Travels with Tedrick
Christina Hamlett
October 31, 2006
Even those who are simply young at heart understand there’s no such thing as packing light when it comes to establishing a portable comfort zone. For Pasadena, California resident and first-time author Trefoni Michael “Tony” Rizzi, traveling solo on his treks throughout America’s national parks would definitely not rest well with his partner, Tedrick De Bear.
Rizzi and Tedrick, a cuddly and certifiable photo hound – or, rather, photo bear – have pounced feet-first into the literary mainstream this summer with their first publication, “Teddy’s Travels”. This combination guidebook, scrapbook and journal for families to record their coast to coast memories evolved from Rizzi’s desire to see as many of the country’s national parks and monuments as possible.
Although I spent my summers as a child on camping trips with my family,” Rizzi relates, “I didn’t receive my first teddy bear until I was well into adulthood. The real convergence of child and adult began one year when I was leaving the Grand Canyon and saw a family stop at the entrance sign to take a picture of their kids. Since I don’t have children of my own, I decided to take a photograph of Tedrick.”
He casts a glance toward the furry friend who has insisted on sitting in for our interview. “It was the beginning of a lifelong obsession for both of us.” To date, the man and his bear have visited almost 150 parks. Even a brief skim of the pages reveals that the photogenic Tedrick is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame and has no intention of giving it up any time soon.
Writing a book – plus launching a publishing company - is an interesting segue from Rizzi’s 25 years as an accomplished scenic, lighting and costume designer. I ask him to describe some of the obstacles he encountered.
I know this sounds a bit trite,” Rizzi replies, “but I would have to say the blank page was a real challenge. There is something quite ‘permanent’ about the idea of sitting down and writing a book. Additionally, and ultimately more important, was finding Tedrick’s ‘voice’. It took me almost a year to really find the world of language that Tedrick lives in. Once I found his voice, the writing became quite easy.”
The concept of a combination guidebook, journal and scrapbook is great fun for families in an age when two-income households, extracurricular activities, iPods, text messaging, cell phones, and Internet chat rooms are doing their level best to keep parents and children apart as much as possible. Rizzi shares what his inspiration was for the layout of “Teddy’s Travels” and its subliminal use as a tool to teach history and geography.
The layout and design was inspired by many different sources. I have always loved the interactivity of KLUTZ Press’ books and the ‘snippet’ quality of USA Today seemed to be a good ‘quick info’ model. The basic structure of the book came from research and a focus on the learning skills for the 8-12 age range.” Rizzi, it’s noted, has taught at such academic institutions as Connecticut’s Fairfield University as well as Los Angeles City College, Citrus College and Cosumnes River College in Sacramento. In addition, he has served as Assistant Director of Admissions at Art Center College of Design.
It was very important to me that beyond sharing information and collecting national park passport stamps, the book needed to be very participatory. I believe that the best educational experiences are interactive and interdisciplinary. This is why there are scrapbook pages and journal pages. When we look at something through our own camera, we see the world differently than when we are handed a picture. We need to really look at what we are taking a picture of. Additionally, it’s important to write about our experiences. Not only does journaling provide a keepsake, writing in a journal forces you to think about what you did. What did you see, learn, touch, smell, feel? Who did you talk to? What kind of connections can you make when you think about all you did? And finally, my hope is that you will begin to see how all these things connect and relate to you personally, in your everyday life.”
So how did Tedrick first come into his life?
I was given my first teddy bear for my birthday as an adult and he was quite cute. I became interested in the different types of teddy bears and found a whole world of incredible art and craft. Now, I was quite skilled in sewing and building things - having worked in the theatre and in puppetry for years - so I decided to build a teddy bear of my own. Ultimately, that teddy bear became Tedrick.”
Working with a stuffed animal, of course, has its ups and downs.
Tedrick is rather insistent,” Rizzi discloses, “on stopping at every national park we pass… regardless of the number of times we have already been there! He loves the visitor centers and, of course, he insists on having his picture taken in front of the entrance sign even if we already have 20 pictures of him in front of that exact same sign. We also have to get a new national park passport stamp at the visitor center, as well.”
As a writer, Rizzi continues, Tedrick can be quite resolute that traveling is about having a good time. “That’s why we decided to use his journal entries on his visits to the parks throughout the book. Nothing is more real or ‘in the moment’ than what you had to say the day you wrote it. He never wants the reader to think they are reading a school book or some kind of encyclopedia. Everything we do and see is real and Tedrick insists on making the readers' experience it as real as possible.”
I query whether he and Tedrick work from a detailed outline or compose at the keyboard as they go along.
It’s actually a little of both. We started out with a structure and then began choosing the parks we wanted to highlight. At the very beginning, we simply started with Tedrick’s journal entries. We began to pull ideas together and realized that there was way too much information to include. There wouldn’t be room for any pictures! Well, we were talking with a friend of ours and he reminded us that, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and suggested we lay out our photographs in the scrapbook and then see how much room we had to include from Tedrick’s journals. Ultimately, since there was so little room for text, we came up with the idea of using little scraps of paper to include as notes just like you would use in a real scrapbook. This gave us the freedom to include important information as well as Tedrick’s personal experiences.”
To date, “Teddy’s Travels” can be found in gift shops at such venues as Carlsbad Caverns, Ford’s Theatre, Shenandoah National Park, Shiloh National Military Park, Yosemite, the Old Stone House, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Introducing the books to park gift shops is an ongoing lesson in patience.
Each individual national park superintendent’s office,” Rizzi explains, “has specific and final approval on all books sold in the bookstores run by the non-profit associations that support the individual park. Because of this vetting process, it can take from 2 weeks to 6 months for a park to give approval on a book and then place an order. We have been talking with various parks across the country for over a year about the book and have been very fortunate in their responses. Of course, we began talking with the parks listed in the book, but now, we have many other parks interested in carrying the book as well. To date, we have the book in 12 national park units and close to 30 additional park units are reviewing the book for inclusion in their national park bookstores.”
Tedrick rolls his button eyes as if to say, “You’d think that for all the years they had Smokey the Bear as a spokes-animal, this process would be a lot easier!”
To get “Teddy’s Travels” off to an auspicious start, Rizzi used his creative know-how to launch TdB Press in Altadena. (Tedrick quickly points out what – and who – those initials stand for.) “’Teddy’s Travels – America’s National Parks’”, explains Rizzi, “is the first in a series of 10 books. The following 9 books will be comprehensive regional books covering all the national parks and monuments in each region of the country as defined in our first book. Additionally, there are plans for a journal, postcards, Tedrick’s Teaser Trivia Cards, caps and daypacks. Ultimately, Tedrick may write books on individual national parks. We are also looking at the possibility of writing books about specific cities throughout the US. Then there is the rest of the world, but that’s another interview.”
In their recent launch party to promote the book, Rizzi and Tedrick encouraged guests to participate in a teddy bear drive to benefit the L.A. County Fire Department in Altadena.
Our hope,” declares Rizzi, “is to donate dozens and dozens of bears to the fire department in every community we visit. That way, when children are in danger or have lost a home to fire or earthquake, they’ll receive a bear to comfort them during that difficult time. Plus, the children who read ‘Teddy’s Travels’ will become more than good travelers and great learners. They learn how to be kind hearted and generous friends to those in need.”
Hard as it is to believe, of course, there was once upon a time there wasn’t a Tedrick in Rizzi’s life. “I had a large stuffed dog that lay across the end of my bed,” Rizzi reminisces. “I loved that dog. We had great fun watching TV, riding off on adventures and taking naps in the afternoon.”
A low growl emits from Tedrick.
But, of course, he was no substitute for a bear,” Rizzi quickly adds.
The two companions have had frequent occasion to come across wishing wells in their travels. What do they wish for?
Health and happiness for my family and friends,” says Rizzi without hesitation.
Honey,” says Tedrick. “Honey and dates with super models.”
I ask Rizzi what’s still the same about him as when he was young.
I would have to say my interest in everything! I’m a very inquisitive soul and I love learning. I always have.”
And I,” pipes up Tedrick, “have always loved honey.”
Does Rizzi hold a favorite, treasured memory of visiting our nation’s most beautiful places?
Rizzi’s eyes mist over in fond remembrance. “I remember turning the bend in the road at the base of Mount Rushmore and seeing the face of George Washington. It took my breath away!”
And if he could bottle and sell anything in nature, what would it be?
The smell of the air that blows in the force of the falling waters at the base of Yosemite Falls.”
Does he prefer sunrise or sunset?
I can’t really make a choice here. I’ve seen the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean from the top of Haleakala National Park and the dark sky turning to a brilliance of air and light over the black to blue ocean took my breath away. I’ve also seen the sunset on the face of Half Dome in Yosemite and was held silent until the red light of the sunset faded to pink and then to shadow. How can a person make a choice between one of these?”
The greatest lesson a young person has ever taught him, Rizzi murmurs, is “to see joy in the little things in life.”
So if he could return to a single day from his youth and relive it, what would it be?
It was an afternoon camping in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. I was sitting on the shore of Silver Lake in the June Lake Loop and I spent an entire afternoon drawing the mountains and lake before me. I was totally lost in the mountains and the paper and the moment in time. All else faded away.”
For Tedrick, a sobering time of reflection was their visit to Gettysburg. “It made me think about the Civil War and all the things that led to this battle and it made me very sad. At the same time, I felt proud as a bear – and as an American – that we can always find a way to mend our differences and move forward.”
Where will the road take this plucky pair next?
We were just talking about that last night,” says Rizzi. “I think it will either be to some national parks we haven’t visited in the Western Region or possibly the National Capital Region to visit the parks missing from our photo album. Now that this book is done, we need to start work on completing the regional books!”
In the meantime, children and their families can keep up with Rizzi and Tedrick at their website at www.teddystravel.com.
Could a movie deal be far behind? “As long as someone cute plays me,” says Tedrick.
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