This scrap of paper and ink captures my imagination. Here’s an encapsulation of an ordinary moment, apparently compiled in haste or in an incremental process of additive notation. Its relative vacuity describes the majority of our lives, the big masses of interstitial goo that hold our more substantial bones together.
Read MorePAINTING THE WALLS
In a time when we’re all overwhelmed by media from carefully managed corporate committees, or ceaseless chatter from social media, a small painting on a piece of a former teenager’s bedroom wall is enough to make us stop and smile and notice how it, too, has influence—perhaps even more lasting influence than any disposable electronic signal that may tempt us for ten irrelevant seconds.
Read MoreTRANSFORMATIONS (or, Why an Essay about the First Gulf War appears in a Blog about Creativity)
Performers on stage? Soldiers ready for battle? Protesters lining the streets? That’s the thing about moments of transformation. There are usually multiple, simultaneous forces at work. In this month’s blog post at 1AU Global Media, we consider moments of transformation, when real world events intersect with lives pursuing creative expression.
Read MoreTHERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
But once you know where you come from, challenge yourself to range outward and learn what’s going on elsewhere. Those explorations will inevitable make you more aware of the unique attributes of your own origin, but they will also make you a more powerful creator.
Read MoreA PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE MADNESS
Creators create because they must, and the styles in which they pursue their perfectly acceptable madness are intimate functions of delivering them to someplace sublime.
Read MoreNEW LATITUDES, NEW LONGITUDES
By knowing the latitude and longitude of every centimeter on our planet, we must imagine new ways those places intersect.
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Inside even the littlest of seeds we find the structure of an entire galaxy, writ with rules, order, and intention, waiting to grow. Not all seeds will do so, however. Most will simply decompose.
BOTANICALS
Inside even the littlest of seeds we find the structure of an entire galaxy, writ with rules, order, and intention, waiting to grow. Not all seeds will do so, however. Most will simply decompose. It's kind of like the creative process, no?
Read MoreA CHILDREN’S STORY
Childhood depends on creative sparks. The process of invention is the process of discovery, which is another way of saying that invention often yields growth.
Read MoreHIDDEN THINGS
The horizon line marks those places with an edge beyond which you cannot see, and there are more places you cannot see from where you're sitting right now than there are places you can see.
Read MoreWHAT A DAY FOR A DAYDREAM
Daydreams generally mean that you’ve suspended concerted effort for a moment, that you’re awake but dreaming. Amid the churn and bustle and actual competition for viable neurons these days, I find that suspending conscious effort for a few minutes is a rare thing. How bizarre: I have to consciously work at keeping my brain from working!
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