Dear Editor,

I hope you will watch the movie “Wicked” and the sequel, “Wicked for Good.” They are based on the novel, The Wizard of Oz, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum. He wrote the story to help the ordinary people living in Kansas understand what happened in the late 1800s.

The Kansan farmers were losing money because the drought prevented them from growing their crops. The factory workers were mistreated by the people who owned the factories. Most Kansans were very poor and struggled to have enough to eat and stay warm in the winter.  

At the same time, wealthy people were getting richer and telling the poor people lies so they wouldn’t understand who and what was really making their lives miserable.

In 1939, the movie version of The Wizard of Oz was produced. Can you think of a reason the producers wanted to remind Americans of the lessons in the original book? Can you think of a reason why people produced “Wicked” and “Wicked for Good” now?

In the fantasy story, Dorothy is a young teenager growing up poor in Kansas. She rescues her dog Toto and doesn’t find shelter from a tornado in time to be safe. She and Toto end up in an unknown and hostile place.

She meets the good witch and is given silver slippers: not red like she wore in the movie The Wizard of Oz.  On her journey to find the way back home, she makes new friends: Scarecrow who wants a brain, Tin Man who wants a heart, and Lion who want courage. All four think they will find what they want if they go to Oz.

They follow the yellow brick road: a symbol for the United States economy that was based on gold in the 1800s. The poor struggling farmers and factory workers in Kansas decided silver would be a better metal to rely on for the U.S. economy, which is why Dorothy is given silver slippers by the good witch.

When Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion arrive in the Emerald City of Oz, they realize they have been tricked by the wizard into thinking he will solve all their problems.

Right now, who might be the Wizard of Oz? Where is the current Emerald City?  

Are the animals the Wizard of Oz imprisoned in “Wicked for Good” symbols of a current group in the U.S.? Is the goat in “Wicked” a symbol of the importance of learning and the importance of academic freedom?

And the most important question: Who will be Glinda?  Will you use your heart, brains and courage to help fulfill our original promise to provide equal rights and opportunity for everyone in the United States?

 Senator Jeanne Nicholson

Black Hawk