Marvelous Monsters ༼༼ ᕤ෴ᕤ ༽༽

While monsters have long served humans as metaphors for fear of what is different and/or unknown — the word "monster" comes to us in part from the Latin words for warning and demonstration — there's been a necessary rehabilitation and welcome expansion of the concept of the monster in Children's literature and media in particular. From Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" to Sesame Street to "Monsters, Inc.," monsters are not JUST lurking in the shadows to antagonize or gobble us up. In this more generous, compassionate light, monsters can also help us to empathize with other human and nonhuman creatures and consciousnesses, reflect on and shift our perspectives, challenge assumptions and biases and process and understand our tender and turbulent emotional lives. That's why I like to think of monsters as ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* marvelous ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* — real/imaginary beings who are connected to wonder, surprise, astonishment and even smiles.