Introducing ... The Height of Summer

Hello.

I'm not the Wizard of Oz.

In fact, come to think of it, the Wizard of Oz wasn't even the Wizard of Oz!

He was just a regular man tinkering away at a machine behind a curtain creating a larger than life persona for himself.

I couldn't find a better picture + can't find the original source. Sorry!

And to some extent ... that's what we, bloggers, tweeters, Facebookers, forum members etc etc are all doing too!

Sure through sharing our stories, our hobbies, our preferences, dreams, craft projects, outfits, family news, recipes, fears, obsessions and cat photos we learn an awful lot of wonderful things about one another. And we get close and we make true friendships. Invaluable friendships. Supportive friendships. Oh-my-goodness-someone-else-understands-my-notebook-fetish friendships.

But unless we ever meet up in 'real' life there remains [at least] one thing you and I can never truly know about each other via our online existence and that's ...

Which one of us is the tallest?

Seriously.

 I'm going to take an educated guess and say you are. Because most adults - and many children - are. But, for the sake of argument ... I'll stick to my original point and say that we can't know for sure, unless ...

... unless during August 2012 we all step out behind the curtain for a minute or two to reveal ... our true stature in a little series I'm calling:

Are you in?

How this came about:

I was chatting to a friend on Twitter who, while attending the recent Craft + Hobby Association Show in California met up with someone who, having previously only seen her online, was surprised at her petite stature. And, conversely, my friend agreed that the other lady appeared taller than it appeared in her online avatar.

I suggested that - in the crafting public interest - she ought to go around the show photographing all of the other well known creative ladies so we could all see where they all fitted in a Usual Suspects-like police line-up!

I don't think she did it ... however, this silly, throw away, idea took a hold of me ... and wouldn't let me throw it away.

And I began to think ...

• I remembered how surprised I'd been to learn that my long-time online pal Kirsty Neale was a tall specimen of a thing! I think I'd always assumed that, as we have so much else in common ... we must look alike too! Yet we don't.
• And I remembered how, in an established group of forum friends I'm part of, when the topic of height comes up now and again, we've all been surprised to learn of the mistaken assumptions we've been making about each other based on avatars  ... or simply our imaginations! 

And, you know me ... wherever I start to see a pattern forming ... I tend to want to turn it into an interactive series for us all to play along with.

So here I am. A girl asking the online world how tall - or not - it is ... and hoping someone will join in!

How to get involved with The Height of Summer:
This is entirely up to you ... but here are a few ways you could consider:

Simply reveal your true height:

• take a full-length photo of yourself and share it on your blog; 
• who knows, if I get enough takers on this I could even list us all in height order in my sidebar!
• If you're not comfortable with sharing actual photographs of yourself - don't be put off! Simply find a creative / alternative / crafty way to share your statistics [collage? art journaling? model? sketch? stick man? photo of a mark on the wall?]

Share any photos you have which feature an interesting or funny play on scale in it:

• Maybe you've been dwarfed by standing next to something [a tall building, animal, tree etc -- I'm going to dig out some of me with the impressively vast Angel of the North]
• Maybe you've met up with a friend or someone who towered above you, or who you towered above;
•  Maybe you've been to a theme park where the characters made you feel like a small child again ... or maybe you've felt like Gulliver wandering among the Lilliputians.

Discover where you fit with the height of someone or something else.

• maybe you have one of those height charts which tell you which animal you're as tall as;
• maybe you know how big a particular celebrity is and whether you could look them in the eye! etc

Share tales of :

• where your height has played a role in the action or the outcome.
• ales from childhood where your size might have felt like a gift or a curse.
• If you join in with Sian Fair's 'Storytelling Sunday you could combine the two and tell your height of summer tale on Sunday 5th August and link it up to Sian.

Encourage your children to tell a story about their height or share photos of their height charts / pencil lines on doorframes etc

If your size means that you struggle, in whatever way, to find clothes, shoes etc to fit:

• maybe you could blog about those shops or brands you've discovered which do cater for non-'standard' sizes;
• or maybe you could ask your blog readers for recommendations and tips.

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I'm sure there will be many, many more ideas and ways you could join in so ... have a think and see what you come up with.

 Then, once things begin in August [next week]:

• If you link to this series in your own post - and if you mention to your [no doubt baffled] readers what it is you're playing along with then ...
• I'll be happy to pin any of your Height of Summer posts to the Pinterest board.

Also ... I encourage you to share this idea with any and all of your online friends.

• Because i'm certain that the more of us who participate, the more pleasantly surprised we'll be to find that whatever our height, shape or size ... we're not the only ones.

I for one am sure there's another 5'2" Wizard of Oz on the other side of this virtual curtain just waiting to be revealed to me.

I can't wait to see how we all measure up!

Julie :-)