What I Learned in the Boy Scout Reserves
The Maize Maze and Mimesis in Johnston County*
Minos called on Daedalus to build the famous Labyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded Minotaur. The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He was the son of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a bull that Poseidon had sent to Minos as a gift.
Minos was shamed by the birth of this horrible creature and resolved to imprison the Minotaur in the Labyrinth where it fed on humans, which were taken as "tribute" by Minos and sacrificed to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son Androgenos.
Daedalus conceived to escape from the Labyrinth with Icarus from Crete by constructing wings and then flying to safety. He built the wings from feathers and wax, and before the two set off he warned Icarus not to fly too low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not too high lest the sun melt the wax. But the young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew too close to the sun whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea.
*mimesis, n. Imitation; spec. the representation or imitation of the real world in (a work of) art, literature, etc.OED
On this sunny Sunday, we went willingly into a maze made from maize. Our life in Johnston County is this: embarking on a path that leads through confusion, discovery, fatigue to deliverance. No one entering a maze can claim to be especially 'lost,' since everyone is at equal disadvantage. A maze has, like my time in Johnston County & the life-span of the maize course itself, a beginning and an end.
If one does not enjoy being in a maze, one should not volunteer to go into one.
I know how very good it felt to stop. I heard every note and rest of Wynton's 'Where or When' on the ride home as this beautiful landscape blurred past my window.
Minos called on Daedalus to build the famous Labyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded Minotaur. The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He was the son of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a bull that Poseidon had sent to Minos as a gift.
Minos was shamed by the birth of this horrible creature and resolved to imprison the Minotaur in the Labyrinth where it fed on humans, which were taken as "tribute" by Minos and sacrificed to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son Androgenos.
Daedalus conceived to escape from the Labyrinth with Icarus from Crete by constructing wings and then flying to safety. He built the wings from feathers and wax, and before the two set off he warned Icarus not to fly too low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not too high lest the sun melt the wax. But the young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew too close to the sun whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea.*mimesis, n. Imitation; spec. the representation or imitation of the real world in (a work of) art, literature, etc.OED
On this sunny Sunday, we went willingly into a maze made from maize. Our life in Johnston County is this: embarking on a path that leads through confusion, discovery, fatigue to deliverance. No one entering a maze can claim to be especially 'lost,' since everyone is at equal disadvantage. A maze has, like my time in Johnston County & the life-span of the maize course itself, a beginning and an end.
If one does not enjoy being in a maze, one should not volunteer to go into one.
I know how very good it felt to stop. I heard every note and rest of Wynton's 'Where or When' on the ride home as this beautiful landscape blurred past my window.
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