a propostion.

Kellyn Lappinga
August 2009 Book Proposal

Whilst you see a small little child, you see them in an inevitably innocent form. Their habitat and the experiences they come across certainly bring the little child to some sort of growth largely determines who they will potentially become, what memories they chose to hold onto and how they decide to connote certain experiences. To become personal and speak about fire, I connote only good things because I am reminded of camping and fellowship with neighbors. Others, who have had no or different experiences pertaining to fire, especially that of camp, may be scared of it or even indifferent as it has had a bad or no particular affect on said individuals. Well I starting out making my way down the long path of life, my family and I lived in close proximity to other families who had children that were the ages of my sisters and I and who also attended the same Sunday church service. On the days that compile the end of the week, we would all sit together around a fire pit placed in someone’s driveway. The adults would do things I didn’t pay attention to and we the children would play all around. This usually happened within the two blocks we all lived on. My father would always have his guitar. He would always have his guitar and at a certain time within the night, after he may or may not have had most likely one or two beers, as he was a Christian man, my father and one or two other fathers would get out their guitars and play songs. As my father spent a great deal of his youth working as a camp counselor, he knew many songs that would always delight the children. Even still to the present day, whenever I see the children of those families I had known so well, we often times somehow find ourselves in a conversation about these dearly held songs and I have noticed that they are all we still care to share amongst ourselves now, as we are ourselves becoming adults and live far away from each other on paths that aren’t the same.
In an attempt to somehow make tangible the nostalgic allure of our childhood, I propose to you, the reader of this, the possible construction of a book that contains the aforementioned dearly held songs. I want to make something that will hold what we, the “children”, have come to use to define our childhood. In this attempt, I hope to be able to wok out thoughts that I myself have about moving through stages of life, the paths and choices I myself have taken and what the experiences I have seen have had to do with these decisions. I would like to make these little books, again, to archive childhood in a way that the mind and photographs cannot. I’m also interested in what the book will be able to do for the “children” (and by children I mean everyone who was at one point a child) who did not or even could have grown up similarly. What will this book do for them? And: Can this book create this tangible past for them? Will making these songs available to those who have never experienced what campfire songs be beneficial? I presume we will just have to see.
I propose to make twenty-five hand-bound hardcover copies of this book that I would like to call “Music for those who Love Fire” but of course this title is subject to change. This book will consist of thirteen pages, the song lyrics placed on the page by a typewriter and then copied by a copy machine, sewn together and glued to the hardcover’s that will be covered in contact paper that looks like wood for decoration. There will be no title on the cover to maintain ambiguity but there will be a title page, with credits and dedications to those who deserve them. The page size, all-inclusive, will be eight and a half by eleven but the book will appear to be eight and a half by five and a half. I’m assuming that you, reader, would like to know the songs that will be contained between the hardcover’s I am hand making. Well here is the list, only because you are blessed.
1. My Aunt Came Back
2. You are my Sunshine
3. Michael Row the Boat Ashore
4. Ears Hang Low
5. Mr. Johnny Rebeck
6. In the Cabin
7. Donut Shop
8. Baby Bumble Bee
9. Button Factory
10. Bear Hunt
11. Billy Grogen’s Goat
So there they are. The songs picked for nostalgic reasons and reasons that have to do with familiarity.
And so this is what I propose to you. Yet another attempt to make childhood actual once again. And also an attempt to give a possibly validity to it. What I’m simply proposing to create a memory that will be in a form allowing it to last longer then the mind can manage to preserve it. I believe that the best way to do that will be to place it inside of a book. Mull it over and have some thoughts about your own childhood because I would mostly like to know if what I am proposing is problematic so that I may be able to present these songs held dear in the best possible way.