Thinking Allowed? Uttering (Outering) my brain-sputters

[capri0mni]

So, yesterday, I decided to launch a new Blogger[tm] blog on/for BADD. And I decided that the focus would be "Disability in Oldtime Stories." And actually, I may start it, and start posting to it, sometime this week, so that there will be something there for the BADD host to read when I submit my blog for inclusion in the Blogfest.

The Very First Thing they want you to do is name it (which, once chosen, is permanant -- at least, the url is, and I'd like the the address to match the name).

So -- I want to pick the Right Name. So I'm just going to list names as they come to me, so I can look at all of them to help me decide. Your feedback is welcome, but not required.

1. Wheelchair of the golden Cranes
   
   
2. Imperfect Heroes
   
   
3. Outcasts, Oddballs, and Simpletons
   
   
4. Disability in Stories
   
   
5. Tales of Disability
   
   
6. Tapestry of Tattered Threads
   
   
7. Plato's Nightmare
   
   
8. Monstrous Heroes & (something, something... Simpleton Princes?)
   
   
9. Plato's Nightmare and the Spinster's Dream

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1. The birds on Hephaestos's wheelchair, from that archaic Greek drinking bowl painting, are cranes. And he would be the archetypal mascot of the blog. But "cranes" might be taken to be the modern construction equipment...
   
   
2. Not all heroes are handsome and charming, or even clever. But would folks expect this to be a politically-focused blog (about military veterans, or other type of heroic activist?)
   
   
3. I like the scansion of this, but I'm not sure if it gives a full-scope impression.
   
   
4. Both this one
   
   
5. and this one might lead people to expect real-life confessionals about living with disability.
   
   
6. I hope "Tapestry" connotes the sense of craft involved in storytelling, and the cultural creation of identity that stories give us... and "tattered threads" refers to the storytellers acknowledgement that "frayed" people are a real pressence in the world.
   
   
7. Plato's worldview couldn't handle the idea of a god (the Ideal) with a physical disability (the Real). And he actually argued that no one should tell stories about, or make statues of, Hephaestos, the lame god, because it would just "Confuse the Common Man, who is too simple to understand when something is a metaphor."
   
   
8. This goes to my idea that the disabled folks get conflated with monsters, and there are a few specific stories I'm thinking of (Hans my Hedgehog, Bearskin, Seven who made their way in the world) where the heroes actually are, physically, monsters for at least part of their stories, and "Simpleton Princes" are for all those folklore protagonists who are intellectually disabled in their ordinary society, but their learning differences enable them to see things "normal" people can't.
   
   
9. Spinsters (old ladies who spin yarn and thread) are long associated with folktales, and though Plato had his hangups when it came to acknowledging that Disabled People exist, an elderly storyteller living with arthritis, cateracts, and a pair of twisted feet (q.v. origin stories for the character of "Mother Goose") would not.

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Hm. I think I'll have to sleep on this for a couple more nights.

Comments

[trouble]

I'm really terrible with these things. :( <3

[capri0mni]

*sigh* (not at you -- at the whole puzzle)

I think it's quite unfair for them to demand that you name it before it exists! I mean, that's cart before the horse of Everthing!

Humpth.

I suppose I could outline a few ideas for future entries, just to see what kind of ideas might end up living there, then I could figure out what sort of umbrella would properly Cover Them All.

[jesse_the_k]

1. Yes they're cranes, but could you call them egrets or herons to get around the 80 stories-of-iron issue?

2. Is pretty vague

3. Appeals for the scansion and the nicely old-fashioned words; it could be Outcasts, Oddballs, Simpletons, and More

I concur with your hesitation re 4 & 5

Must confess my tonguetwisting prevents me reach the analytical stage with 6.

It would require a brief explanatin, but 9 truly tickles my fancy. Also highly Googlable, if that's a plus.

[capri0mni]

Re: #9 --

Over on the LJ side, ghost_light replied: "I love 7," to which I replied:

(quote) Yeah. As I was typing out my reasons for each, I found myself leaning toward either #7 or #9. I like the Yin-Yang quality of #9...

For #9: maybe instead of "spinster," Homer's Dream?, since "he"* is the archetypal blind storyteller, and also Greek. Or Aesop's Dream?** (And Aesop is also, according to legend, disabled. Hm. I'm wondering if this is a "Thing" a motif of disability.)

*speaking as if Homer actually was a "he", and not a band of Anonymous Bards who told and retold stories through many centuries.

**Ditto (unquote).

So, as of this hour, I'm leaning toward: Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream, because a) that's a good illustration of the scope I hope to cover [between critiques of worldviews in the abstract on one hand, and down-to-earth storytelling and humor on the other], and b) Yes, it's highly Googlable (Googlile?), which is a definite plus, especially for people who are looking for ancient stories and folklore (why else would you type Aesop into a search engine?).

In an ideal world (*thumbs nose at Plato*), I'd stick with "spinster" for the acknowledgement women's rolls as storytellers, but "Aesop" needs no explanation.

[jekesta]

I love 6, 7 and 9. Yes.

[capri0mni]

Good. I've already decided to go with Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream, and I'm currently designing my custom header for it. I will show you when I'm done! I think it will be very pretty!