Steering yourself

ANY direction you choose.

Dr. Seuss was a (sort of) friend of mine growing up.

His words were like candy to my sisters and I before bed.

His stories made up my dreams, and his images stayed with me from the very first moment I saw them. And his advice on life consistently supported the fact that dreaming big dreams are amazing.

And allowed.

Now that I'm 27, basically (almost) 30, I wonder how big my dreams are supposed to be. How big can I dream now?

Am I supposed to want a family and children? 

Am I supposed to hope to land in a career position that keeps me financially content and inhabits my 9am-5pm weekday hours?

Am I supposed to want to save money to buy a house soon?

I don't think Dr. Seuss would support this feeling of adult bewilderment. 

In fact, if he was still with us (bless his soul), I would hope he would be kind enough to support the dreamers he created and give us a few more words of wisdom when making that transition from childhood to adulthood.

I guess I am an adult now.

But back to Dr. Seuss. I discovered that he himself was a bit of a shape-shifter. Here's an exert from his biography on his website; www.seussville.com.

"The true story is also a good one, as we learn in Judith and Neil Morgan’s excellent biography Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel (the primary source for what you are now reading). During his senior year at Dartmouth College, Ted Geisel and nine of his friends were caught drinking gin in his room. This was the spring of 1925, and the dean put them all on probation for violating the laws of Prohibition. He also stripped Geisel of his editorship of Jack-O-Lantern — the college’s humor magazine — where Ted published his cartoons. To evade punishment, Ted Geisel began publishing cartoons under aliases: L. Pasteur, D.G. Rossetti ’25, T. Seuss, and Seuss. These cartoons mark the first time he signed his work “Seuss.”

As a magazine cartoonist, he began signing his work under the mock-scholarly title of “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss” in 1927. He shortened that to “Dr. Seuss” in 1928. In acquiring his professional pseudonym, he also gained a new pronunciation. Most Americans pronounce the name Soose, and not Zoice. And that’s how Ted Geisel became Dr. Seuss."

With that being said, I've decided I'm going on an identity search.

I'm going to rid myself of my self-pity and fear of commitment and do something. Create things, inspire people and decide...

What inspires me?

What drives me?

What can I contribute to the World, even if under a guise?

And I urge you to do the same. 

Do something that would make Ted Geisel proud.

Because we've all violated Prohibition somehow.

And I suppose it's not the punishment of the crime, it's the coping of the punishment, that defines who you really are.

Build your own Seussville.

A glimpse of Seussville. An office I wouldn't mind having for myself!

Mulberry Street Unicorn.
On of Ted's realistic creations.

An Untitled oil on canvas from Ted's private collection.