This is a unique record of a unique journey – of two brave clowns who travel into a warzone. The reader is transported through the magical metaphor of space travel, into the poetic and playful imagination of the clowns. They attempt to offer mutual aid and humanity to a nation (Ukraine) that is being systematically dehumanized by its oppressor (Russia). As we enter the warzone with the clowns, we see it, not as darkness and horror, but through a lens of imagination, colour, and hope.This book speaks to trauma and the different and complex ways that we experience it. We see how human contact, facilitated by clowns, helps people to deal with this trauma and to overcome it. The reader is invited inside these experiences, living them through the clown’s playful and poetic perspective.The Pretzels Space Odyssey gives a deep and fascinating insight into the practice of healthcare clowning, the skills, techniques, and state of being required to bring humanistic values into institutional systems that prize efficiency and order above all else. It gives insights into how healthcare clowns empower, validate, and celebrate the people they meet through play, imagination, and presence.
