09-13-2012, 12:34 AM
When I was a little girl I LOVED books about Pippi Longstocking and Dorrie the Little Witch. Both girls were very independent and got themselves out of trouble, and I think that shaped my thinking about myself. I suspect my automatically being comfortable with some radical anarchists and libertarians as I got older might have its roots in Pippi (after all, she used gold instead of paper money, lived on her own and bodily threw out the cops that came to take her to social services, had no fear of guns, rejected dogma, and even lived the permanant tourist lifestyle when not at Villa Villekulla).
That was not only helpful when I needed to depend on myself but I also think it made me receptive another book and then movie: The Little Girl That Lived Down the Lane. I caught this movie when I was 16 (and was so perfect for the dreary and rainy afternoon that it played on) while I was still living with a drunken mother that used me only for child support and I LOVED how a 13-year-old managed to thwart all the adults in her life to live independently (like Pippi) and also live smart that made me want to live like her. I was so in love with this movie that I went to the library as soon as I could and luckily found the novel which was even better. The character Rynn became my role model and I even took to reading classical poetry and listening to classical music because of her. More importantly, I adopted her tactics. For example, when a teacher threatened me with a law Bush had just signed I verified such a law existed (unfortunately it did) instead of just assuming she was telling the truth. And when I ran away from home for a 2nd time and assumed an alias I made Rynn my new middle name in honor of this character and hope that I could also be as clever and strong-willed (and, if necessary, as ruthless) as her in resisting the world of adults trying to crush my spirit. And in doing so it would help shape the person I'd become.
That said, many other books (including nonfiction like Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson) have also made a difference in my life, though I was 17 before finding many of these other books.
That was not only helpful when I needed to depend on myself but I also think it made me receptive another book and then movie: The Little Girl That Lived Down the Lane. I caught this movie when I was 16 (and was so perfect for the dreary and rainy afternoon that it played on) while I was still living with a drunken mother that used me only for child support and I LOVED how a 13-year-old managed to thwart all the adults in her life to live independently (like Pippi) and also live smart that made me want to live like her. I was so in love with this movie that I went to the library as soon as I could and luckily found the novel which was even better. The character Rynn became my role model and I even took to reading classical poetry and listening to classical music because of her. More importantly, I adopted her tactics. For example, when a teacher threatened me with a law Bush had just signed I verified such a law existed (unfortunately it did) instead of just assuming she was telling the truth. And when I ran away from home for a 2nd time and assumed an alias I made Rynn my new middle name in honor of this character and hope that I could also be as clever and strong-willed (and, if necessary, as ruthless) as her in resisting the world of adults trying to crush my spirit. And in doing so it would help shape the person I'd become.
That said, many other books (including nonfiction like Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson) have also made a difference in my life, though I was 17 before finding many of these other books.
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