LOST

 November 24, 2006

A flight from Sydney, Australia mysteriously erupts in the sky and an airplane crashes on an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Survivors are held captive as their many secrets unfold week after week. Yes, cult films and TV shows are not a new phenomenon... With the emergence of TV’s newest series LOST, it’s not the first time people have found themselves stranded on islands or in outer space or in another place in time…

I found myself lost in Thanksgiving light reading, "The secret life of the Lonely Doll, The Search for Dare Wright" written by Jean Nathan. Appealing to me on so many levels, I raced through this simple and troubling (simply troubling) biography of (Edith Stevenson wright and her daughter) Alice Dare Wright.

The experiences of others as exposed through a biographer can trigger a trove of treasured memories. For me, this biography unlocked the secrets of one of the most important books of my childhood, The Lonely Doll. Released at a time when I was only seven years old, my parents were in the midst of a divorce and as an only child, I was being tossed from one household to another.  Edith and Little Bear and Mister Bear would accompany me during those lonely car rides and late nights under the covers.

When you are seven you can so readily identify with a character in a book. When you are 57 it is shocking to learn that the little girl you loved and admired was really the character in the book.

I can’t help but wonder just how many other little girls, sporting blonde ponytails and lots of pretty outfits, are out there… hair kissed by the color of paste and chemicals sharing this memory of youth to a daughter or niece or granddaughter?

I finished my blogging,  and I did what I do every time I complete a book ~ research the character, the author and follow the links to wherever they may lead me. And then I found Ms. Ashley just a couple of hours from where I reside in the O.C. Hmm what an interesting journey in a couple of hours. I sent off an email to Author, Santa Barbara realtor and only heir to the Dare Wright estate today wondering...

Brook Ashley grew up in New York City considered Dare as a second mother. As a child, she appeared in Dare’s book. Dare was  encouraged  to create and photograph her own children’s stories. Brook has been an actress on Broadway and television, and is currently a free-lance writer. Brett Wilbur is Brook Ashley’s daughter. She is a writer, newspaper editor and photographer. At the age of eight, Brett was photographed by Dare Wright, with Dare’s little bisque doll Persis, in a book entitled Make Me Real. John Ogilvie is a writer, photographer and financial consultant. He is married to Brook Ashley. Together, they edited Dare Wright’s only book for adults, Ocracoke in the Fifties.

Ms. Nathan is quoted as saying that “Memories aren’t governed by any rules. When they decide to pay a visit, they don’t call first or ask whether it’s convenient if they drop by. They just barge right in. Proust put this more eloquently when he wrote of a particular kind of memory, involuntary memory, which he defined as "Something that comes unsolicited from the past completely to unsettle the individual in the present." The past is with us. It is all around us, and anything, anything at all can kick it up".