The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

Now that I am finished and achieved my biggest goal for the year (13 half marathons), it’s time to set new goals for 2025. I would like to set four goals:

1. Run 4 half marathons (1 each season).
2. Get through Kimon Nicolaides’ The Natural Way to Draw.
3. Get a part time job.
4. Lose 25 pounds by my birthday and keep it off the rest of the year.

The 1978 version of Watership Down because it’s a beautiful story and translates well from the book which I loved (and read after I watched the movie because the first time I watched the movie I was too young to read the book). The black rabbit was a bit of an obsession of mine and he made me less afraid of death. I thought the cartoon portrayed him perfectly. So much so that when I read the book all I can see is the animated version of him in my head.

This cartoon like the book works well for both children and adults. It doesn’t try to be sanitized for children’s sensibilities and confronts the idea of death both brutal and peaceful head on. I experienced a lot of pain as a child so I was drawn to darker things in literature and film. I guess I identified with life as a spectrum of both suffering and joy and so the typical Disney film, which always had a happy ending, just didn’t resonate with me. The main character, Hazel, dies at the end of this film and midway through the movie has a near-death experience. Death was always close to my heart as a child so I loved this element of the story. The musical sequence where the black rabbit is leading Fiver to Hazel who has been shot, made me cry as a kid. Bright Eyes plays as the little rabbit sees a vision of death and follows it to the drainpipe where his friend has hidden himself and the water is running with blood. Just a heart wrenching and surreal scene with beautiful animation. I have provided a link to it on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/-5px3E5FwLw?si=aX1vT9ruj2hDr959