Friday, October 06, 2006

OZ Park


Each morning as I survey my kingdumb, I generally look over to the west to watch dogs getting run in a nearby park.
On some days the park serves as a rehearsal area for the Lincoln Park High School Marching Band.
On weekends there are the usual games of softball and frisbee.
These things happen in Oz Park. You would think that I would have written about this before considering my association with FABLES.
There are actually sculptures in the park representing several of the more important inhabitants of OZ. I'll get photos and post them later.
In my Fabletown.com profile I list my location as just South of the Oz Gateway; Bill places the portal from OZ far up in Canada.
In truth Baum wrote the original stories on Michigan Avenue, about 3.4 miles south of my building. That puts me NORTH of the point of origin, I guess.

8 comments:

Katiria said...

...I have an account now because my friend kept pestering me to get one to comment on his blog. But hey, it means I don't have to remember to sign my comments.

Anyhow, you said: "In truth Baum wrote the original stories on Michigan Avenue, about 3.4 miles south of my building."

The park was named after the books came out I'm assuming, right? Because I had always heard Frank Baum named his magical land by looking a an encyclopedia (Letters O-Z) and that's how he came upon the name. It would unmake all my education to learn that he named it after the park...

Tony Akins said...

Hey Kat,
no the park came later. Around the time that Baum wrote his work, this area was still pretty much the northern suburbs of Chicago (which is strange to think about). Hmm, I wonder if he lived near here?

Fred Schiller said...

The way I heard it, Baum came up with Oz from the bottom drawer of his filing cabinet, which contained files O through Z.

I asked one of our cats, Prince Ozzo, if he knew which was fact and which was fiction, but he pretended not to understand the question.

Kathryn said...

you know what tony akins? that oz park outline looks kind of like an outline of honduras. or maybe I'm just so separated from the real world that I don't know what anything looks like anymore. have some thai food for me.
k-money

Anonymous said...

This was the only way I know to contact you.I'm not a tech-savant. get ahold of me-(maybe through GZ?)

Hello, is this thing on?

Tony Akins said...

Hmm, getting ahold of a Walrus sounds like a challenge; even if the Walrus is cooperative.
I'll do my best!

Fred Schiller said...

Tony,
A walrus will do anything you want it too as long as you tickle his belly and feed him plenty of those Swedish Fish candies.

Oh wait, that's me.

Never mind.

ShojinStudios said...

Holy Hairy Bat Balls Batman!!!

Man i miss bloggin! Hey ton! i gotta update my blog ! but til then I thought I'd drop in and say hi! Hope to hang out soon! Man i love your stuff Ton! if i don't say it enuff maybe I should so here I am spillin the beans! I LOVE YOUR STUFF MAN!!!(by stuff i mean ur art btw!) Take Care Ton!!