Children, color, books, chilling

[A book I made last summer at Velma's.] Upon Frank's recommendation, I watched "A State of Mind," a documentary film that follows two girls, 11 and 13, as they train for the North Korean Mass Games. It was unnerving because it was hard to marvel at the results of the intense training of tens of thousands of young people while considering the agenda behind such training. Beyond the choreographed gymnastics and dancing, though, I was struck by a fleeting glimpse, zoomed in, of the giant (something like two football fields in size), changing "picture" in the stands behind the performance's main floor. I knew they were people, but then I saw they were children, and they were not simply waving colored placards and turning them around, but opening and closing books that were pages of colors. The concept is so pure, and execution perfect, but I cringed to think about what it takes to synchronize 20,000 children with huge color books, and what the punishments are for error.

Books without words are very powerful.