October 22nd is National Color Day. Color can affect our moods and happiness. I have a few books about color.
First is a college book from my days in Journalism and printing color. It is “Pocket Pal-A Graphic Arts Production Handbook” Twelfth Edition 1979. Bought this at the College Bookstore on 8/27/79 for $2.25 and 11¢ tax. Used this for several classes.
This next book was one from my Mom’s classroom when a teacher. She used this book to take shapes and colors to have kids make various animals. It is a pretty good aid, called “Color Zoo” by Lois Ehlert, 1989.
The next three books are some of my favorite books in the library. The colors and shapes brighten up my day just looking at the cover art. The books’ insides, are even better. This trio of books is by Robert Jay Wolff. Wolff was an artist, and helped open the School of Design In Chicago (now called the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology.)
The books were all published in 1968: “Hello Yellow”, “Feeling Blue”, and “Seeing Red”.
Speaking of red, it is the color of blood. Much like the book “Little Corpuscle” by Barbara Kidder, published in 1965.
Corpuscles are red blood cells. In them is hemoglobin, which gives us the red. Red blood is what you see when you happen to get a cut. Some cuts and wounds are fixed with a bandaid, others require sutures or stitches.
We acknowledge and celebrate survival on October 22nd with National Scar Day. We should use scars as reminders of how far we have come in life. There may have been challenges and obstacles that we have survived. The day also reminds us to embrace our scars, and not feel shame or embarrassment.
Scars, and their related stitches, have helped me to develop a better relationship with my brother. There was a time we would fight rather viciously. From him, I received three stitches on my wrist and vein, and four on my chin, under my lip. He received I believe, seventy one, with two gashes on his head-a thirty four, and a thirty seven stitch gash. I was just a little quicker, or I would have had many more. Those days of anger are over.
We now get along much better, and I am glad of that. Every year our relationship grows, certainly looking out for one another. We have each other’s back, instead of us looking over our shoulders. Color me happy.
Thanks for reading today. “Say hello to my little friends:”
“Orange you glad you stopped by?”
“Red-y to take on the world?”
“I’ll be cyan you later.”
P.S. Another entry in the ‘Color’ world, and perhaps has also ‘Scarred’ my brain world, would be colorful language. I bought this coloring book for my wife, who has been known to drop the “F” bomb more than once.
Librarytomes 