You know those winged-monkeys from the Wizard of Oz?  They have always scared me.  Even today -- or maybe up until yesterday -- those flying monkeys just creeped me out! 
 
Recently, my daughter came home with an English project which required her to write a story employing an element of the fantasy novel she just read, which in this case was "Wicked."  Those of you who have read the book or seen the play know that it is the story of the two witches from Wizard of Oz.  Along with this story, she had to do a couple of 3-D projects to illustrate her story.
 
Now don't get me started on the necessity of teachers assigning extremely time-consuming art projects in ENGLISH class because I could write an entire blog on that.  Yes, art projects while over half the children can't spell and don't know the difference between "your" and "you're."  But I digress . . .
 
When she came to me and asked me for ideas, I suggested a take-off on some of the characters.  Naturally, the evil spawn of moi immediately thought, "Oh, I'll do one on those flying monkeys Mom is so terrified of!"  And so she did.
 
She wrote a charming story about two-winged monkeys named Toby and Hondo living a life in the Amethyst City and suffering from the prejudice of the townspeople because they have not evolved into the cute little monkeys found in today's zoos, and also because of their horrid fashion sense -- consisting of short-sleeved military jackets and tacky little "Jackie O" pillbox hats.  It seems Hondo and Toby just want to be like everyone else and find a useful place in modern society.  They finally find acceptance by opening up a cleaning service specializing in cleaning witch smush and ruby slipper glitter which soils the city every time a house comes flying down upon the city's witches.  
 
But we were still faced with the 3-D projects.  My daughter Katie inherited my total lack of talent in the realm of art, but luckily we were able to track down a couple of pewter figures for the illustration of the climactic scene, and for the other project, the map of the city, I suggested we bake a cake, a castle cake, where the people of Amethyst City reside. 
 
So where was I yesterday and why didn't I sign on Keen?  I was baking cakes and confronting my fear of winged-monkeys.
 
I guess the point of this blog is, after looking at them in a different way, I no longer fear the flying monkeys, and in fact, I think they're kinda cute.
 
So what's your fear?  Have you tried to confront it?
 
Following are pics of the Amethyst City Castle and the 3-D climactic scene illustration.