Actual size. Slight Edit Ann reference. Swarthmore, PA.
"... this time she found a little bottle... and tied round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printed on it in large letters. It was all very well to say "Drink me," but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. "No, I'll look first," she said, "and see whether it's marked 'poison' or not... if you drink much from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later". However, this bottle was not marked "poison," so Alice ventured to taste it, and, finding it very nice, she very soon finished it off.
Sounds familiar...
"What a curious feeling!" said Alice. "I must be shutting up like a telescope!"
And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high... she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; "for it might end, you know," said Alice to herself; "in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?" - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Wow. I never realized how fatalistic Alice was, or how morbid children's stories can be when you really get into them. I'm not even talking about the Brothers' Grimm, which are obviously frightening, but even watching "Where The Wild Things Are" as a film left me thinking I must have blocked out the creepy parts out as a kid.
Back to the photo: The chair is actual size. Its on the Swarthmore campus. Also the bottle was there when I got there... swear. When I posted this on Facebook with obvious Alice references, one of the first responses was an Edith Ann quote. My mother was really into Lily Tomlin, but I never thought my peers would remember that character. So maybe I will end this post with some Edith Ann quotes. She was perhaps a bit more savvy than Alice, but both wise beyond their years ;)
"I have always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific."
"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat."
"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
"Reality is the crutch for people who can't cope with drugs."
- Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann
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