Lectio Divina for Chapter One

[pobble_reads]

So for reading The Worst Witch I've decided to alternate between Lectio Divina and PaRDes for each chapter - and to do a whole book Florilegia at the end. I'm choose a sentence for the four step reading practice that's different from the sparklet I choose for Florilegia but something that jumps out at me as being interesting and juicy. I did thing about choosing a sentence to do Lectio or PaRDeS randomly but can't work out a good way to do that.

For this chapter I'm going to be looking at the sentence: You could rely on Mildred to have her hat on back-to-front or her bootlaces trailing along the floor

it appeals to me because it's very much how I was a not-yet-diagnosed-with-dyspraxia schoolchild (although our uniforms didn't include hats they did have ties from the age of 5 which I think would be challenge even for an averagely well coordinated Small!)

As a quick reminder because I've not be posting here in ages Lectio Divina is a four step Practice:
Lectio - the literal reading and narrative
Mediatio - the allegory, symbols and metaphors
Oratio - reflection - how is this text connected with my own life?
Contemplatio - the invitation - what action is this text prompting me to take?

I’ll put my thoughts in the comments. Please do join in

Comments

Lectio

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What is the literal meaning of the sentence and what's happening in the narrative?

This sentence is in the first paragraph that introduces us to Mildred after about a page (I think - it's hard to tell when I'm reading on a Kindle what the original print edition would have looked like) setting the scene of the whole school more generally. We learn that Mildred is a first year and that she is almost always in trouble, even though she doesn't mean to be. Her dishevelled and disorganised appearance is given as one of the reasons that she gets in trouble with the teachers. But we also find out that she has quite a lot of friends and that Maud is her best friend. The other thing that we learn about Mildred's appearance is that, in contrast to Maud, she is tall and thin with long plaits which she often chewed absent-mindedly (another thing she was told off about and that (unlike Maud) she doesn't have glasses. Later in the chapter we find out about the black-and-grey striped pyjamas that Mildred wears to bed but there isn't a huge amount of physical description of the girls. There are Jill Murphy's lovely illustrations throughout the book which show us what Maud and Mildred look like but this is our main word-picture.
Mildred is noticeable (her height likely adds to that), she's either careless or clumsy or both (obviously I see her as probably having dyspraxia and maybe attention issues as well). She's not deliberately naughty but her appearance and inability to conform to uniform standards irritates teachers. She doesn't look like like a model pupil of Cackle's Academy.

Mediato

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What are the allegories, symbols and metaphors in this sentence?

I find the word rely interesting because normally the school staff would expect to be able to rely on most of the pupils sticking to the rules most of the time. But we (the people the narrator is telling the story to, who are presumably assumed to be closer on age and sympathies to Mildred than to the teachers) can rely on Mildred to get things wrong even when she intends to get them right.
The image of her hat being back-to-front is making me think of the phrase "dragged through a hedge backwards". Although most images of witches hats seem pretty symmetrical without a clear distinction between front and back - so maybe it's an easy mistake to make? But possibly something that's more obvious to experts and something the teachers expect their students think is an important part of presenting as a witch - and expect them to pick up quite quickly
Trailing bootlaces are an obvious trip hazard (and just the kind of thing a responsible teacher would want to be strict about in crowded school corridors).
I think the word always is important too - its not just a matter of Mildred having had a bad day or that she has gotten dressed in a particular hurry. These seem to be things she gets called out for regularly. And presumably she much rather not be constantly being told off - she's not a deliberate trouble maker or trying to prove a point about school uniform. She's human and fallible in a way that seems quite relatable - making think about when we were first getting used to tying shoelaces (something I still struggle with) or getting used to a uniform or dress code.

Often when we think of someone who "doesn't care about their appearance" than we either think that they don't care much about themselves and how they are perceived. Or we think that they are concerned with "higher" things than appearance like the stereotypical absent-minded-professor or unconventionally dressed artist. But there's also the possibility of coordination and sensory issues shaping someone's presentation - or that the particular item/items of clothing may have been designed for a different kind of body (children, like Mildred, of course have to also contend with growth spurts and sometimes dramatic body changes)

Oratio

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I am unsurprisingly thinking about my school uniforms and being dyspraxic (particularly when I was a child and that just wasn't considered as a possible diagnosis). Shoe laces were a nightmare - I still struggle with them. Multiple different adults tried to teach me "the right way" and that was just confusing. Friends would sometimes tie my shoes for me and then I would struggle to get them off again in the evening! Peers being helpful or just wanting to embarrass me would call out in the corridor that my laces where undone, again. A kind friend in early junior school made a cardboard shoe with a lace to help me practice and that also became something others took notice of and some laughed about. Buckles were easier but could still sometimes be a challenge and were only for summer shoes. I don't remember Velcro shoe fastenings being a thing until the late eighties and even then mostly not on school shoes. My coordination issues and general untidyness were mentioned when I finally had an assessment for dyslexia in 1989 but dyspraxia was still not mentioned as a possibility. My lace tying skills did improve but even when I was at Uni (and known as a prolific knitter - I'm not sure why the skill wouldn't transfer, but it really didn't) it was a standard joke about me that i "want to save the world but can't quite tie her shoelaces". I finally learned a slightly better tying method (from a book! Somehow that's easier for me than coping someone else) and I finally got my NLD diagnosis (NonVerbal Learning Disability, which incorporates dyspraxia) just before i turned 30 and stopped feeling quite so bad about not being able to do this thing that almost everyone else seems to find easy. There are a lot more non-lace options around now but I mostly have shoes with laces because they work better with the orthotics I need so it continues to be an issue for me....
It's been interesting as an Aunty because I can only help the Smalls with their laces if I am facing the same direction as them.
It makes me think about other people assuming I was choosing to present in a particular (messy) way when I didn't actually have other options and of the effort I was putting in being invisible. Diagnosis and increased awareness of SpLDs has helped but it's still an ouchy emotional area for me.

I'm glad that Mildred's friends doesn't seem to think less of her.
I'm glad that I had Mildred as a role model in the years before I was diagnosed and that their are more NeuroDiverse book and media characters out there now for the kids growing up with different flavours of NeuroDiversity and for their NeuroTypical peers

Comtemplatio

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What action is this text inviting me to take?

I think the main invitation for me is to examine my assumptions. As a child I identified with Mildred but as an Aunty or random bystander, who inevitably has other priorities (not wanting the child to trip over, maybe worrying about what other adults will think of an untidy child and obviously not knowing the full story of the dishevelled person I see on the street) it;s easy to jump to conclusions that may not be accurate.
Also because the bootlace thing so obviously struck a nerve for me maybe I'm bing called to reflecting a bit more on growing up as a NeuroDiverse/SpLD-having child and thinking a bit more about self-care and advocacy/activism for others?

[booklectica]

V interesting!

I'm thinking now that I'm grateful Rosie can wear velcro-fastening shoes and also that ties aren't required as part of her uniform, because it would add extra stress to the mornings. I don't think she's dyspraxic but I think she would get stressed and maybe keep redoing laces/ties over and over again till she felt she'd got it right.

It's difficult when your natural appearance is somehow non-conforming to what the outside world wants, like Mildred always looking a bit untidy. I agree it can be easy to jump to conclusions about why other people look the way they do which aren't always going to be correct. (An example I'm thinking of is when people assume goths dress like goths in order to stand out or to express performative misery - most of the goths I know just dress like that because they like it).