probably time-
leaped to get out
of it. Well, that’s
the hope. h ey w
be missing because my army
of Blue Meanies, Erumpents,
dementors, Tribbles, and
Stormtroopers will have taken
them captive inside of my
Death Star-Yellow Submarine-
Enterprise-Newt’s Suitcase, from
which there will be no escape and
we will blast their ears with many
odd and seemingly unrelated
songs and themes played together
all at once. h ey won’t be able
to talk to each other to make
an escape plan, plus all of their
items will have been coni scated
and chucked in the handy trash
compactor-hole-teleporter-
Occamy nest to be destroyed.
Oh, and Ms. Acorn will have been
taken away by the surprisingly
large army of squirrels I have
founded and buried away in a
hole for the winter. (Geddit?
Acorn? Whatever.) Don’t throw
this in the FMP, cause the old
muses are hiding in my attic and
I can send them after you. Muah
hah hah. I hope you all survive.
—BEATRICE A. / age 10 / Pepperland-
Hogwarts-Alderaan-Tardis
Hey Beatrice. I totally bow
to your evil-genius-style
creativity, but I’d really
appreciate your not holding
my friends captive. Just
throwing that out there.
—O
A Feeling of Falling
The issue “The Science of
Dreaming” [Nov/Dec 2016]
interests me a lot. As I read
the articles, I noticed more
and more things that I do daily.
I have never recorded one of
my dreams before, but I often
remember them without any
trouble. To me, this doesn’t
really make sense based on
what I read in the articles.
Why could this be? Also, I
always i nd a feeling that I
am falling, but I’m not really
l oating away. Is this normal,
or a new discovery? [When
this happens,] I never imagine
aliens or monsters at all. I
just subconsciously make a
mistake and my gut lurches.
How does this work?
—CECILY T. / age 11Is This Sleep Paralysis?
2.ğUVWRII,/29('WKH
issue about dreams [Nov/
Dec 2016]. h e article about
sleep paralysis especially
intrigued me. I have a question
about that, in fact: a recurring
“scene” in my dreams starts
with me just lying in my bed,
not totally sure whether I’m
awake or asleep (it feels like
something between the two),
usually on my front. h en, I
suddenly become aware of
someone/something in my
room. h en, I feel as if I am
being lifted up out of my bed
by what feels like two arms.
Is this sleep paralysis? I’m
unsure because it usually
segues into a full dream,
which usually involves going
through a secret door behind
my closet (which started as a
subconscious explanation for
monsters coming from closets,
then evolved into an inter-
dimensional
portal).I absolutely LOVE math,
Doctor Who, science, Doctor
Who, computers, and Doctor
Who. Oh, by the way, did I
mention that I like Doctor
Who? Anyway, on to the
obligatory “anti-FMP threats”
portion of the letter. If you
do not publish this letter, I
will send my legions upon
legions of Daleks, Cybermen,
Weeping Angels, assorted
Pokemon, monsters from
assorted mythologies, and
bosses from assorted video
games to destroy Muse HQ. Or
maybe I’ll just send some badly
behaved kittens to destroy the
curtains and furniture. h ey
will also keep you up at night
with incessant meowing for
food, and... well, you get the
idea. h ey will be annoying.
I will most likely choose the
latter option, as it is less likely
to stop Muse from sending me
magazines. I would write more,
but I (a) have homework to do,
and (b) need to save time to
read and re-read the latest issue
of Muse. Stay awesome!
Ō6$07+(:+29,$1/ age 14
/ Washington, United States of
America, North America, Earth,
Earth-Moon system, Solar System,
Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo
Supercluster, Observable UniverseCecily, that feeling you
mentioned, also known as
sleep starts, is harmless. You
didn’t discover sleep starts,
but maybe you’ ll be the
researcher who finally
figures out why they
happen!
Sam the Whovian,
you described an interesting
experience. I don’t have enough
information to be certain, but
it sounds like hallucinations
during the wake-to-sleep
transition. h ese are both
weird and entirely normal.
Yo u rs si n c e re l y,
—MS. ACORN