Wonder

   The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines wonder as 1. a cause of astonishment or admiration 2. the feeling of astonishment due to something new, mysterious, or amazing 3. a feeling of doubt. The book I've made this week is titled Wonder. It's another book-in-a-box from the class I'm teaching.. a flat back case-bound book housed in a box that resembles a flat back case-bound book.

   When you open the box-that-looks-like-a-book, there stands the book... like some silent sentry. Merriam-Webster defines sentry as a "guard or watch... standing at a point of passage." I love the idea of a "point of passage." One example of a "point of passage" is a door. Doors are fascinating! ...the perfect symbols of transition and transformation... the wonder of transformation... of change so drastic that something new is created. And this box resembles a sort of door. So there stands the book, a symbol of change and wonderment, but with a basic and simple form. (Actually this book form is sometimes called a simple binding.)

   So I chose for the book's spine area a piece of marbled fabric I made to look like cells under a microscope. The cell is the basic building block of all living things, and is also the most dynamic and awesome entity in it's role of transformation. Inside each cell is a soupy mix of protoplasm.. mysterious and complex.. containing DNA, RNA, mitochondria.. all busy in an assembly line of processes and biological cycles.

                                                     Awesome!

                                                   Wonder-full!

   On the cover is a photograph of a tangerine sky at sunrise over a castle in France. Truly a wonder! I remember awakening around five am and peeking out of one eye toward the window of my castle room. I meant to roll over and snuggle back to sleep, but the sky was aflame with the most insane colors! Fuscha, gold, red, neon pink, violet, lavendar, and tangerine! I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera, and shot the photograph you see on the book. During that trip to France, everyday the sky was a wonder to me. Clouds were ridiculously fluffy, blues were aqua beyond any tint in nature (except a certain local university's school color scheme), and the stars at night made me cry they were so beautiful and twinkly. Yes! Twinkly!

   The third definition of wonder concerns "doubt"  ...wondering if something is really true... wondering how it came to be.  Questioning. Asking questions is good and wonder of that sort is good too. It gets to the truth which opens the door to change ...to transformation.

Wonder is everywhere and always... you just have to open the door to your own awareness.
Kathy