the little dandelion under the sun

"I was amused and somewhat astonished at a critic a few years back who wrote an article analyzing Dandelion Wine plus the more realistic works of Sinclair Lewis, wondering how I could have been born and raised in Waukegan, which I renamed Green Town for my novel, and not noticed how ugly the harbor was and how depressing the coal docks and railyards down below the town. But, of course, I had noticed them and, genetic enchanter that I was, was fascinated by their beauty. Trains and boxcar and the smell of coal and fire are not ugly to children. Ugliness is a concept that we happen on later and come self-conscious about. Counting boxcars is a prime activity of boys. Their elders fret and fum and jeer at the train that holds them up, but boys happily ocunt and cry the names of the cars as they pass from far places." - Ray Bradbury