The Tag Institute

The Tag Institute "meets every Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM at the J.C. Nichols Fountain on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO." Their central questions: "Do you want to be more like a kid again, only without the teasing and staring? Do you have a desire to run around while other people watch?"

These are profound enough questions. The idea that we can be like kids again is in itself a crucial observation about the recuperative powers of the spirit. The notion that we can be more than that - kids without the teasing and staring - is as liberating as the game of tag itself.

It should be enough to let you know that these people are serious about their games of tag, that they see through the significance of adults playing tag, to find the freeing fun of it all. Their collection of tag games is not only further evidence of their touching dedication to the game, but also a useful resource.

The game of Tag is one of those fundamental, universal experiences that we share with most humans and all canines. Even I have both waned and waxed philosophic on the profundity of it all. See "On Being It," and perhaps even my exposé of the hidden truths of tag games like "Lemonade" and Hot Bread and Butter.

The Tag Institute is an important, affirming find, that I owe to Christopher Noxon, yet another important, affirming find.