despite the one negative review (which mostly concentrates on the illustrations anyway). It's a small-press publication, but I know Books of Wonder distributes it. I wonder if they would have any copies at their Manhattan store. Not that I have plans to go to Manhattan anytime soon, but getting it there at some point would be preferable to paying the shipping fees.
One other thing worth mentioning about the Bugle is that it finally includes the second part of Kenneth Shepherd's "Imperial Oz" essay. The first part ran in the first Bugle I ever received, back in 1993. Better late than never for the second part, I guess. The kind of research that treats Oz as if it's a real place is my favorite kind, and something that hadn't really been appearing in the Bugle enough as of late.
Maybe I should share this kind of stuff with the Regalia list, where someone might actually care, rather than here, where I'll bet no one does. That reminds me that I should finish re-reading The Wicked Witch of Oz soon, so I can make some comments about it there.
( Adjective Thesaurus Test results )
I seem to be less adept at coming up with ideas for entries than I used to be. I usually do better when I have a jumping-off place than when I'm forced to work from scratch, and there haven't been all that many good things to jump off from as of late. (Okay, I guess I'm never FORCED to write anything, but I feel like I have somewhat of an obligation to post to this journal.)
