The article was great, and you should go read it, but it rang false to me. Not because it’s inaccurate. Not at all. But it tells a story of an older generation, of the boomers and their relationship with the book. What that article missed is the effect that book had on the children who were born into a world where it had always existed.

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
-Douglas Adams

More than half of all living people have never lived a world without The Paper Bag Princess. For Canadian children like me, it’s practically required reading. It’s in every bookstore and library, and it’s hard to find a kid over five without it on their shelves at home. It is ubiquitous.

For me, it was the first book I read, or had read to me, that contained princes, princesses and dragons. It wasn’t subverting tropes, it was establishing them. In the fictional worlds of my youth boys and girls were equal heroes. I was given no reason to think otherwise.

To me and those like me, Paper Bag Princess wasn’t about a girl saving a boy. That didn’t matter. The book was pretty clear about that. What mattered was that dragons were defeated by bravery and cleverness, not through violence. It told us that bad people were those that cared too much about surfaces and didn’t like getting dirty. It told us that people are worth saving even if they’re a bum. And it told us not to listen to the petty criticisms of people who would put us down for how we looked.

What I did not know, and could not know as a child, was that Paper Bag Princess was exceptional. I wasn’t aware of the libraries full of stories of helpless princesses awaiting some man to enact violence in their defense. It, and the other great works by Munsch occupied so much of my foundational literature that I couldn’t understand until many years later that the world we lived in had not yet caught up to the world he imagined.

I think that book is both to credit and to blame for some of my generation’s inability to recognize inequities that still exist. When someone shouts about the fact that girls can be heroes too, me and many of my contemporary’s response is confusion. Has someone suggested otherwise? We hold up Paperbag Princess and say, look, of course they can be heroes. Everything is fine.

And we mean it. We believe it. At least we do until the unbearable deluge of proof shows us that the worlds of Robert Munsch, of Mr. Dressup, Mr. Rogers, and Sesame street are the world as it should be be, not as it is. The differences between gender, race, appearance, and religion that weren’t even worth mentioning in those worlds are still tearing ours apart.

But in my youth, I saw that world, and believed in that world. Now that I’m older, I work to make that world a reality. And every child should read Paper Bag Princess before any other book so that they, too, know the proper way to rescue someone from a dragon.

I was recently asked what my ultimate bucket list trip would be. Perhaps a sunny beach, or a romantic spot in Europe? No, my answer was “Fukushima”. And prior to last year, it would have been “Chernobyl”.

I’ve long been obsessed with abandoned places; the more eerie the history, the better. I’ve been to abandoned mental asylums, disused underground tunnels, and the town of Centralia, just to name a few. And when you combine this with another passion of mine, nuclear energy and, more specifically, the events when it goes astray, you can see why I chose the places I did.

There is a website I’ve been reading for many years called Atlas Obscura. They map and give history and details of unusual places around the world. And they also conduct interesting tours, which are strictly limited to under a dozen brave souls who want to explore the Arctic by boat or examine the medieval villages of Romania. I received an email from them in early 2018 touting their September tour promising hidden gems of Kyiv, and more importantly, two days touring Chernobyl and the abandoned nuclear town of Pripyat.

When I excitedly related the details of the trip to my husband, he made it clear that this was not his kind of tour. He’s definitely more of a resort at the beach sort, rather than the adventure travel that I enjoy. Not to say I’ll pass up a week in Playa del Carmen, but I also love snorkeling in the cenotes and ziplining in the forests of Mexico.

Not dissuaded, I put down a substantial deposit to hold my space on the Ukraine tour. Having spent the past almost 30 years of my life reading about and perusing photos of the 1986 disaster, I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see it for myself.

In September, I carefully packed the recommended raincoat, sunscreen, and other necessities. I had searched online, and the average temperature in Kyiv in early September is usually in the low 60s Fahrenheit, so I brought long-sleeved shirts and jeans, along with a few jackets and sweaters. Then I headed out on my direct flight to London, and from there, another five-hour flight to Kyiv.

Upon reaching the Boryspil airport, I discovered that the climate had decided not to be average this year – the temps were in the mid-to-upper 70s with lots of sun. So while my wardrobe was not ideal for the warm weather, I would have plenty of long sleeves and long pants required for entry to the Exclusion Zone.

After spending several exhausting, non-stop days touring various parts of Kyiv, we got on a small tour van for our trip to Chernobyl. During the two-hour ride, we watched a fascinating documentary about the hours leading up to the disaster, and the major players in the event. Much of it I had read before, but there were some details I hadn’t heard before.

As we drove closer, we hit various government checkpoints. These involved large gated barriers, and lots of men with guns and obvious military training. They don’t mess around with entry into the Zone. At each one, we had to show our passports, then get out of the van and let the guards verify that there was one person who matched each passport. There is a closely kept list of those permitted to enter the Zone on any given day, and they needed to check that everyone was on that list as well. At one stop, we signed a long document that was part waiver and part a listing of the many, many rules for what is not allowed inside the Zone: don’t touch anything, don’t go inside the buildings, don’t take anything with you, don’t feed the stray dogs, and more. We all had to sign this document in order to be allowed to enter.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. We started off at the power plant itself, going to the usual touristy spots – the monuments and memorials in the small, bricked-in square outside of the plant buildings themselves, the Monument to Those Who Saved the World, and the small international monument that stands just outside the fenced area that houses the former Reactor Four, which was covered by the Sarcophagus shortly after the incident, and more recently by the New Safe Confinement structure. Our tour guide brought out the dosimeter and made a big deal over checking the radiation levels here – they were fairly low, similar to what you would get as background radiation in any large city.

Then, things started to get more interesting. We entered the incomplete cooling tower for the never-finished Reactor Five. Although we certainly weren’t the first to enter, as evidenced by the substantial amount of graffiti and debris scattered about, it was eerily quiet and empty. There was a beautiful — painting? graffiti? — of a man with a mask tied across his face. It was absolutely haunting.

Our tour group then proceeded into the Chernobyl workers’ canteen for lunch. When you enter the building, you are greeted by a row of large, metal contraptions with red and green lights on them. These are the radiation detectors, and we became very familiar with them during our time in Chernobyl. Essentially, you step up onto a small platform inside the machine, brace your feet where the foot outlines are, then place your hands on pads on either side of the machine. It scans you to ensure that no radioactive particles are brought inside the canteen.

Since none of us spoke Ukranian or Russian, our guide helped us to get food at the canteen. I, having celiac, discovered that there wasn’t much to offer a visitor who couldn’t eat wheat – the meat was coated in an outer breaded shell, even the vegetables had grain in them – and when the guide explained that I was gluten-free, the woman behind the counter opened a mini-fridge and, oddly, handed me a plate with two pieces of watermelon on it. This was to be my gluten-free lunch.

After lunch, we headed to Pripyat, the nuclear town established for the workers at Chernobyl and their families. One thing that immediately stood out – the Exclusion Zone is enormous. Pripyat is a large city and spans many kilometers of land. While some of the roads have been (somewhat) maintained for tourism’s sake, the others are either overgrown with trees, bushes, and other foliage growing up through the street, or have been rendered useless due to toppled trees and other debris.

Despite the papers signed at the checkpoints, we went in many of the buildings. They were full of broken glass, fallen ceiling tiles, and the like, and as there was no electricity it was often dark inside. We had to be very careful where we stepped, and be extremely quiet while we went through the buildings, as it was illegal to be inside them, and the police regularly patrol the area. Getting caught means being thrown out of the Exclusion Zone and the tour guide either getting a fine or a ban from entering.

After a while, you begin to notice the quiet. While our tour group was slightly noisy, talking and crunching over debris as we toured the buildings, the usual sounds that we take for granted were eerily absent: traffic, trains, electrical machinery, ventilation… They were all non-existent. The quiet was all-consuming. We rarely even heard bird calls.

Getting into some of the buildings involved some serious leg work. We often had to go through very overgrown areas, with weeds and other underbrush sometimes going up past my chest. The zone requires that you wear long pants and long sleeves, and as we explored I was glad I’d obeyed that part of the rules – it helped to keep the ticks at bay.

At one point, we entered one of the 15 former primary schools in Pripyat. It was a mess, with the floor completely covered in pieces and pages of old books. It hurt to be stepping on former educational reading material, now so much debris and trash in this empty place. Everywhere we went, there were murals, pictures, and propaganda praising communism and Lenin. The hammer and sickle were ubiquitous inside the buildings, as well as on monuments throughout the city.

There was a large factory, which appeared to have made some sort of electronics in its working life. There were bits of circuit boards and other machinery strewn throughout the building and the grounds. I was shocked at how many of the other people on the tour didn’t hesitate to pick things up and examine them. Since there was no running water anywhere on property to wash our hands, I was careful never to touch anything at all.

On day two of the tour, we stopped in the hospital where the firefighters were taken after trying to extinguish the “roof fire” at Reactor Four. The firefighters’ gear remains in the basement of the hospital, too radioactive to get near or be disposed of. We walked partway into the basement stairs with the dosimeter, and it pegged the needle at the top and screamed the danger to us. The guide turned it off.

There were so many buildings, and so much I wanted to see, but we only had a day and a half of tour time. After the second day, I was exhausted, dirty, dehydrated, and ready to board the van again and return to Kyiv. On the way out, we had to stop at two more checkpoints to step into the radiation scanners again. One of the guides’ shoes set off the alarm, and he had to get them swabbed off by the guards. Then we were cleared to go.

The whole trip was incredible. I saw so many things that I had wanted to experience for so long, and to have gotten the chance to go there, was just overwhelming. Would I go back? No, probably not – I’ve seen most of what I came to see, and there are many other places and experiences that are still on my bucket list. If you are interested in getting more information about Chernobyl and the disaster that happened there, I highly recommend the books “Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster” by Andrew Leatherbarrow (free with KIndle Unlimited) and “Voices from Chernobyl” by Svetlana Alexievitch. And of course, the incredible HBO miniseries “Chernobyl”.

More pictures are available at Photos From Chernobyl.

All of the hobbyists I know who are doing creative production are told constantly that we should be selling our work, going into business, monetizing all the hard work we do making pretty, novel, and interesting things. It is meant to be a compliment, I’m sure. “That’s so good you should sell it.”

We’re so steeped in our system of monetary exchange that we sometimes forget that there are other things of value besides dollars. Often, the money one would accrue selling something has far less value than what might be found in giving it away for free.

Some time ago I made some dragons for a theatre production. It was something I did as a volunteer to support my community. I then posted the pattens here on MAL for the world to use as they might. Again something I did to support a broader community. Something I’m fortunate enough to be in a position to do.

I’ve been treated to a couple theater companies using the design in thier versions of the same production, which has been an indescribable delight. Most recently I was sent a video of an absurd and incredible piece of haloween creation:

The thrill of someone taking my design to this sort of rediculous extreme, delighting and terrifying neighborhood children with it, and going on to share their process has value well beyond some $10 price tag that I might have slapped on the pattern. Moreover, that price tag might have been enough of a barrier to give them pause and prevent them from building this marvel. Or at the very least keep me from being a small part of it.

This is not to say that artists should give their work away for free, or that people should not pay for the work of professional artists. What I’m trying to say is there is room in the world for more than one model. Sometimes the price of our labor is the dollars we need to feed and clothe ourselves, sometimes it is the look kid’s face as they walk by a terrifying animatronic dragon. Sometimes it’s both. Sometimes it’s neither.

Consider the next time you suggest to a skilled artist that they should sell their work that the true value of it may not be something they can put on a price tag. Maybe let them decide, and instead compliment the work on its merits rather than its monetizeability.

featured image screenshot from youtube video by Nelson Everhart

Regardless, Stealing from Wizards Volume 1: Pickpocketing is now available as a weekly podcast. Listen here or subscribe on your podcasting platform of choice.
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Chapter 1: Detritus Lane

Chapter 2: The Master

Chapter 3: The Whispering Seashell

If you like it, don’t forget to rate and review!

It’s a story of magic, mischief, friendship, and theft in the snowy Canadian North.

Readers rave:

…an excellent page-turny, well-charactered, fun-plotted fantasy which I did not want to end…

Get it now!

Kobo

Amazon Print

To accomplish this, I fell back on my old standby: illustration board and sticker paper.

A little tangent… You can build a lot with illustration board (pressed cardboard ~1/16″ thick) and sticker paper. For example, you can make a children’s board book…

Or a folding board game…

Or some custom ID badges…

But today, I needed to make a box. Specifically, I needed a box that could contain all six books, with maybe a bit to spare. So, I measured the stack of books and worked out the layout for the box.

On top of that, I overlaid a design, with tabs to wrap around the edges.

One tiny problem: The overlay works out to about 16″ square, and I don’t have access to a large format printer. Solution? Break it up into multiple prints, with enough overlap to cover any gaps.

OK, then. Time to assemble the box. I really would’ve preferred using paper packing tape, but I couldn’t find any. So, masking tape had to do.

After that, it was just a matter of wrapping the stickers around the box, and stuffing the books inside.

Lessons Learned

• My laser printer really hates sticker paper. It took me several tries to get a decent print.
• I probably should’ve cut each side of the box separately, and taped it all together. The folds make it look a bit wonky.
• Increase the size of the tabs to wrap around the edges of the box. I used 1/4″. Probably should’ve been twice that.

Still, though, it turned out fairly decent, and now my books have the home they deserve.

You can pre-order the ebook for Kindle or Kobo now. If you want a dead tree version, you can get it from Amazon after Nov 1. It’s already hit #9 in children’s fantasy adventure on Amazon and #4 on Kobo. It would be incredible if we could drive that even higher before the release.

If you want a FREE copy before the official release, you can enter the Goodreads giveaway linked below. Sadly due to the complexity of international economics this giveaway is only open to American accounts. So if you’re in the USA, join the giveaway and tell your friends to do the same!

Want to know more about the book? I’m so glad you asked.

It’s a children’s fantasy adventure set in the magical world hiding just out of sight throughout Canada. It is a story of friendship, whimsy, theft, and magic. I do hope you enjoy it, and thank you in advance for your support.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Volume 1

by R.A. Consell

Giveaway ends October 24, 2019.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

This dude makes wiry sculptures: some whimsical, some beautiful, all interactive with their environment…

Complex Bent Wire Portraits by Spenser Little Become Street Post Accessories

“California-based artist Spenser Little has spent the past 15 years creating sculptures by bending and cutting wire into figurative portraits and phrases. His lightweight pieces have been installed on lamp posts and other existing structures around the world and have also been exhibited in numerous gallery shows.”

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Samy Al Olabi is an astrophotographer who uses miniatures and talks about his stunning work.

I’m A Collector Of Antiques And A Fan Of Astronomy So I Combine These Two In My Miniature Photography

“I photograph dioramas, miniatures and still life with the stars and the Milky Way aiming to create realistic scenes and conceptual abstract art. What I love the most about photography is that it is a language that can be understood by everyone.”

“I was passionate about Astronomy since I was a child, and Astrophotography was for me a perfect match: it combined my love for astronomy, my love for nature and landscapes with adventures, travel, and camping. This beautiful recipe is just perfect for me.”

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Here’s an interesting thing…

Researchers can guess where you’re from by how colors make you feel

“Whether you see red, feel blue, or go green with envy may depend on what country you call home, a new study suggests. And when given data on how a person associated colors with emotions, researchers could correctly predict where they were from 80% of the time.”

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No, it’s not what you might think but it’s still pretty cool.

Happy Grass

“This microphotograph shows a cross-section of a blade of grass, and the structures inside. Some of those structures are vascular bundles, and they’re showing their little smiley faces! Maybe they are happy because they have water. In a discussion at StackExchange, those who know say this is one of the species of grass that has adapted to live in dry areas, such as a desert, and the blade curls up to protect the side that absorbs water. A commenter named Always Confused tells us more about the grass.”

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A very colorful, very fun group of teeny shorts! One is included here but go view all the rest!

Gorgeous Glowing Cocktails That Are Drinkable Science Experiments Taking Place Inside Fun Novelty Glasses

“Viscosity cocktail bar in Fortitude Valley, Queensland Australia serves up some gorgeous glowing cocktails that are essentially imbibable science experiments that take place inside a novelty glass. Each drink is made with liquids of different weights (or viscosities) so that interesting designs can be made on the spot.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by .Viscosity bar. (@viscosity1)

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I love LOVE that this man is leveraging his celebrity and personal charisma to speak out

Jason Momoa Continues Being the Living Embodiment of Aquaman With a UN Speech on Climate Change

“Jason Momoa may be a movie star, but he has been mostly making news recently for being a climate change activist and helping to protect Native land from being trampled on. Momoa, who is of Native Hawaiian ancestry, has been participating in attempting to stop the Thirty Meter Telescope project from being constructed atop a volcano in Hawaii, Mauna Kea, that is considered sacred to Native people. Momoa was chosen to represent the small islands nations at the United Nations General Assembly’s SAMOA Pathway Review.”

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