Tonight's subject might be one of my weirder entries. Not because it's actually bizarre or unique but because it's honestly fairly banal. Although I do have to admit that I did end up in a fairly absorbing research spiral, who knew you could get that intrigued by the mushroom. When you think fungus, the mushroom is probably the image that comes to mind first. Well that and maybe moldy bread. With a cap full of spores and a prevalence in wooded areas, the mushroom or the toadstool can mean a terribly wide variety of species. Some of the mushroom and toadstool varieties have that expected stem and cap, like the button mushroom, but a good portion of them simply have similar reproductive natures and look far more bizarre. Granted toadstool is typically used to describe the poisonous/ inedible varieties but technically there is no actual difference between it and a mushroom. For me the mushroom has generally just been one of those family food controversies, where the suggestion of adding fresh mushroom to any dish is an absolutely horrifying thought. I generally don't see the problem with eating fungus but then again there isn't much out there that I won't eat either. However along with being a problematic food stuff, the mushroom does have a fairly interesting cultural significance. Now I am probably oversimplifying things but there seem to be two main avenues that the mushroom takes within cultures from around the world, fantasy and drugs. A lot of the fantasy derivation most likely stems from the fact that for many people the circles of mushrooms that can be found are know as fairy, sorcerer, or even witch's rings. In England a fairy ring was a place where fairies would come to dance and were generally considered to be good luck if you had one growing on your property. However, these rings were also a dangerous thing to enter and could cause you to become blind or to disappear into a deadly underworld. It certainly isn't a far leap to go from fairies to gnomes or even to Smurfs, with their mushroom homes. These tend to be depictions that most people see, especially in children's literature. Along with the happy fuzzy depictions of magical creatures living in mushrooms, this fungus can also take a darker meaning. Often in art they are seen as a symbol of death and decay, which makes sense since the fungus does typically grow out of rotting things. Admittedly when I was looking for this sticker tonight, a good portion of the designs out there centered on the mushrooms from Mario. The Mario mushroom even tops a list of the five greatest uses of mushrooms in popular culture. But then again I can't say that's not terribly surprising since our generation grew up more on video games than traditional folklore. A lot of the graffiti designs I found tonight also focused on that second cultural avenue, drug use. Magic mushrooms, or shrooms, are any mushroom that contain the natural psychedelic compound Psilocybin. The use of mushrooms to get high has been around for millennia and was often seen as a necessity for spiritual enlightenment or rights of passage. It seems like recreational use of shrooms started in the late 1950s and really took hold during the 60s. I personally have always associated shrooms with bands like the Grateful Dead, although I really have no idea why since they don't have mushrooms in any of the imagery typically associated with them. Maybe it's just the psychedelic bears messing with me. Obviously the use of mushrooms in fantasy and within drug culture are not mutually exclusive. Alice in Wonderland depicts the mushroom as a method of growing or shrinking, which in turn becomes the focus of many college papers as a clear reference to drug use in Victorian times. Even Mario and his use of the mushroom to power up during game play can be seen as a reference to drugs, and often is depicted that way in graffiti. If you have a moment I highly suggest looking though some of the links I shared, they are fairly interesting reads. To sign off tonight I thought I would share one the only videos that I can think of that highlight the mushroom. While I could have gone with the Dancing Mushrooms from Fantasia, I decided to opt for the more annoying option. Good old college memories :)
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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