“The Power Of Wonder And Whimsy”
In the late seventies, I was a small child who believed wonder and whimsy reflected the purity of heart that existed in the world.
The summer of 1982, I started writing stories about fairies, not just because I believed in fairies, but because I knew a real Faerie- Her name was Lynn, but her real name, the name on her driver’s license was Faerie Argyle Rainbow. In the 1970’s Lynn lived at my grandmother’s hotel in San Francisco, with her friend who had long hair- princess hair. Lynn was a magical, kind, and wonderful woman, who always wanted to help others, and was very much an angel, an angel of light.
I remember I particularly adored Lynn and one of the memories that stands out is when she visited our house and was just not herself- she was on the verge of tears and very distraught about something that had happened. I remember my parents made me leave the room.
My family always tried to shelter me. They never told me Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone had been killed- one minute I remember we were celebrating the defeat of the Briggs Act, that I only understood as a movement to remove teachers for being different, or being friends with those who were different, and then my parents became very grim.
Though I was a child, I knew death was an absolute, and in itself was not evil. I did not understand anything about evil other than diseases were cruel, but diseases weren’t people, diseases weren’t evil. Evil meant people who killed other people, simply for being different, as a way to justify their greed. What made evil most evil was that evil was no monster. Evil was not an aberration or exception. Evil was intolerance.
On September 5, 1982, I sat in mass and made a promise to God to someday tell all that was happening to me and to those around me, but I did not know how to find the words. Then more terrible things happened, to me and to others .
As a way to heal I wrote about fairies, I wrote about Faerie. In 1984, I wrote a book called “The Unwanted Fairy” because after what happened in 1983, it felt like all the kindness, and purity of heart and acceptance I remember the woman I knew who was a Faerie seemed unwanted in the world.
I remember Gilbert Baker inspired the “Unwanted Teddy Bear’s” character in The Unwanted Fairy who is crying that he doesn’t feel cute until the fairy helps him switch up his style and he stops crying because everyone begins thinking he is cute .
I illustrated the “Unwanted Fairy” as having long hair because I always wanted long hair — princess hair as Lynn would call it- like Lynn’s best friend she lived with.
At the end of the story, the unwanted fairy and her friends go rainbow sliding and catch footballs .
Nonetheless, the story very much was inspired by the kindness and purity of heart of those whom I knew and loved and the power of wonder and whimsy that I believed was more powerful than Evil.
