Given how much he loved the movie Thor, Dr. J. bought him a book of Norse Mythology for his birthday. We have been working our way through the stories. The lil med student loved seeing how Odin built Asgard, and lost his eye to gain wisdom. The slippery mischief of Loki resonates with him and he even finds satisfaction reading stories where there isn’t a happy ending (or at least a resolution without a price), such as Fenris biting off Tyr’s hand, or Thor being humiliated by the giant Utsgardloki. We haven’t tackled Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent (Dr. J.’s favorite), or Ragnarok. The Klingons weren’t the first to kill off their gods, by the way. 

After that, we will move on to Greek Mythology, which is full of its own rich tales of flawed individuals. Couple the lil med student’s bedtime reading with the rich survey of the Bible that he gets at the New Atlantis Jedi Academy, and he will be able to hit the ground running in middle school and high school as he tackles history and literature at the next level.

Why, with all the craziness going on in the world today with Obama and Ahmadinejad speaking at a UN on the cusp of raising a terrorist organization/state to a level of recognition equivalent to the Vatican? With Congress investigating Solyndra and hopefully not making it into an impeachable offense before election time, as it will create sympathy for Obama, and the Fed playing games with its portfolio to make the economy look good, and an announcement that an announcement regarding the iPhone 5 is coming?

Well, the main reason is that we’ve got other Gormo’s sitting in the big chair today. (There’s a method, nay, a schedule, to our madness, but a fast fourier transform won’t crack it, as it involves i, e, π and τ as coefficients, and it’s in hexadecimal), but I’m divulging too many state secrets.

The reason, actually, is because I was inspired by Dr. Mondo’s post yesterday regarding Borges. He reflects on exposing his students to Jorge Luis Borges a masterful Argentinian author. His stories are mindbending, like a good Doctor Who episode. Las Ruinas Circulares, the circular ruins is a favorite of Dr. J., as is El Jardín de Senderos que se Bifurcan, or the Garden of the Forking Paths. Dr. J. had to read these in high school, in the original Spanish. Mrs. Dr. J. read them in translation for a class for her Masters Degree.

Anyway, the lil med student found a short, thick dried stick outside on Saturday, and and it reminded Dr. J. of another story, written by Ana Maria Matuté, called La Rama Seca, or the dry stick. In the story, (WARNING, SPOILERS!) a wealthy woman observes her poor neighbor’s daughter playing with a stick she’s dressed as a doll, named Pipa. The little girl’s brother takes the doll and hides it. The girl gets sick and is dying. So, filled with compassion, the woman buys her a luxurious doll, to which she replies, “NO ES PIPA!” or “It’s not pipa.” She tried again with a reasonable facimile to Pipa only to get the same response. The sick girl’s mother reprimands the ‘ungrateful’ little girl. So, ultimately, the little girl dies, and the next spring the woman finds Pipa in a tree and sees the beauty in Pipa that the little girl saw as well. 

Dr. J. shared an age appropriate version of the story with the little med student. As a consequence, “NO ES PIPA!” is now a running gag between Dr. J. and the lil med student.

There are so many great stories out there above and beyond the traditional tales we expose our children to growing up. Dr. J. suggests you share a few of your favorites with your little ones.