Hi there, this blog post is my trying to get back to the joy the works of Alison Uttley has brought me since childhood, and make sense of this past year and a half. You, see I had quite forgotten about my blog, until I saw the WordPress auto-renewal email. Little Grey Rabbit Drop Out?
To borrow a word from Watership Down, I’ve been “tharn” since 2019. The sudden death of my mother, COVID-19 lockdown, death of our pet during the pandemic, the anxiety of the election, and just existing as a Black woman in the United States of America in general, have all taken a heavy toll on my wellbeing. Posting scans of Little Grey Rabbit illustrations to Instagram gave me a bit of routine and distraction during the first leg of the COVID shutdown–while I was worried about my job. I treated myself to little Grey Rabbit books illustrated by Jennie Corbett, but the constant shock of things like the murder of George Floyd, April 2020– the armed protestors at the capitol without repercussion–which was like a sneak peek of January 6th, left me even more tharn. The new books languished on my shelf, and I stopped scanning pictures for Instagram, my last effort was sharing the little Grey Rabbit Christmas play.
It’s not like I’ve lost interested in Little Grey Rabbit or Little Red Fox, since then, I’ve passively enjoyed Alison Uttley audiobooks, reading passages from the Private Diaries of Alison Uttley, and even realized her books are available in Russian. Ура! “Сказки Малиькой крольчих” by Элисон Аттли – Hoorah! “Fairy Tales of the Little Rabbi”t by Alison Uttley. I guess I’ve just lost touch with that drive to enjoy and share what I love about Alison Uttley’s work. I’d like to regain it.
So, here I am Spring 2021–though the world is still very much a raging dumpster fire–, vaccinated, auto-billed and ready to try again.
until next time,
Primrose
#tharn – lapine (rabbit language) for frozen with fear, like a deer in headlights.
Little Grey Rabbit Scholar 