You have to be quick to keep up with Gaga. I was so blown away by what happened on her birthday, it has taken me 6 days now to even wish her happy birthday - and I still am not ready to put it into words, but since she has a "major announcement" coming out in a few hours on Good Morning America, I need to try and catch up with her whirlwind pace now.
Gaga got the Ruby Slippers that Judy Garland wore in the Wizard of Oz for her birthday. I know this means a lot to Gaga, and her speech about it was wonderful - how she has the slippers now, not the bully who got the part of Dorothy that Gaga wanted in the school play. It means a lot for this statement against bullying, which we certainly need, but Im sure it means so much to Gaga because of her love for Oz, as any lover of Oz can imagine. And if possible it means even more to me, because I love Gaga and I love Oz. Gaga and Oz are the epitome of magic and wonder to me. Both show us what we can be. Gaga's example and messages, and the residents and stories of Oz, lead us to the best possibilities of creativity.
I have been espousing a principle of things coming together for a transformative moment throughout this blog. To me, the present of the Ruby Slippers for Gaga is a more literal example of this merging of worlds than I could ever have dreamed.
These are fairylands, Oz and the world of Gaga. Those who know them already know what I mean, those who dont may be perplexed or think I am saying nothing. But for all, let me say that there is not much I can say that is not already said better in the Oz books and by Gaga. Yes, I would love to ramble on about these things and my understanding and ravings about them, but the best thing I can say is "read the Oz books" and "listen to Gaga". Once you've done these things you will know much of what I am trying to say.
If you have done neither of these things, get started. If you have already done one, listened well to Gaga or read the Oz books, you probably understand what I mean by "magic". Gaga and Oz are magical - both are real fairylands that are open and free to those willing to enter. Like Jesus as a gate to heaven, but without the added obnoxious insistence of evangelism. Oz is presented as "hard to get to" but the main thing that allows people to experience Oz is being "young at heart" - a type of and willingness to believe. Gaga is so fantastic that a 5 year old girl asked me "is Lady Gaga real?" and yet she is inescapable, she is everywhere. Gaga is in no way "hard to come by". The whole world, and everyone in it, seems to be surrounded by Gaga. But being young at heart and willing to believe may what determines how "into Gaga" one gets. I feel like Gaga and Oz are both worlds within the heart that expand Love and extend acceptance.
I started reading L. Frank Baum's Oz books when I was 11 and fell in love. I was deeply impressed and greatly inspired by the vision of a land where there is no death, no fear, no money - where all work is done out of love and all people are cared for. It was ideal, but also possible to me, even real. Because just as the willingness to believe can allow someone a path deep into mystery, be it Gaga or any other mystery or myth, the strongest belief in the possibility of ideal society is what can best make it reality. Which is why I'm so saddened by those who dismiss ideas because they are idealist. I have been trying to tell people about the Oz books and the great messages in them all my life, with very little reception or even recognition of the book. To me they have perfect messages, and knowing how popular they were a century ago makes me wonder why people are so unfamiliar with them now. I suspect actual suppression of these great Oz messages, in the same way that there has been an attempt to dilute Gaga's influence with shallow mockeries - although Gaga is so strong even this plan backfires and some of those "contenders" get spiked with Gaga themselves - and all have their own creative sparks as well even if they are not yet ablaze as Gaga is, or are serving a more wordly agenda. But I really think the great truth of creativity is revealed in dramatic fashion and will always return. The Goodness of Oz, for instance, includes just enough evil and misunderstanding to make interesting stories. Gaga was bullied by the girl who got to play Dorothy in the school play, but that pain made the story that much sweeter than if Gaga had just been a fan. Some misunderstandings, evil even, is "needed" to make things dramatic and make us appreciate things, but the lesson here is how much greater a power the Good is. That bully was rude to Gaga, flaunting her school play slippers to rub it in that she got the part Gaga wanted, but Gaga believed in herself and what she knew to be true and ended up with the Real Ruby Slippers. To me, this is an metaphor: there is pettiness and evil, but compared to it Good is so much better, more powerful and glorious, and will prevail in time.
I am so in love with the wordlview of L. Frank Baum in his Oz books, and they were so widely read in the early 1900's, I believe we could have taken a path that would have led us to Utopia, a society without money, for one example, like Oz. Just as Gaga's bully was wrong, it is wrong that America went against this possibility to get more people to do more work they did not like for another century - but we have long been ready to move into Utopian society we are just holding back. Modern events make it even more apparent that we need to live and work together harmoniously and we truly need Utopian ideals because we can go for our dreams and make them real, as individuals or as societies.
I believe we are meant to love and care for each other and I know that we really can do it. I see the worst influences as those that try to scare us into thinking we must be self-centered, and the best are those that remind us to love each other. Oz has always done this so well for me, reminding me what we can really be - but no one seems to know much about it 100 years later. When Gaga showed, to me, the same creative path of freedom, the same fairyland to escape to but also to live and flourish in, I fell in love with her. As I have always said here, she exemplifies all the qualities I call divine: inspiration, Art, creativity, genius, beauty, sexiness, caring, support, bravery, etc. It is no suprise that it is the same Wonderful, marvelous divinity that I respond to in Oz, that so may of the themes are similar. But it is a wonderful Surprise, a great Present, that Gaga recieved the Ruby Slippers for her birthday.
For her, it is special because of her story, but mostly just because she has these most fantastic shoes on the planet and if anyone deserves the very best shoes its Gaga - wonderfully appropriate because of the true magic of Oz, of Dorothy, of Judy Garland, of everything involoved that make it the perfect symbol of the divine. But for me, it is a great present because Oz is always in my heart and while I would love nothing more than to share it with more people, they just don't know. Since Gaga made her speech about loving Oz and since she has the Ruby Slippers people will think about Oz more than ever in the last century. To me, the messages are a perfect combination, and in the same way that Gaga will set a whole new generation of Oz fans in motion, the Ruby Slippers will give her great power. They will not only be a symbol of her magic power, they will be magical for her. And she will use them to remind us of the divine home we all belong to, and when she taps them she will take us all home to that place with her.
Once again, I can't say enough about the merging of the worlds of Oz and Gaga - "there's too much gold here for us to use" as I say in my song "Bonus Track" (youllis on youtube). I can go on forever about the Goodness of Oz and the Goodness of Gaga and how they relate, but let me just say please read the Oz books, if you have not, and please pay attention to Gaga if you have not yet paid her the best kind. There is so much goodness there, you will get as much as you seek.
And I love how Gaga urges us to follow the yellow brick road to our dreams. Because sometimes I feel like the Tin Man, a hollow drum beating for Love. Or the scarecrow, easily scattered, clumsy, and succeptible to fire. Or scared of my own destiny like the Lion. I know that I too can be like Dorothy and have my over the rainbow and no place like home, but I love it that Gaga is Dorothy so perfectly and is really bringing two worlds together, making an over-the-rainbow home. I want to be her Toto, always with her for comfort and love and I want her to take me in her arms. And he is supercute and only ever says one thing.... But read the books, then ya'll will know about the one I really identify with, the Shaggy Man.
I love you so much, Gaga, and I'm so happy for you! I am superexcited to hear your new announcement in a few hours on Good Morning America and wonder what it could be.... a new song release? Getting Married? Running for office? Starting an official Gaga church? starring in a movie? A major philanthropic or environemental effort? Im giddy with possibilities, maybe it is about the upcoming performance on "glee" - whatever it is, it will be Gaga, I will be happy. And knowing Gaga has the Ruby Slippers, and now and for all time has the "role" of Dorothy that she deserves to play, well this makes me so happy - knowing she has them and their power, and knowing that through Gaga Oz will become real to millions of new people who are "young at heart"
As I hear Born this Way in the radio in the background, I am reminded how much I have to say about these lyrics, and also her lyrics for the Fame Monster albums - so much to talk about! And with Gaga there is always more, and Im sure the new announcement will have epic implications - I will trot along with her on this Yellow Brick Road and together all our dreams will come true.
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