Becoming Anna

As some (or most) of you have probably noticed, my username is 'Anna' even though that isn't my real name. I always say that my imagination takes up the space where my brain should be (it is all too true), which is where Anna originated from. Anna Buckley (Yes, Buckley. Just for my friend Ed.) is a sort of alter ego of mine, one where I think a little more and talk a little less.


This past weekend, I was stuck with my parents at a chastity conference. I was prepared for the worst (after all, I was stuck at a conference with my mom and dad while my sisters went shopping without me). Actually, the conference turned out to not be that bad. The speakers were pretty good, but I ended up having my thoughts drift away to Narnia as they often do. What really got me thinking about Narnia were the second and third speakers. The second speaker was supposed to talk from the guys' point of view, and the third speaker from the girls'. This was where I realized the genius of C.S. Lewis.

Lewis could not have picked a better time period for Narnia. He created a world where there was respect and honor, guys were chivalrous, and goodness triumped. When I was at this conference, the one speaker was talking about the fact that in today's society, girls have started to take the lead and the men are following. Somehow, my thoughts drifted to Narnia. I know that some people may think this is implying that girls are weak and incapable of caring for themselves. That, of course, is not true. However, think of Narnia. Go to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. When war broke out, Aslan did not think that Susan and Lucy were incapable of fighting: it just wasn't their place. Did you ever think of either of them as weak? Although the men upheld their place as the protectors, the women did their jobs as well. I don't know, maybe I'm getting a little bit too fairytale-y. This was just what came into my mind during this conference, in between the very interesting tasting sandwiches and jotting down Narnian story ideas in my notebook.

So as I am working on becoming Anna (To Elwen: Yes, becoming Anna did help me defeat the fliratcious Corky n' friend. Hehe...) I am also working on being like a lady of Narnia. Although I am fully capable of protecting myself, providing for myself, and being a leader, I will try and let the guy do his job. Because...

"A lady of Narnia must not take more than one pack of complimentary mints when the guy at the hotel offers them to you, even if they are sugarfree, minty fresh, and have trivia questions on the side."

CHECK THE GATE

I think the following clip is self explanatory.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n6bb_the-chronicles-of-narnia-check-the_creation

And remember: Check the gate. Watch yourself. Show me what ya got!

"A lady of Narnia must never be caught on tape singing Bruce Springsteen 'Born to Run' from the 80's."

C.S. Lewis : The Early Narnia

I found this really interesting! I'm reading a book called 'A Field Guide to Narnia', by Colin Duriez, and I found some pretty interesting stuff about C.S. Lewis and how the Narnian chronicles came to be. Here are some facts I found interesting...


* C.S. Lewis was part of a group called 'The Inklings'. I had been aware that G.K. Chesterton (one of my other favorites) and J.R.R. Tolkien (another favorite) had been members of this group, but The Inklings consisted of Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, John Bunyan, Saint Augustine, George Herbert, Arthur Balfour and John Henry Newman. Other key members were Owen Barfield, Hugo Dyson, Lewis's brother Warren, and others.


* When war broke out and children were sent out into the countryside, some children were assigned to stay at The Kilns, a house shared by C.S. Lewis, Warren Lewis, and Mrs. Moore and her daughter Maureen. This is part of what inspired Lewis to being The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe.


* Something I found especially interesting what that Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were not the original names for the four children. In fact, Peter was only name that stuck. Here is his first attempt at writing the book:


"This book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old Professor who lived all by himself in the country."


However, C.S. Lewis abandoned the story and didn't come back to it until nearly ten years later, in 1949.

* Tolkien was not a fan of Lewis's creation of Narnia. At one point he said, "It really won't do, you know! I mean to say: "Nymphs and their Ways, The Love-Life of a Faun." Does he know what he's talking about?"


I am willing to post more about C.S. Lewis on this blog if it interests anyone, or you can buy the book off of Amazon. It is full of some serious stuff, but if you're willing to take on a challenge it is a pretty good book. Anyways...


Another thing a lady of Narnia must do. "A lady of Narnia must forgive and forget, even if that slice of pie was rightfully hers according to the Deep Magic."

( Below: C.S. Lewis doing what he does best: writing!)

The Gowns!

OK, anyone other than Elwen reading this will totally NOT understand what I am posting right now. El, I want to show you 2 of the gowns from the ballroom scene!!! I have to work on the other 4 outfits yet, but here are ours. Anyone else, please understand that I am crazy and if this doesn't make sense to you, that means that you're still sane.

"Say, you two match!" With love, Anna ( ;

Spring Has Sprung!

I went outside this morning and found to my delight that it was 50 degrees out! What a relief. After a very snowy winter, I was sick of white. Snow is great at first: especially when it freezes and you can go speed skating with your cousins and they're adorable dog. However, months (or, let's say 100 years) of winter becomes terribly boring.

I found that today I felt especially close to Narnia. As I headed out into the warm air, I felt the same excitement and joy that the Pevensies must have experienced when the snow in Narnia melted. I was off to church, which reminded me of Aslan. And while an adult (who will remained unnamed) scolded me for something I didn't even do, I just kept reciting in my head, "A lady of Narnia must never pull out someone's hair, no matter how badly she wants to."

Again, if you happen to stumble upon a way into Narnia, contact me. I'd really appreciate it.

Welcome to Narnia!

Welcome to Narnia, or at least a site entirely dedicated to everything Narnian. I love, love, love everything Narnian, so check this blog often to figure out what's new with the movies, hear about the original books, C.S. Lewis, and other stuff any real Narnian fan would find interesting. Have fun!



Dedicated to Princess Elwen : Two words. "I surrender."