Tuesday, July 14th: CLASS CANCELED! Please work on your presentations for Thursday!
Thursday, July 16th: CREATIVE COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS!!!
No more blog responses are due; however, if you want EXTRA CREDIT, please post a response to either of these two weeks’ readings (and I will replace your lowest grade with this grade).
Also – for the final reflective/integrative essay, due by NOON – TUESDAY, JULY 21st VIA EMAIL, please write a brief (2-3 page) reflective essay that describes what you have learned about the nature of creativity that you did not already know, how you found the concepts and ideas we’ve discussed and read about applicable to your creative community (that you presented), and how you might apply some of what we discussed or learned about creativity to your own personal and/or professional life in the future.
The idea of the thick labor market makes a lot of sense in terms of creative communities. I can understand why people are looking for various jobs across companies instead of staying at one job and moving up vertically. The creative class doesn’t want to be stuck at one job for their entire life – there is nothing really creative about sitting at the same desk, filing the same papers every day. By switching companies, these people not only have an opportunity to learn a wider range of information and techniques but also have the chance to escape from the boredom that exists in repetition. This idea and the human capital theory go hand in hand because if there are a lot of well-educated people circulating throughout businesses and constantly on the search for something new and interesting, then it would makes sense for businesses to swarm to those areas.
The idea that an authentic and creative city can turn into a cliche when too many people move there seems almost inevitable. It’s terrible that the people searching for creativity end up pushing out the creative community members with high living expenses, terrible but true. I worry about that with Nashville. Right now, I see my city as a very creative place – it has tons of neighborhoods with many different themes and unifying concepts. The country music industry (on an industry level) brings the community together, while on a non-music page people are very excited about creating “third places” where community members can come and collaborate. I do worry though about it in years to come when people come to the city and no longer understand the magic of the city.
I interviewed my dad this weekend about the creative community that he created through his founding the magazine and risk was something that he mentioned throughout the interview. He knew that he had to throw some eggs in a basket and really get behind his idea and fortunately the music industry really got behind his idea and brought it to success.
I think that risk is inherent in creativity.
July 3, 2009
Slambam17=Mindy Brooks-Smith
Commenting on last class discussion… risk taking
*Note: I was having trouble locating the comment link this time. I am not sure if it is just me. I hope this post correctly.
Ever since out last class I have been thinking about the question; are you a risk taker? I can’t get it out of my mind now. I have always considered myself one. However in class when we were asked I was stumped to say yes when thinking of my life currently.
Before my answer would be an automatic yes. I was an armature boxer that fought in the shittiest parts of Maryland. I belonged to a rock gym. I belonged to a martial art dojo just to participate in fight night once a week. I would take off every weekend and travel to any beach I decided to on a whim. I parasailed over the ocean numerous times. I jet skied and swam with dolphins in the wild. I raced my Honda not legally. I mountain biked in the Fall and Spring with a friend and tried new paths all the time. When did I become such a bore?
I guess somewhere, without really realizing it, I didn’t feel the need to keep going. Maybe at some point I felt satisfied with what was stable. Was it age? Was it a new life with my husband that was what I was looking for? Was it that at a point I wanted something else? I asked my husband about our current risk taking and he seemed a little lost for words too. Maybe it was just all the other stuff that blurred us changing/growing up like careers, buying a house, school. After a while of reminiscing we came to the conclusion that if we never did make that unintentional change we would not be where we are now. We would be even more broke.
When I was younger I thought I was the most creative person ever; as I matured/aged/learned fears I began seeing that I am very linear, therefore not eccentric; hence average without a greater aptitude for creativity than the next person.
However talking about creating and re-creating, innovating to keep up with evolving economies (art, business, IT, personal) which we, as a society, have developed ourselves. Dooming us if we permit. Therefore many of us, parts of a society fearing failure and harboring human nature of survial of the fittest but in an intellectual/non-physical nor reproductive sense; we have been forcing ourselves to keep up. We have conditioned ourselves, our kids, our parents and grand-parents even into thinking that new is better. Many of our elders, however, have pointed out often that there is nothing wrong with the past and it was suitable at that given moment. As I look on my family stories, especially regarding Poland’s invasion by Germany, I see the theme of re-discovering ideas rather than inventing new ones. Building on past knowledge, not coming up with new concepts. As I believe creativity can and is taught, pillars at the foundation at the very least, I also believe that the drive for creativity is a way for us to amuse ourselves to a certain extent. People get bored, many of us (especially in today’s ridiculously busy life, economy crappy, jobs on the line, many using our retirement funds to pay rent or tuition) see the ideas of the creative class as an easy excuse for wanting to learn; but we must have something new to learn about. Therefore, while we have developed a sense of what is creative and why; I think often that sense is driven by success and material desires. As we feel more overwhelmed, we need an out; realizing that prosperity is imperative to achieve certain mile-stones we have set for ourselves, we also cannot rationalize the need for continued education. We should be working harder, smarter, better; but we think we can’t push ourselves. We tell ourselves we’re too stressed, too tired, too busy to immerse and often cross-over fields of interest or professional avenues. Hence we seek out new technologies we think are imperative for professional success. So we need to learn these new avenues at work as they are the logical examplination for why some rise to success faster than others. We’re greedy so we want to rise first. That sped up drive, however, also fulfills that often un-expressed quench for new interests. We learn, at the same time- as building on fundamentals of speech or math we build on prior knowledge. How many programs are DOS based? I can guarantee most healthcare software for scheduling, new admissions, discharge among some have foundations in DOS. After all in order to use the newest of calculators, those of us who are truly successful in a math field such as an energy projection regarding electricity or nuclear based, still know and more importantly understand how to solve the tangent and co-tangent by hand. At least that is my perception. How can someone understand what a calculator is calculating if they don’t know the steps themselves? How can they know the steps without learning and how can they learn if they don’t have a desire to understand?
This is quite applicable to art which hit me after we brought up Solnit’s ‘blue’ chapter. As mass-art made it more efficient in some ways, using the color benefited us at that time. Changing a color of a background isn’t so innovative nowadays, it keeps painting interesting. Today. “Blue is the color of longing for the distances”. Whether it’s problem-solving or seeking it’s still fulfilling a need to expand and the quilt of becoming bored with an idea or norm which helps us succeed. I have noticed many paintings have had gold as the background, or at least the color which stood out the most when depicting religious pillars such as Christ, Jesus or saints. Adding blue depicting the horizon, or earth’s sphere both makes the gold stick out more, and makes something more interesting; and as we saw in the movie we find it aesthetically appealing. It’s not boring and as it’s interesting for the artist to paint; we see it dominate paintings, paintings which we find desirable. This bridges a gap for many of us which need ways to sit through mass, per example. Searching for that new stained glass or painting we haven’t paid attention to before. We’re bored, we find it desirable to sit through as it brings us a certain degree of comfort at the same time searching for that glass or painting (since we’re still sitting through the Gospel) gives us a reason, an excuse to not pay attention so closely to the words, at the same time we learn something new about the church which can still be rationalized as practicing the faith as we do attend that mass and are truly seeking something ‘new’ but still within the realms of what we should be seeking at that moment in time. As I do realize that ‘blue’ can be metaphorical expressing our need or fear of distances whether spiritual or physical; it is also a primary color. A color used without mixing often as it fits the natural life which we still find appealing. The milestones for humanity between the 1400′s and today are great, but art has escaped that need in some ways. It’s not like we didn’t realize the sky is blue before hand; we just didn’t find it as important because it was so common. The commonality drove painters to using other colors, however because it’s comforting brought the art back into the ‘primary’ foundations. The sky, horizon, streams, lakes, computer programs and religious depictions can be symbolized in ‘blue’, as in this reading I found tormenting. At the same time that distance is used by a common, everyday experience. Contemporary art, after all is still not depicted in those ‘most sought after’ paintings in the web-site.
So I may be way off track here, but it doesn’t change mathematicians and engineers solving for tangents and square roots by hand, in addition to new functions on the calculator; it also doesn’t explain why we find creeks and rivers metaphorical for personal journeys. These ideas, needs for understanding are also quenching our need to stimulate our minds in ways other than those used immediately for economic growth. After all, many of the rising, successful and growing creative class members still list hiking, nature and getting away on bike-rides as hobbies on facebook. An appreciate nature is still respected and desirable the area of it just changes.
I know we are suppose to write about the texts we have read this week in class, but I want to try something different. I would like to share two things that I have seen and and heard this week that have lots to do with our topic.
The first thing I would like to share is actually chronologically last and happened earlier today. I was driving up 50 toward Chantilly area and on one of the lights I saw a guy on the side of the road holding an arrow sign. The sign had something to do with a UPS mailbox deals or something like that, but that’s not what fought my attention. The guy wasn’t actuality holding the arrow, he was more jiggling with it and tossing it the air. It made me thing how creative advertisement and sales can be in attracting customers, just like those banana guys from the shake places. If there is a filed where creativity was always a requirement and always will be it’s advertisement.
The second thing I would like to share was a radio ad I have been hearing on DC 101 for a while now. The radio station always has the strangest ads, but lately they have started something new. Instead of having employers post ads they have actual people reading highlights from there resume. This is highly creative as is but there was something else that made me think about our class. In one of the ads the girl who was reading her resume mentioned that she is highly creative and her creativity will be beneficial to anyone who hires her. This made me think about the readings and discussion we have been doing in regard to Florida’s rise of the creative class. It seems that Florida is correct about the rise, even if he is talking mainly about the hi-tech world, it seems that the impotence of creative has “leaked out” and is recognized by other fields. (I think she had a psychology major and was looking for an HR position).
Creativity is all around us, just like anything else we just have to know what we are looking for.
I totally thought the same thing when I saw that guy. I think they have hired the sign holders for several stores because I have seen them in many locations. When I saw the guy last week spinning the sign around, I turned to my fiance and said, “You’d think if they wanted to advertise effectively he would actually hold the sign still.” Then after I said that, I realized the creative approach. If he has not standing on the corner tossing the sign around, my attention would not have been drawn to it. I guess that kind of ties into the notion we discussed in class about the relationship between questioning and creativity.
I would have to say that I am definitely one of those people that cannot get lost in this style of writing. When she was telling a story from her childhood one that she had heard, it was very easy to follow. If there is not some sort of story line, it is hard for me to maintain my focus and understanding as I read. In class, we mentioned the fact that Solnit may have intentionally set her book up this way. There were so many points during the reading where I was confused because I did not understand how the topics connected. To know that this is possibly a creative approach to her book and creating a field guide to getting lost is very exciting. Instead of being turned off by the writing style, I am now more intrigued to decode the book and the deeper meanings in the text. A part that I found interesting was, “In Benjamin’s terms, to be lost is to be fully present, and to be present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery. And one does not get lost but loses one’s self, with the implication that is a conscious choice, a chosen surrender, a psychic state achievable through geography.” (Solnit, Pg. 6) I am still not exactly positive what this means but I can see her connection between different states of being lost. I think by the end of the book I will be able to fully understand what this quote means.
Until this past class, I never would have thought that having students leave with more questions than answers was a good thing. I actually wrote in my portfolio about inquiry based learning as a technique that I want to incorporate in my classroom. I definitely agree that having students lead discussions with questions, rather than being presented with information from the teacher is a more effective way to teach and have students learn. Now I realize that having students leave the room with questions means that he or she might become more interested in the topic and even do further investigating. I knew that discovery learning was something that want to incorporate, but now I know that it is even better to have students leave still questioning aspects even after they leave the class.
“A Field Guide To Getting Lost”, book was so awarding to read. It made me think of the universe in a different prospective. For instance, how distance is classified as blue. The most beautiful thing in life are so distance from us that we imagine by not having it in the palm of your hand. The one quote by “How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?.” Which made me think to myself how can nature be so confusing. I am one of the few in my family that hates to get lost; I guess the idea of being somewhere that is not familiar to me is scary. But when I was a child,
I was the total opposite. Adventure was part of my everyday life. I really enjoyed going into the outdoors and finding new insects to bring home or climb trees for fun. I also think nature and society go hand to hand with one another. In life we juggle so many things that we forget to stop and enjoy the wonderful things god has provided for us. Instead of being in a boring office, people should just go to a park and conduct their work there. The world is huge, why do we limit our self’s by doing the same routine day in and day out.
Furthermore, the quote, “Live always at the ‘edge of mystery’- the boundary of the unknown.” Made me think of how in today’s society majority of people lives life as a robot. The do not care to find out the unknown, because their minds are occupied with making sure they work to pay for bills. I myself sometimes catching myself by not wanting to know nor care where some of my coworkers come from. But when I read that quote it made me wondering why I never to took the chance of meeting and finding out more information by world in general. The entire world is ‘unknown’; each individual has his or her own mystery. Which in a way is magnificent, without mystery the universe would be dull.
A field Guide to Getting Lost was a bit confusing to read, but there were a lot of tidbits and quotes that I liked from the book. I just did not have a sense of interconnectedness from one chapter to the next.
I have to admit when I first started reading the book I was confused about what it was going to be about, why there would be a field guide to getting lost… but when Stolnit goes on to talk about what it means to get lost. How losing something is about the familiar going away and getting lost is about the unfamilar appearing. When you get lost the world has become larger than your knowledge of it. This does tie in with something at the end of the book when she says that “Failure is what we learn from, mostly.” This part resounded with me because it is so true that there is a newfound sense of awareness after you fail at something. Each failure is not necessarily a failure, but a learning experience. It is also much more helpful to look at it as something that we have learned from, rather than something that we have failed at.
These two parts; one in the beginning, and one at the end are similar in meaning, because some peopel will let getting lost ruin their day or entire experience, instead of looking at it as fun, a learning experience, and something that could still be just as good, of not better than whatever you were headed off to do in the first place.
I like when she talks about the difference between children getting lost and adults getting lost. That children are ususally smarter than adults about getting lost because they admit they are lost sooner and stay where they are, or close to where they were, or do something to try to figure out where they are. Adults on the other hand wander around, thinking that they know where they are going, then usually get lost a lot more than they were in the first place.
I had a hard time staying focused on the book, especially the over usage of the color blue. There were a lot of good points, but they just did not seem to flow well to me. I did get a lot of quotes from the book that I liked though….
The first part of A Field Guide to Getting Lost I found to be so much different then the other two books we have read. I really had to think about what I was reading and I found it very hard to make connections to creativity in this book. The first section I found creativity when the author talks about the American Indians and how they were never lost in the wilderness. They used all their resources to help them. There was no such thing as being lost. This is also how things were discovered and created. I found this a really neat way of looking at creativity.
The Blue Distance chapter was very interesting. I love the color blue but by the end of the chapter was so sick of the color blue. It was interesting that they used blue to give depth and dimension. But I could also see how one could get lost using blue and felt like things would get lost in the picture. I loved how this chapter also talked about how adults get caught up in taking picture and capturing the moment instead of living in the moment. I recall going to Italy and touching and smelling everything and I have a better vision of the trip then my parents do even though they have tones of pics.
It made me look at letting your self go not so much structure to find your creativity!