I think I have figured out why I spent the better part of my free time over a lifetime of work on the study of Utopian novels, Science-Fiction thought AND puppetry. I have this fixation that our world was pretty much a good place when it started out but somewhere along the line it got perverted by the people to whom it was given. For some three thousand years of recorded historical writings there have been individuals who recorded what they saw in travels throughout supposedly civilized lands. They commented on the differences and anomalies they witnessed in the creations humans erected.  Thus we have the curious dichotomy of the historian who sees through his eyes what others have wrought from inside of their creations. These were of societies and a whole slew of human activities that are not the same but essentially parallel throughout the world. From the seven wonders of the ancient world to the many marvels of the twenty-first century we have the mismatched parts of technology that brings us all together and age-old beliefs and animosities that drive us apart.

I think that my interest in building miniature worlds inhabited by puppets began when I tried to explain for myself and children who love puppets automatically, that this world is really a fun place to live if you do not take it seriously.  We do ridiculous things and think ourselves much too important that plays like, The Emperor’s New Clothes, explain so simply even to adults. The kids get it right away and grow up with this doubt about the bosses of industry, labor and government that never quite goes away.

Some things you cannot make fun of.  They told us new soldiers never to talk about religion and politics but sex was O.K. So soldiers go out to follow senseless orders without question and are liquidated by non-soldiers who fight an arguably successful war against our armies that might or might not be in the proper place while they are under attack. Puppets would tell the story so it could be understood. For instance, there is the old Punch and Judy hand puppet theater, one of which I operated. Punch is the aggressor while Judy absorbs his punches. The Baby gets killed by a thoughtless Punch who also knocks off the doctor, the policeman and gets the better of the hangman.  That pretty much sums up the world that actually exists today and is the one in which we live.

We can do better.  The alternatives have been pictured and explained by the social, economic and political experts who know what is wrong with what history has created. But they do not write utopias or puppet plays and miss out on living in better societies and better worlds.  Would that I had that creative power.