Hi folks – don’t forget that we are NOT meeting in class this Tuesday, June 9th; however, you are still responsible for the readings, which we will discuss on Thursday. So for Thursday, please read the following:
- Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2 from The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (on Blackboard)
- Sections: “The Transformation of Everyday Life,” “The Creative Ethos,” and “The Creative Class” from The Rise of the Creative Class: and How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. (Book in bookstore)
Please post your response to the readings by Friday (midnight), June 12th. As discussed in class, you can approach your blog posts any way you’d like, but you must engage with several of the readings/concepts discussed. So feel free to reference personal experiences and/or opinions/thoughts, as long as those comments are backed up or make significant connections to the readings.
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During Thursday’s discussion, we discussed the intriguing differences and similarities between The Rise of the Creative Class and The Cultural Creatives. The class as a whole defined the beginning of The Rise of the Creative Class as a book trying to define today’s creative workforce as a whole, while we defined The Cultural Creatives as a book trying to define creative cultures’ behaviors from the past and present. At first, the comparisons between the books seemed quite different due to such points as economic differences and other various philosophical perspectives. However, in hindsight, we saw that the individuals discussed within The Rise of the Creative Class was a product of the individuals discussed within The Cultural Creatives.
These individuals are those of the 1960’s and 1970’s decades that produced high levels of creativity in many different fields and facets. This inventiveness lad to free spirited anti establishment ways of life which created individualism in many different people. Sadly, this atmosphere did not coexist with the ever growing force of capitalism. Though it was unfortunate to see the philosophical views of the era that brought us great music, culture revolutions and incredible technological advancements leave our society, the side-effect of this culture led to more creative individuals which still continue to help support our economy today. In today’s world of business, it is more helpful to have creative marketing skills than it is to have a solid product. Embarrassingly, I will have to admit that the product with the better commercial is the product that I will most certainly buy. With all this said, I feel that this change of personas in relevantly recent years reveals a small positive possible evolution of the human being; while we as a race have infinite room to improve this notion of moderation is portrayed within this cultural change. It is vital to have structure when creating genius as well as flexibility. Though this could be wishful thinking, I do believe it is more evident that our culture is more understanding with the grey areas within life, instead of looking at everything in terms of black and white. Again, I state this could just be wishful thinking.
On a side note, I really enjoyed the video “The Creative Spirit.” It had many great analogies and demonstrations of creativity.
The video “The Creative Spirit” was great. I really liked it and it was interesting to hear the perspectives that were portrayed in the video on what creativity is and is not. I totally think that the “white moment” that was mentioned in the video is something that happens to a lot of people. When a person is writing, exercising, or doing many different things and the person has the ability to amaze themselves with what they are able to do at that moment. LIke when I am running (which I HATE to do) if I stick with it long enough there comes a point when I am able to run faster and I feel like I could keep going for a long time. This is not something that I felt at the beginning of the run, but once I stuck with it long enough to forget how much I didn’t like it and let my mind wander I am able to do much more. This is the same with artists and musicians, once they stop stressing about something and focusing on it so hard, then they are really able to produce something phenomenal. A lot of the things mentioned in the video were points that I never really thought about before but are things that I have experienced many times before. Something that was mentioned in the video that “creativity is essential for life” is a point that I think agrees with the creative class readings. Florida says that the creative class sets their own goals, they are goal oriented, and that they will move around geographically in order to make things work for them. They are not content being in one place if their life is not going the way that they want it to. To me this means that this “creative class” feels that creativity is essential in their lives, necessary for survival, to be willing to pack up their things and move in order to be in a more creative environment.
The cultural creative readings were interesting, at times I found this reading to be very easy to understand and relate to, but then when it was all talking about how older people were willing to move and leave their jobs in order to be creative or find their ‘calling’ I found it difficult to relate to. These people in the book are all older and have been working for a while, although they are not going to ‘retire’ they have money set aside most likely to live the lifestyle that they desire. Many young people are not able to do this.
I did really like that in the cultural creative book the authors stated that “values are the best single predictor of behavior.” I really liked that point because it is so true especially when examining creativity. In a person’s everyday life one usually and should act according to their values, but when and artist paints something, performs a piece of music, or writes a novel, these things, in order to be anything good, are usually created according to their values. When a person acts on what they feel & believe, they are able to create something worthwhile and better, if there is no feeling put into it then it is just dull.
I feel that I relate more to the cultural creatives because of everything I have just stated above as well as the lifestyles described in the book. the fact that this group is generally not materialistic, they are able to see the big picture, they are engaging & hands-on, and are true to themselves. Although at times this book mentioned older people that I could not relate with after I thought about what the main points are I found myself relating more to this reading than the creative class.
Out of the two books we read this week I find The Rise of the Creative Class to be more enjoyable. The first chapter really grabbed my attention when talking about the time travel to two different eras. I noticed myself at first thinking that the man from the 1990 to the 1950s would experience the biggest changes. But after reading on I came to realize that yes we have come very far in technology and all the other creative or not so creative advances since the 1990 but the thing that would be most alarming for someone from the 1990s and the 1950 to today would be the culture.
I found it very interesting that the creativity is becoming the new class, there are more creative people today then there are blue collard and working class. These people are also more successful. “Creative class is dominant in terms of wealth an income, with its members earning nearly twice as much.” (p9) The service class is the highest but as I read the last reading I noticed that the service class people are can also at times be considered creative. In the creative class reading it talks about people who have maids, lawn care, and hair dressers the find them to be creative and trust them to make creative decisions for the people they work for. This putts the service people in the same category as the creative people. “Service class people such as these are close to the mainstream of the creative economy and prim candidates for reclassification.” (p77)
I really enjoy reading two different books and then comparing what they had to say on this topic. After class last night I feel like I have a better understanding on this topic of creativity. I think I tend to agree more with The Rise of the Creative Class but I like seeing the two different views and also both of these books are from two different time frames. It is interesting to see the differences and the similarities that are in them even though a lot has changed just since The Cultural Creatives was written.
The video shown in class “The Creative Spirit” described that having a creative mind is being completely absorbed into what one is doing. For example, one of the women in the video responded by saying that painting and piano are two activities that does not focus on “thinking”, but “loosing” her mind in what she is doing.
This made me reflect on how I can achieve a creative mind. I believe that cultural creatives and creative classes share some similarities, one major one being that they are able to achieve something out of the ordinary because they have the right attitude. In my opinion, in order to be creative, one must have a certain attitude toward life. Those who actively possess this attitude are described in the video as going beyond the norm, confronting obstacles, and exploring consequences. This attitude doesn’t mean that people should be carefree, but have a desire to keep an open mind and venture in something new and unknown.
Not only does having the right attitude exhibit creativity, but finding one’s “passion and excitement” as noted by the physician in the video also encourages it. In my last response when I stated that there is no room for students to be creative, I realized I was wrong while considering your comment and Thursday’s class discussion. First I want to make clear that in science, I still strongly believe that students need more room for exploration. I am given a set by set process in how to get to the correct answer, following the guidelines as instructed. Exams test the material as illustrated by the professor and the text book. Alternative ideas and answers are considered wrong. I feel that although the material is tough, it doesn’t challenge students to think beyond these set boundaries or given answers.
My answer was given through my experience as a student, but I agree with you that in order for us to get these answers, there has been a lot of questioning and curiosity beforehand. This is the exact attitude that I think serves as a headway to the creative process. Inquisitiveness. I feel that being successful in life is, in my case, finding a career that is rewarding which comes hand in hand with working in a challenging environment. Since I am surrounding myself with circumstances that are not mundane, I will have to acquire specific skills and learn when it is appropriate to use them. For instance, my first time working at a medical office helped me to dig deeper in an intrapersonal aspect. The irony was that my interpersonal relationships with the patients were not strong because I did not have an opportunity to reflect on my very own intrapersonal relationship, which in my case was a lack of patience.
In this sense, I think that creativeness can be encouraged in a challenging environment. For myself, I was able to understand myself in an intrapersonal level. Once I found my weakness, I experimented what worked best with the patients at the medical office. This also helps me to consider that before I try to resolve problems with others, I need to question if I am doing the best of my capability. Am I putting 100 percent into the work? Is there anything that I am doing wrong? As stated in the video, comprehending oneself in an intrapersonal sense is critical for success, creativity, and many other very important aspects.
In class we talked about the book “The Rise of the Creative Class ” and “Cultural Creative” Of these two books I enjoyed the rise of the creative class more as it focused more on real life actions and success wrought by creativity instead of just creative ideals or being creative in a cultural way defining you as a creative being. Although you can be creative cultural and ideally I view it as more of a process than just viewing the world and living a certain way and did not really identify or enjoy the first few chapters of the book. However “The Rise of the Creative Class” felt more realistic to me as I can see real examples of the success that being creative can bring and how an entire class of people are defined by creativity.
We also viewed a film “The creative spirit” which I enjoyed as it has many differing viewpoints and ideas on what creativity is and how people define it through actions and life. It made me feel as though I have an inner creativity which I could embrace with a bit more effort and produce desirable results for myself and others just by doing things I enjoy and that creativity is not confined to one set area or discipline and that just because a person is creative in one respect does not mean they are omni-creative in things they do. People seem to have an unrealistic expectation of people viewed as creative that they can magically make any and all problems disappear and that they should have a novel view on how to do everything which is not true or possible because passion and desire are also somewhat needed and that is not possible with everything since everything just does not interest everyone.
Justin S.
The two readings we had for this week were very different and unlike together. I guess there are many similarities among the different types of creativity, and lots of differences. As we talk in class we outlined the beliefs and ideas behind the main concepts of the readings; the creative class and the cultural creative. We have got to some agreement that the creative class sort of spawn from the cultural class, who are much older by our readings. I don’t agree all the way with this idea. I think that the cultural creative are a product of their generation factors while the creative class emerged by forces of our current reality. In other words, I think that the cultural creative are a result of the past 60 years, with much of experience behind them, while the creative class isn’t a spawn of that but yet an adaptation. In our time being creative is everything, most for the role of computers in our life. Like Florida presents, computers were thought to make our life easier, but they haven’t. Instead, in today’s world one must not know only basic computer, one is demanded to know more the required. This is true in every work filed and we can also see it in the raising demand of IT professionals needed to solve computer problems, which requires creativity. For the cultural creative this isn’t the case. For the most part, to my understanding these are the baby boomer who were born into a post war world, the peace and loving people who have their mind set to changing the world and who are willing to sacrifice a lot, including money, for their beliefs. The creative class is more of a money oriented, although they are willing to make some sacrifices, like relocation, for their goals. I think in many ways the shift in classes we see today, in creative and the more broad spectrum, is due to the changes we have been through in the past 100 years. Our life has changed in every aspect and keeps on changing, we are merely adopting to it. I also believe much of the need of creativity comes out from the amount of people who can do one’s work and the fact that someone else has done this before you. One needs to originate, to create, to stay on top of their game and not be left behind. Yet from many views it is very interesting to see the shift from fixed thinking to creative thinking.
On an other note I really liked the video we saw in class “the creative spirit”. It was nice to see other peoples view on creativity then our readings. I felt like the cultural creative was pushing to green peace and saving the plant, while the creative class was about computer like work places and tasks. It was nice to see a larger spectrum of creators, inventors, musicians, psychologist and other talk about creativity. I also thought the animations and music throughout the film were very creative and inspiring. There was one thing I can’t agree with, I have a cat and dog at home, believe me, animals can be extremely creative. My cat learned to open doors and feed herself, while my dog keeps fing way to get lose while tied up (don’t ask me how).
Since we covered the two readings fairly thoroughly during Thursday’s class, I’ll focus on the video “The Creative Spirit” which we hardly had chance to discuss. There were a couple particularly fascinating points raised by the various speakers.
Gardner connected the notions of creativity to his theory of multiple ‘intelligences’. Essentially, while every creative person may have extensive capabilities in many areas of life, there will be a particular field in which this person can excell. The example he used loosely compared two unquestionably creative historical characters -Mozart and Einstein -realizing that while either could have had solid capabilities in each others’ speciality, their genius remained within their area of ‘intelligence’ (music and science). There absolutely must be a serious amount of time and dedication spent toward the development of one’s craft in order to create, whether your works are considered genius or not.
This leads me to the second point that stuck out to me in the video, during the rock-climber’s presentation to what seemed like business majors. For me, his analogies were especially easy to relate to. He noticed that your likely outcome of success improved drastically once you decide to commit yourself to a task. A person trying to calculate the potential for him/herself might approach their situation thinking there is a mere fifty percent chance to succeed. Once this person dedicates their efforts and truly intends to carry out any labor required, these chances climb to nearly unbeatable heights. It’s so true that those who WISH to succeed and are committed pretty nearly always will. I do hope we see another of the videos in this series, although I would prefer leaving a short time to discuss it afterward if we do.
Slambam17… Mindy Brooks-Smith
In the readings, Cultural Creatives and Rise of the Creative, both books discussed individualism being a strong part of a creative person. However in the video, The Creative Spirit, I found it funny that they looked at China’s no-mindedness calligraphy to be creative. I would have never put those together. I have taken so many Economics and business classes that have always stress how China is so accustom with unity and everyone fitting in the same mold to drive for success. It was always the Americans that were too involved with their individualism and trying to find themselves.
The other part of the video that I didn’t agree with 100 percent was when they stated that animals are not creative. I think that animals, especially the intelligent ones, are creative when it comes to problem solving. I am brought to mind of watching a chimp using a stick, wetting it with saliva, and putting it in a hole to retrieve ants to eat. I can also think of my toy poodle, Teddy, who just recently passed away at the age of 15 years old. When he was younger, and still had his sight he loved to play fetch. I would throw his favorite ball in our small garden pond. He would stop at the edge and tilt his head back and forth studying the ball and the pond. He would try reaching for it with his mouth but just couldn’t reach it. He would then try reaching for it with his paw but it would only push it away further once touched. Finally he splash the water with one paw as fast as he could so the water would carry his ball to the other side. Once it reached the other side he trotted around (very proudly) and got his ball. I am sure anyone with a pet as a story or two about their animal and something they did that required more than jus an animal instinct.
I totally agree with Mindy Brooks-Smith. Animals are very much creative as humans. Each day they analyze what their mission is going to be. I also know their are studies being conducted in Harvard. Where their primary research subject is Monkey. The have all of the behavior characteristics as a human. Which is amazing to study. Creative is not just thinking out side the box, but more of figuring out things without having to stay the same as everyone else. Like a pair of shoes, some people want a pair of shoes to represent their individuality.