Steven Schwausch
English IV
Ms. Coker
25 March 1998

I do not truly know anything about purple. I do not know if there is even anything special to know about the color. The reason I chose this topic is a simple one. I am genuinely obsessed with the color purple. With this topic I hoped to find out if there was anything special associated with the color purple, besides me. A majority of my possessions are purple and it would help me to know whether this has something to do with a personality trait or just some weird fetish I picked up out of the blue, or should I say purple.

Most of my information comes from the web and other online sources. I have one source that I acquired from my sister after a trip she had to San Antonio. I did a websearch using dogpile. I then perused through over 200 sites containing the word purple. Most of them were for purple martins(birds), bands/pop rock groups, sports teams, and web site construction/software. Some of these sites included some very awesome purple pictures which I will presently incorporate into my own web page. There are a lot of very interesting pages hosted by people obsessed with purple. I will be including some quotes from a page that listed quotes and sayings from people who have visited the page. In my course of searching through the 200+ sites, I came across many pages that suggested that the color purple contains many magical powers. One site said, "[Purple gemstones] are the magical stones used to open the third eye. They have been long used by mystics and to create psychic powers."(The color PURPLE) This page also states that "quartz amethyst is the best purple gemstone to wear for deep meditation, psychic projection or during any personal ritual designed to contact the super conscious, or the overmind"(The color PURPLE) All this 'magic powers' is just a bunch of old beliefs and nothing based on facts. But it is something interesting to know about the color. There were a lot of sites that contained migrating information, nesting habits, and the diet of the purple martin, a bird that doesn't even look purple. There were also a multitude of pages committed to bands and pop rock groups that had the word purple in the name. Here are some examples: Deep Purple, Purple Whig, Purple Valley Band, Born to the Purple, Visual Purple, and Purple Honey Dream. A lot of the bands were based in Seattle. A lot of online corporations also used purple in there names. Purple Enigma is a company that designs and sells encryption devices for computers. Purple Frog Software, and Purple Crayons are two pages set up to help people design, build, and maintain web pages. Some people have pages based solely on distributing purple graphics, backgrounds, songs, poems, etc. The Phoenix Suns, and the Minnesota Vikings have multiple pages promoting their teams. " 'The Purple Heart', is an American decoration - the oldest military decoration in the world in present use and the first award made available to a common soldier. The ORDER of the PURPLE HEART is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the, next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action."(The Purple Heart…) If I were to join the armed forces I would like to receive this metal, even if it calls for me to get wounded. I try to acquire as many purple objects as a I can. To list all the purple objects that I own I would have to write another paper.

When asked how she feels about the color purple Emily replied that it is a "happy color". She really couldn't describe what she thought about the color. I realize that it is hard to explain why someone likes a certain color. Shalena said that "[she] couldn't talk about a color." On the web page [http://www.icgroup.net/~emilewski/ purple/pqoutes.html] there are many quotes saying how people feel about the color. LJ J. says, "I love purple! People don't get it, they just think it's a color." Mike G. states, "Purple isn't just a color…it's an attitude." " 'At first it merely seems a color…But then it begins to seep into your body, mind, and soul, and then oneness is truly reached' A Zen-Buddhist, circa 550 A.D." says Chris D.. I realize that it is hard to explain why someone likes a certain color. There really are no words to truly describe the color purple.

When my sister went to San Antonio a while back she discovered a store based solely on the color purple. She had the courtesy and kindness to acquire some of the items from this store for me to put into my collection. The one item that I will be including in this paper is a post card with the Purple Profile, Louise Z. Berenson 85. "A purple person [is] imaginative, artistic, and sophisticated. [They] have noble ideals and a keen appreciation of the cultural. [They] are alert, demanding, foresighted, confident, resourceful, spontaneous, and highly independent. [They take delight in the beautiful, the gracious, the sensitive, but maintain an attitude of critical appraisal. In love [they] seek to attain a magical quality and refuse to settle for anything less. [They] refuse to be 'swept-off [their] feet' unless genuineness and integrity can be absolutely ascertained. [They] are active in the support of things [they] believe in, and are concerned with the pursuit of truth and other human values. [They] take chances and believe that [they] must do so to make the most of what life has to offer. Purple is an exclusive color, mystical in quality, blending the two extremes of the spectrum, red & blue. Traditionally, purple represents splendor, dignity, royalty, rank & wealth. Purple is a unique color, and it is a truly unique individual who holds it dear."

In the progression of this project I have learned many things. There are 68 references to the word purple in the bible. The color purple is associated with psychic awareness and telepathic abilities. It is also said to clam the spirit and warn away evil. The color purple is associated to royalness. I feel that this search has heightened my understanding and knowledge about the color, but it also showed me that there is a lot that I still do not know. Most of this information helped me. The purple martins and the sports teams did not do a lot for my research, though. There are lots of things that I still need to know to grasp the full concept of purple, but that will come in time and grow with my maturity.

Berenson, Louise Z.. "Purple Profile." Purple Panache, 6 Brington Road, Brookline,MA 02146. 1985.

"The color PURPLE." http://www.seemall.com:80/gems/purple.html 23 March 1998)

"Holy Bible." King James Version. 1986.

Milewski, Evan. "Purple Ponderings." http://www.icgroup.net/~emilewski/purple/pquotes.html (20 March 1998)

"The Purple Heart Home Page." http://www.purpleheart.org/explanation.htm (23 March 1998)

Rightmeyer, Emily. Interview. 23 March 1998.

Shalena. Conversation on AOL instant messenger. 24 March 1998.

Do you want to go back to my home?