It's the Baum!

NPR's Studio 360 explores all things Oz. The Wizard pervades in art, music, film and all areas of our modern vernacular. But I'll bet you knew that, didn't you, my little friends of Dorothy?

It is true. To wit: I went to a party two weekends ago. The guests included a numerologist (this is my year, he said, and "33" is my number), a man who leads canoe trips down the Trinity River, two gay guys named Bill and two gay guys named Jim (referred to by everyone as "the Bills" and "the Jims"), a woman who teaches college-level history and who recently lost 90 pounds by cutting out sugar, the owner of a vitamin store, a horse trainer who's also a painter, a masseuse who has laid hands on various members of The Rolling Stones, a man who says he talks to whales and dolphins and understands when they talk back, a woman who cooks organic Italian food and the author of a Libertarian newsletter. The hostess, at whose home the party was taking place, showed me a wall festooned with framed photos of her uncle who was--and here's why I'm telling you this--one of the original Munchkins in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

Short list of resolutions for 2007:
1. Swim more.
2. Read more blogs like this and fewer like this.
3. Talk to more strangers.
4. Finish stuff.
5. Avoid over-using the words "compelling" and "weird" in theater reviews, even when shows are both compelling and weird.
6. Less coffee, more water.
7. Make some art.
8. Make some trouble.
9. Make out.
10. Not give up.