Mad Woman in the Attic

“And so the child grows, his awareness expanding to encompass ideas and images larger than himself…” [1] Play is universal. Children of every culture engage themselves in play. Though play differs from culture to culture, generation-to-generation, it is clearly an instinctual and an essential part of growing up. The vast landscape of play, by itself, is an emotional experience of joy. Play is almost incomplete without toys. A toy gives form and reality to a child’s play. The young use toys and play to discover their identity, help their bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults use toys and play to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, remember and reinforce lessons from their youth, discover their identity, exercise their minds and bodies, explore relationships, practice skills, and decorate their living spaces. Toys are more than simple amusement, and the ways that they are used profoundly...

I have seen, I say, the Hereditary Princess of Potztausend-Donnerwetter (that serenely-beautiful woman) use her knife in lieu of a fork or spoon; I have seen her almost swallow it, by Jove! Like Ramo Samee, the Indian juggler . And did I blench? Did my estimation for the Princess diminish? No, lovely Amalia! - William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs (1848) Ramo Samee (or “ Ramaswamy ”, probably the more accurate spelling), the most famous practitioner of his art in his era, inspired royalty, journalists, and famous essayists like William Hazlitt, who found him a performer of astonishing skill. Today he is, aside from the appreciation he receives from a handful of juggling history websites, completely forgotten. The kind of sword-swallowing and juggling he did is in fact a real historical profession in India , and goes back hundreds of years. So while clearly part of Ramo Samee’s appeal was his exotic otherness, he was doing what he did best -- what he had been ra...