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--> --> Nov. 16: Post-election time: Color me blue By Amy Richard A few nights ago I had a dream that I tore a pull-out map from a magazine, and smack in the center of the map was Iraq, in brilliant blue. The surrounding countries were brightly colored in greens, reds and yellows. There were no names, no capitals, no real identifying features - just a big colored map, like those wooden ones I had in my toy box when I was learning about shapes, colors, sizes and spatial relationships. So here I am, post-election night having this anxiety dream, a very abstract one, and Iraq is blue. Blue is about life - the ocean is blue, the sky is blue. Blue might also be about mystery, about distance, about the unknown, about fear. And why not? These election results have me worried, and my anxiety level pre-election was such that during the campaign, when I'd had enough of those irritating political ads and debates, I found myself running to my fantasy bookshelf to get a good dose of things not-of-this-world. And where did I end up? In a world where the great trees had been ripped from the earth, the air and waters were polluted and lands that were once lush and fruitful had become barren and ashen. Devastation threatened the entire earth, a great gloom was steadily overtaking the land, and people with sinking hearts, feared the deepening shadows. And war was at hand. Yikes, I thought, is this helping? In my gloom, Tol-kien's Middle Earth (in his trilogy Lord of the Rings), was feeling a tad bit like the current state of affairs and a lot like my picture of earth around 2050 - a nightmare of habitat devastation, pollution, overpopulation and resource depletion. Middle Earth, however, is a land of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Men, Ents and Wizards, and things do happen differently there. But even in fantasy some things are very human. The tale hinges on the hearts of the nine companions, on their fellowship and on their commitment to each other and to putting the world right. They, of course, could never do it alone, but discover in their journey others who want a peaceful world, and a green world. The Ents or tree shepherds are outraged about what's happened to the trees and the forests. They want to help, but as one of their wise ones sagely says, "It is easier to shout stop! than to do it." The journey is far from easy. The nine companions become eight, then seven; they are separated; they encounter dreadful creatures; they grow faint of heart. It doesn't matter. For them, restoring Middle Earth is clearly worth whatever sacrifice it takes. There is no other course. Journeying through the devastation that mankind has wrought, Gimli the Dwarf observes to his friend, Legolas the Elf, "It is ever so with the things that men begin: there is a frost in Spring, a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise." Legolas, ever the optimist, looks to a brighter future. The seed of mankind, he says, will bear good fruit and leave an enduring legacy. He is right. In the end, the fellowship triumphs. Middle Earth is saved. With hard work and a little magic from the Elves, the lands are replenished with trees, waters run clean and blue, and the shadows are driven away and replaced with a cobalt sky. This is a fantasy after all. Amy Richard has lived in Ashland since 1990, was Revels editor at The Tidings for three years, and since June of 1998 has been media relations director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing