Creativity Exercise: You Have a Dream

You have a dream -- and NPR wants to hear about it! Here's info straight from NPR's Facebook page:

This summer is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Michel Martin of NPR's Tell Me More wants to know about YOUR dream today – for the world, your family, or yourself.

Email tellmemore@npr.org, and describe for us the speech you would give.

Be sure to include your name and contact information and we might feature you and your speech on the air for a special summer series leading up to the big anniversary.

You do have a dream, right? Remember the old song lyrics: You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how are you gonna have a dream come true?

Creativity Tips: Meander

Did you miss me? Tom and I spent the last week in Miami, with a one-day jaunt to Key West. Very fun. Very relaxing. We were right on the beach, and it was gorgeous.

Every morning, I went out for a power walk on the beach. Great exercise. Of course, I was disappointed that there weren't more shells, but I found a few shells and some coral, and I played:

I made a flower. Pretty, no?

Finally, near the end of the week, I decided to meander down the beach. And you know what? When I slowed down, I saw all the teeny-tiny beautiful shells I was missing.

Let's say the wine glass is there for perspective.
Yeah. That works.

I enjoyed the power walks -- I really did. But I am glad that while we were still there, I took the time to slow down and look down. There is so much beauty in the world, just waiting to be seen. I hope you see it. I hope you meander.

Creativity Tips: A Lesson from Ted Kooser

Every morning when I check email, I have delightful offerings for the ULTIMATE CAMI! and aids that will CURE SNORING! and at least one or two URGENT tracking notices from a fake FedEx.

On the bright side, I also find a legitimate email from The Writers Almanac, a delightful service that sends me a poem every morning along with fascinating literary tidbits.

Yesterday's email included a story on Ted Kooser, the U.S. poet laureate who flunked out of graduate school and spent 35 years working in insurance. I'll pick up the almanac story from there -- Kooser is speaking:

"I worked every day with people who didn't read poetry, who hadn't read it since they were in high school, and I wanted to write for them."

Every morning, he got up at 4:30, made a pot of coffee, and wrote until 7. Then he put on his suit and tie and went to work. By the time he retired in 1999, Kooser had published seven books of poetry, including Not Coming to Be Barked At (1976), One World at a Time (1985), and Weather Central (1994). He resigned himself to being a relatively unknown poet, but he continued to write every morning. Then, in 2004, he got a phone call informing him that he had been chosen as poet laureate of the United States. He said: "I was so staggered I could barely respond. The next day, I backed the car out of the garage and tore the rearview mirror off the driver's side." As the poet laureate, he started a free weekly column for newspapers called "American Life in Poetry."

When you really, really, really want to do something creative, you do it. The question is: How much do you want it?

Creativity Tips: Happy Birthday, Crayola!

A rose is a rose is a rose, but a crayon is not a crayon is not a crayon. I know. I've bought the cheap versions. They ain't Crayolas. So I always keep a big box* of Crayola crayons on hand. After all, you never know when you might want to draw a work of art.

Given my lifelong love for Crayola, this post is a natural for me -- even though I must tell you right upfront that the good folks at Crayola sent me info, asked for a post, and will reward me with a box of crayons. That's right. That's my price. Give me a box of one of my all-time favorite creativity tools and I will write about you.

In my own defense, this isn't just any box. I've been promised the 110th birthday pack! Because Crayola is celebrating its 110th anniversary. So, if you're counting, they're even older than I am.

To get the party started, follow my lead, go to their Facebook page, and enter for the chance to win a trip to the all-new Crayola Experience!** Hang out with Green this spring. Party with Orange, the color of creativity. You might even get close to Red.

Speaking of Red, I love the crayon's favorite quote: "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." That's from Walt Disney, who knew a thing or two about creativity. And, as I discovered looking around the site, Red doesn't like Visine. I'll let you figure out why.

*BIG BOX. Always buy the BIG BOX. Life is colorful.

** You win. You take me. It's pretty simple.

Creativity Tips: Celebrate You

It's my birthday! I love birthdays. OK, that's not exactly right. Let me try again.
I LOVE BIRTHDAYS.

Yeah. That's better. And here's my birthday wish: Celebrate yourself. Celebrate this very moment and the unarguable fact that you are here and that every day of life is a day overflowing with possibilities for joy and happiness and love and all the wonder that so easily gets lost in the day-to-day noise of life.

Sure, there's shit. Shit happens. What of it? Fun happens. Good happens. You happen. Celebrate!

P.S.
This is a pic of me and Eva, about 38 years ago. I thought I was fat. Seriously. Look at me. I thought I was fat. So here's the birthday gift I want from you: Do NOT waste a moment of this precious day being harsh to yourself. Promise me. Promise? Good! Now, if you want, go have a piece of birthday cake in my honor and enjoy every bite.

A Poetic Response to Boston

One of the biggest advantages of being a writer is having an immediate way to vent emotions. I had planned to take this poem draft to my writers workshop last night, but the workshop was cancelled. So, you can be my workshop! Let me know what you think, if there's something you'd change, whatever. Thanks!

For Jaleeza, at 33^rd and Troost

She watches TV, sprawled on her tummy,

on the floor. Mommy says it’s safer

than the couch. That’s all she says

but Jaleeza knows

stray bullets fly high.

She hugs the floor and worries.

Her mom, on the couch,

her brother in the kitchen.

Where’s the baby?

She tracks their movements.

You never know. You never know.

Jaleeza watches the news

prostrate on the floor.

She prays Martin wasn’t scared

before the bombing.

He was 8. Same as her.

She stares at Boston’s finish-line panic,

over and over, wondering why

those people didn’t know

crowds are dangerous, strangers will kill you,

and the world is a marathon of terror.

© Jan Sokoloff Harness, April 2013

Creativity Tips: Perception is NOT Reality

You are more beautiful than you think.

And the world is full of good, kind, caring people. In Boston. And in Baghdad.