aprii 6.2001 » Ju st out 47
I e t t i l i # Ci
UP I #
▼
Hey Fellas
Trapped in Oz
— looking for
that special
Easter
basket?
Lions and tigers and yoga
instructors, oh my!
by
M itch C alk
S piritual J ourneys
A long the Y ellow
B rick R oad
by Darren John Main.
Findhom Press, 2000;
$12.95 softcover.
e all know the
story of The
Wizard of Oz-
A girl,
Dorothy, is sent via
cyclone from her home
in Kansas over the rain
bow into the mystical land
of Oz. She embarks upon a
quest to return home,
which entails a journey to
the Emerald City to ask
the wizard for his heip.
Along her way down
the Yellow Brick Road,
she picks up some tasteful
new shoes, makes new friends, knocks off a
trivia that Oz fans gleefully can whip out at the
couple of wicked witches and exposes the
next Dada Ball.
wizard as a fraud, only to wake up safe in bed
Two choice tidbits: In the Oz hooks by
and realize her journey was just a dream.
L. Frank Baum, Dorothy’s slippers were silver
(MGM made them ruby for the 1939 film to
And let s not forget those flying monkeys.
Spiritual Journeys Along the Yellow Brick Road
show off the powers of Technicolor), and
offers an interpretation of everything in The
those creepy Oh-Ee-Oh marching soldiers
Wizard of Oz from the colors of
actually are called Winkies. Who
knew?
Dorothy’s dress down to
the aforementioned
Although this
Like Dorothy we arrive
monkeys. Author
book is well-
in
Oz
disoriented
and
startled
Darren John
researched and
Main, a yoga
has
great enter
by the bright colors
instructor and spiri
tainment value,
and
awesome
sights.
tual counselor,
there is a certain
believes we are all like
clumsiness to it that stems
from Main’s attempt to include too
Dorothy, trapped in Oz and trying to
find home.
many facets of religion and spirituality in his
treatise. References to the Bible, the Koran and
Home, he writes, is found when we awaken
Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish wisdom as well as
from the “dream” of life into a Kansas of ever
yoga practices abound hut never are discussed
lasting, unchanging peace. For some, Kansas is
in much detail, which forces the reader to
heaven or nirvana, hut what it is isn’t as
endure what amounts to New Age name-drop
important as the quality of the journey there.
ping.
Like Dorothy, we arrive in Oz disoriented
Main also seems to assume the reader
and startled by the bright colors and awesome
really has no knowl
sights. Our first contact
with others is the fami
edge about anything—
m ?. ?
s:'p!f
hence, the minefield
ly (in Dorothy’s case,
of footnotes with
the Munchkins); how
everything from the
ever, they cannot fol
definition of the word
low on our heels
“gentile” to an expla
through life.
nation of what the
That’s where our
Castro District is. The
personal ruby slippers,
author has the bad
gcxxJ witches, lions, tin
habit of defining
men and scarecrows
metaphors vis-à-vis
come in. By drawing
other metaphors and
from their unique wis
can stretch a simple
dom, by resisting the
analogy for pages. As a
poppy fields that lure
result, at times the
us from the path and
btxik reads like a long
by learning not to
cliché.
ignore Toto, Main con
Unfortunately, these
tends we can make our
little annoyances can
journey through Oz
become a bit over
more enriching and
whelming, but with
enjoyable.
patience, the forgiving
Spiritual Journeys
reader can mine the
Along the Yellow Brick
choicest insights from
Road leaves no stone
this take on a beloved film.
unturned in Oz: Main examines all the major
characters, objects and plot elements for their
MlTCH C ale is a Portland free-lance uniter.
spiritual significance. He also includes lots of
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