Triumphant

*Note: For more information on the prompt that inspired this essay please click HERE

At the beginning of this winter quarter, Denise, WSP’s outstanding director, had suggested that for one of our blog assignments, our team take a picture of something out of the ordinary that we personally felt had a deeper meaning. In all honesty, this challenge was probably the one I feared most because I wanted to find something that was both meaningful and appealing to the eye, but I felt somewhat doubtful. I began to pay close attention to my surroundings and while I found many different things that were beautiful, like certain trees or flower bushes, I couldn’t quite find anything that I felt held a deeper meaning for me.

 

The day that I spotted these particular dents on the floor, I had just had a conversation with my mom about how she came across a really pretty bracelet on the parking lot floor of a local grocery store. She told me she had asked a woman and her daughter that were leaving their car nearby if it belonged to them, but they both answered “no”, so my mom felt it was too pretty to leave behind. I told my mom about my WSP picture challenge and she told me not to worry and that sometimes you just have to look in places that you necessarily don’t pay any attention to on a daily basis to find unique things, just like she had that morning. On my way to class I spotted this group of dents on the floor that I had never really noticed, and to me, these dents looked like a girl wearing a flowy dress with her hands up in the air. Her long arms, the way her head is tilted up towards the sky, and her legs that almost seem to be jumping or skipping make her look very triumphant and happy. Despite the fact that she is on the floor, a place where many of us would not like to be, she remains optimistic and happy.

 

I continued looking for different places and things to take a picture of, but nothing stood out to me in the same way that these dents on the floor had. Although to others this image may look like just a group of dents on the floor that would only make someone riding a scooter or a skateboard on campus irritated when passing over them, I realized that this was my image, this was the image that held a deeper meaning for me! When I began to think of it’s deeper meaning, I realized that although these dents make the rest of the floor imperfect and dents and cracks are usually seen negatively, I feel like it’s those dents and cracks that make a person who they are; they are needed to build character. In fact it is just those dents and cracks and imperfections that allow you to learn, grow, and move on—move on with a stronger head on those shoulders. Although these dents are imperfections on the floor, together these dents create this beautiful image of what I feel any young girl wishes to be: happy, triumphant, and always looking up.

 

I’m nowhere near perfect and I also have my own set of dents and cracks. I’ve experienced different situations that can metaphorically be described as dents and cracks, but I am grateful for these experiences because they have shaped who I am and have allowed me to grow. Life is not smooth gravel, it has its up and downs—its dents and cracks, and life puts these challenges in our lives so that we may learn from them and not cower away, but walk away stronger and a little wiser from them. So, although these little dents are imperfect, they are simultaneously perfect at the same time. Perfect because without them, there would be no real development in the person you are and I believe that there is always room for improvement and you can’t improve without learning from your experiences.

 

When I was younger, my great imagination would often let me see different images like animals or creepy creatures on the ceiling or even on a piece of wood, and if the image stayed in my head I would draw it. I remember that one day I drew an alligator and a gorilla because it was something I had seen on a certain area of my wall. Since this quarter has really focused on creativity and our own unique forms of creativity, I feel like this image suits me perfectly. I was able to see a girl in simple dents on the floor, something I probably would have noticed when I was younger. I’m kind of happy to acknowledge that this kind of creativity still lives in me.

 

 

Post Submitted by Alex

 

Playing with Imagination

*NOTE: For more information about the reading and prompt that inspired this essay, please click here.

At my house, there’s a photo in the hallway that I’m embarrassed to show. I was about four years old when my mom snapped the photo of me playing with my foot. Though, it wasn’t just my foot; there was a small green cloth I secured over my foot with a hair tie to pretend and imagine it was another person. I didn’t grow up with a tub full of toys, so I always had to improvise or get creative with the shiny pencils lying around the house. This memory is scarred in me, literally, for there is a gray mark a little off-center upon my kneecap that appears to be the remains of graphite, and I cannot tell the story of how without revealing that I once played with pencils. However, from my experiences, I have learned how having external limitations or a lack of resources forces children to get creative.

From watching Ken Robinson’s conversation on the importance of fostering creativity and catering to multiple intelligences, I was moved by his statement: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Here, Robinson points out the internal limitations one places on himself, carrying the fear of being wrong, and thus clinging to the tried-and-true methods learned in school or elsewhere. I firmly agree that creativity is stunted by the self, yet not so much by school, because creativity requires risk and treading in unfamiliar territory.

I feel like my high school encouraged creativity to some extent, but it definitely did not discourage it. Yes, there seems to be an apparent “hierarchy of subjects” with arts at the bottom, as Ken Robinson highlights, but I would not go so far as to say “schools kill creativity.” I believe there are many external and internal factors that contribute to the growth or hindrance of an individual’s creativity, yet a school’s influence is not the deciding factor. If there are rules and limitations to how certain scholarly activities should be done, then oftentimes children will get creative, finding loopholes to do it their way somehow. I think the best thing schools can do to encourage and help develop the creative energy of students is to have flexible assignments that offer a different multiple ways to complete the assignment. For example, in high school, we had some group work assignments that asked us to teach the class on whatever topic was assigned, allowing us to follow a given template or create our own unique way of getting the information across effectively and memorably. Some people would create Power Points, dramatic skits, or catchy songs!

Unlike Robinson, I believe creativity is not limited solely to the arts (such as music, dance, art, and writing) but is found in all subjects and areas of knowledge, including math and sciences. For instance, there are many different ways of problem solving, and difficult problems require creativity in terms of thinking outside the box or common methods practiced and trying new ways to approach the problem.  I know my problem growing up was that I wasn’t allowed outside my home and I didn’t own many toys, so I got creative and used my imagination. Now I wonder if anyone else grew up conversing with their foot or imagining a bundle of pencils as different students (differentiating the shiny pencils as the “cool” kids).

 

Post Submitted by Christina

Pushing Boundaries

*NOTE: For more information about the reading and prompt that inspired this essay, please click here.

My family has a strong history of artists; my grandfather was an architect, my father is a graphic designer, and my younger siblings both turn to art as a means to express themselves. I enjoyed a childhood where art and creativity was encouraged and praised. Even in my elementary school, I was given opportunities to let my mind run free through an arts and crafts program the school developed. Not only were we allowed to get messy with craft supplies, but the parents were invested and involved in the program. I remember loving when my mom got to come to school with me and help facilitate the program with other parents. Although the program got cut when I got older, I felt that it was a crucial part of my childhood because we were guided to learn to enjoy the process of creating something new. Children have this extraordinary capacity of just letting go of any reservations and acting on their first instinct. As we get older, we are educated to stop and think before acting. Essentially we get “educated out of creativity” since we must analyze and reanalyze our every action and thought to ensure it is the “correct” one. We are so focused on the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, we fail to view analysis as a divergent process that allows us to explore other possibilities that haven’t been thought of before.

Therefore, although I grew up in a household that valued art and creativity, I never felt that I had the talent the rest of my family possessed and grew to be self-conscious about expressing my own creativity. Add to this my insecurity in an education system that focused heavily on math and science, I ended up pushing my own creative development aside to focus on succeeding academically. However, after attending college I started to realize that creativity is valued and can be found in all fields. It’s not just artistic creativity that can result from encouraging developing minds to think outside the box. Developing creative methods for new medical procedures, discovering new ways to improve teaching skills, inventing a new dish; all these ideas stem from creativity. As Sir Ken Robinson says, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never be able to come up with anything original.”

Creativity should be encouraged in all fields and subjects. We need to challenge ourselves to break out of the mold, and focus on how we can push the limits to create something new. It takes courage to move away from a system that has been in place for so long, but the world needs to understand that creativity can be found everywhere. If we start by giving some freedom and fostering creativity in different fields, it will teach children that creativity is encouraged and necessary in all parts of life. For myself, I want to be a person who always encourages others to push the boundaries in order to find a solution that is effective yet innovative. Creativity and courage is the key to change, and I hope our future learns to better value a range of creativity abilities.

 

 

Post Submitted by Lauren

The Uniqueness of Our Creativity Despite the Cookie-Cutter Notions

*NOTE: For more information about the reading and prompt that inspired this essay, please click here.

In the TED Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?,” Sir Ken Robinson mentions that around the world, the education system has the same hierarchy of subjects with mathematics and languages at the top and the arts at the bottom. Of course we are never literally told which subjects are more important than others, but we all certainly hold a clear understanding of what is more important and what is not by the time we leave elementary school; it was sort of common sense.

I remember loving art projects and pretty much anything that involved artistic creativity since my first schooling experience as a kindergartner  Even though we were encouraged to do art projects, I don’t recall ever being able to bring in whatever type of art we wanted.  Instead, I recall being given a task and having to work around the teacher’s guidelines. As children my peers and I were always told what to do in the educational realm and deviating from what was expected always led to punishment so I understand why we began to lose our own creativity and imagination. We have certain rules we must follow and “correct” ways of doing things so of course no one, or at least if you wish to be seen as a “good” student, tries to deviate from the norm. This notion of there being “correct” ways of doing things is what I believe cuts off our creativity.

Society has cookie-cutter ideas of what creativity with value is that something that may be uniquely creative may go unnoticed. When I was younger I used to love to write and illustrate my own books. My stories were unlike any I had ever read, but because I saw no creative value in them, I eventually stopped. I wish I hadn’t stopped creating my books because they were my own means of self-expression, which is what I feel creativity is all about. What I learned from hearing Sir Ken Robinson is that creativity comes in many different forms and we should embrace each and every one of those forms. If we are afraid that our own creative abilities may not be up to par or are “wrong” we will, as Mr. Robinson puts it, never create anything new.  Thinking back to my unique hobby of creating books, I wish I could have seen the value in them then. Now that I understand that people may not notice what is creative because it doesn’t fit into what is socially praised as creative, when I have children of my own and see their forms of creative self-expression, I will make an effort to help foster their abilities.

 

Post Submitted by Alex

Creativity, Entropy, and the Subjective Experience

*NOTE: For more information about the reading and prompt that inspired this essay, please click here.

Creativity: break down the word. It decomposes into create and -ativity, or really, the word describes the ability to create something. From this ability of creating, we are able to achieve something innovative and hopefully address the growing, unpredictable problems that arise in daily life (derived from living in the present and the future). In my educational experience within the compulsory schooling system, creativity was neither fostered nor encouraged — either you did it or you did not. No one ever talked about the ability to create — it was expected out of everyone. The methods you used to create something, however, were not questioned. The end result usually mattered more, especially at the high school level. I found myself wondering the why and how things worked in much of my computationally focused calculus class when everyone else just declared that they found the answer and then moved on. Getting the result was the only thing people tended to focus on – not so much the process. Outside of the mathematics classroom, high school emphasized exams, exams, and more exams, and not so much on the process of learning. Nevertheless, I somehow managed to understand the process of learning and produce results as well. Navigating through all these expectations, I created something, depending on my passion for it or not.

Creativity is required in education. When Ken Robinson said, “Children have the capacities for innovation,” he refers to the developing minds of children as they age. With time, they learn about the concepts in their culture that are “right,” “wrong,” “good,” “bad,” and otherwise, and from that, children have the abilities to think and produce ideas as they please with positive encouragement. By giving affirmation to children conjuring up novel ideas, that allows them to produce more innovative ideas in and for the future.

That brought back memories of myself, back in the old days when I would drift the streets looking for materials I could use to make something. Usually I would find a piece of string, an old book, rubber bands, glue, paper scraps, and other bits and pieces and then I would fabricate. Sometimes the end result did not hold up to the force of gravity, sometimes it would just crumble into the entropy it once was.  Yet all the energy I put into the system did achieve something, whether presentable or not: my brain was actively engaged in being an architect and builder of my own designs, whether they made sense or not. Then again, this fabrication type of creativity happened when I was not participating in the compulsory education required of human beings living in the United States. When there were projects that required me to exercise my brain outside of the study-theory-and-regurgitate-on-exam model, I remember gathering all the markers and paper scraps I had on hand to synthesize something out of sheets of the colored entropy.

Currently, since the compulsory educational system dictated by various forms of government emphasize results-based methods of evaluating learning in developing children/adolescents, the idea of executing the creative capabilities in developing humans is ignored. The emphasis lies in developing malleable and programmable brains that will suit the needs of the people crafting education policy all in the name of universal educational progress. There is much less of a focus on developing flexible and critical thinking minds. If creativity were actively promoted in everyday schools, then the children participating in it would achieve a higher level of happiness and feel a sense of individual accomplishment and confidence in actually making something. With an active promotion of creativity in all its forms – artistic, problem solving, or otherwise – then there would be more brave souls out in the world creating something that would benefit all of humanity.

Through whatever little creative bouts I have had between age zero through to current times, I feel as if those moments propelled me to be the person I am today. I see myself as a creator, whether in writing, in person, through my attempts at visual art, or through conversation. I aspire to create something meaningful to me on a daily basis. If that motivation to create inspires other people in the process, then that feels grand. My hope is that I, as well as others, do not educate ourselves out of creativity, as Robinson stated is what characterizes much of the education many people receive. Despite calls for conformity, keep exercising that creative muscle up in that skull of yours — it wants to be free.

Outside of my own life and thinking in terms of the future, I find that creativity needs to be continued and fostered within and outside of school. To develop the framework within one’s early developing years, encourage individuals to do as they please while understanding different perspectives. From my experience, there are multiple ways to achieve the end result — the “right” way need not be the only way, it is just one out of many. Like Robinson iterated throughout his speech, “Intelligence is dynamic … educate the whole being to face the future [of unpredictability].”

 

 

Post Submitted by Courtney

 

Freedom of Expression: Why Schools Should Encourage Creativity

For this blog development piece we watched a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, and Robinson shared a humorous story with his audience that really got me thinking.  It goes as follows: “Teacher asks a young student: ‘What are you doing?’ Student replies: ‘Drawing a picture of God.’ Teacher: ‘But nobody knows what God looks like.’ Student: ‘They will in a minute!’” (Robinson, 2007).

Aside from the fact that this story is funny and adorable, it also made me question whether or not some teachers inhibit their students from using their creativity.  Do teachers actually discourage students from thinking out of the box and using originality? Why might they do so? Is this to the students’ benefit or disadvantage? I guess I couldn’t fathom this possibility because my educational experience has proved otherwise.  In high school I had marvelous teachers who constantly pushed me to be creative and who expressed their appreciation for originality. They would showcase model papers that demonstrated dedication to using right brain thinking.  One of the most memorable experiences I had was with an English teacher who strongly emphasized pairing our writing with some type of creative art piece. She wanted us to enjoy our work and create something of which we could be proud.  Because of this, I have a positive relationship with creativity.  I believe it is something that should be nurtured since students have the potential to enjoy their studies more as a result.  Creativity enables students to thrive because they are able to put a piece of themselves into their work.  In doing so, they make the work more meaningful and, thus, more enjoyable.

Creativity to me is having the freedom to explore the world without inhibitions.  From people to the environment to our different ways of thinking and living, the world has many facets to it. Creativity is a mode to discovering the world in which we live.  Also, it is dismissing the fear of rejection and putting our ideas out there.  Robinson even states, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original” (Robinson, 2007).  Creativity has encouraged me to be the person I am today because it has taught me how to enjoy life rather than simply focusing on survival. Sometimes we focus so much on surviving the difficult aspects of life that we forget the beautiful parts.  I am a victim to this mindset at times, but I am able to escape it through creatively writing a poem that expresses my emotions.  Afterward, I feel much better emotionally, but I also feel proud of the work I produced and am, therefore, a happier individual.  This can apply to others as well.

I believe that creativity is definitely needed in the world (and of course schools) although it is discouraged in some fields. In order to become more fostered in their creativity, people, in general, need to become more in tune with their own emotions so they can express themselves more freely. For me, creativity reaches its peak when I am having a surge of emotions regarding a certain aspect of life.  Maybe if people began to truly explore what makes them believe what they do and why they have certain feelings towards a certain topic they will become more creative.  This is most ideal in high school and college years because this is when most people solidify their beliefs.  Otherwise, schools can help foster creativity by hosting contests in which students showcase their creative abilities (dancing, singing, drawing, writing, etc.) to demonstrate that creativity is a good thing. The contests should be focused on some type of educational theme, but it does not necessarily have to relate to something that was taught in the classroom.  This being said, we need creativity in our schools and especially in our lives so that we may flourish as individuals and even further as a society.

Post Submitted by Casey

Limitless

*NOTE: For more information about the reading and prompt that inspired this essay, please click here.

I would never typically attribute the label “creative” to myself. I am not bitter because I do not think I am capable of singing a song, am unable to produce a single note with any instrument, and even cannot create a piece of artwork as unregulated as a doodle. I accept that my spectrum of identity labels may be long, dense, or interesting, but creativity does not necessarily make the cut. I do not fault myself for this inadequacy, but rather embrace the notion that I have been gifted with so many other features that when amalgamated make up the person who I am today, an advocate, a quiet leader, and a listener.

But maybe this train of thought is flawed.

It is possible that an entity like the school system stifled my inherent sense of creativity. Or furthermore, devalued any creative skills I may have possessed in favor of cultivating my tendency towards writing, my ability to remember facts almost photographically, or my analytical capabilities. I find myself questioning whether I am inherently “un”-creative or whether that creativity was stripped of me by a strong societal influence to elevate tangible skills to support my future endeavors over abstract creativity.

I am often troubled by the notion that our education system is very future-centric. To divulge; every class taken, assignment completed, relationship formed with a teacher, extracurricular activity committed to, is undertaken with the pressure of college floating in the background. A high school experience is no longer that. It is rather a college preparatory experience where we are encouraged to devote our energy and decisions to bettering one’s resume and creating the foundations for a recommendation letter. In doing so, we, the education system, the society in which we are raised, our teachers, our parents, and ultimately ourselves, neglect the vibrant possibilities of today in order to calculate our futures.

Goals are necessary. I would go one step further to say that planning (yes for the future) is also inevitable and encouraged. However, creativity should be included in our decisions to ensure that we do embrace the present moment of each and every day. On a basic level, that is what the education system strips of its participants. As products of a future-centric education system, we are lacking the confidence to include creativity in our decisions today.

Whether that sense of creativity manifests itself as your tendency to start and encourage spontaneous dance parties or simply to think beyond the boundaries the classroom inspires us to stay confined to, permission for creativity to enter the thought process has been denied by our concern for the future. The multiplicity of creative output is unparalleled, it is unpredictable, and is widely immeasurable. I strive for the confidence to be creative in my daily decisions. For me, letting my decisions reflect my creative, out of the box thoughts that are most often suppressed, translates itself into creative action. In a standardized world of education, we can only hope to push our boundaries and internalize the notion that creative decisions are limitless. Human beings, when permitted, can be the ultimate manifestation of a world without limits. Together, let’s strive to be limitless.

Post Submitted by Ashton 

WSP Staff Explore the Importance of Creativity in Education

Hello our amazing readers!

What does creativity mean to you? Do you feel that it’s important to foster creativity in children’s lives? In Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk, “Schools Kill Creativity,” he explains that school curriculum is structured based on a hierarchy that either places the arts at the bottom or cuts them completely from public schools. He emphasizes the importance of fostering and encouraging creativity in schools, and challenges his audience to promote change in order to provide a better future for our children.

This week the Writing Success Program staff asked and explored these questions after watching Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk. They used the following questions to guide their response and thoughts for this reflection:

• What is your opinion of your own educational experience in creativity?
• Do you feel that your own creativity was fostered and encouraged?
• What is your definition of creativity?
• Do you think that creativity is needed?
• Describe how creativity has hindered or encouraged you to become the person you are today.
• What do you think needs to happen and/or change for creativity to be fostered and developed in education/life?

We challenge our readers to also consider these questions and to explore what it means to be creative. Here at WSP, we strive to cultivate confidence and student voice through writing, and we hope that our readers will also challenge themselves to think critically of their own experiences. Enjoy!

Post Submitted by Lauren

Free Speech Fridays: Do schools kill creativity?

When I first watched this video I was struck by the notion of “growing out of creativity”. Sir Ken Robinson questions the hierarchy of the subjects, including the arts, within our educational systems. He introduces the idea of adopting a new conception of human ecology, one in which we begin to reconstitute our conception of the richness of human ecology. Personally I’ve never thought of  why some school subjects are seen as more important than others, but I can definitely see how the different levels of importance schools place on these subjects can shape our perceptions of what is valuable to know and what is not. I believe that our human capacity to be innovative has been cut off by this hierarchy because we are drawn away from the arts, especially in today’s society. I don’t think many people in my age group view themselves as the next Einstein or the next Shakespeare, and why is that? I believe it has a lot do do with what Sir Ken Robinson speaks about and I too believe that we must reevaluate this hierarchy of subjects, especially if we wish to see our future generations move us forward as a society.

Post Submitted by: Alexandra Barba

Apply for the Writing Success Program 2012-2013!

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Monday Money: Be Creatively Inspired

Dread is seemingly a natural emotion when it comes to essay writing — but it’s not inevitable.  The best essays are those which you’re actually excited to write, where you feel that what you’re saying has merit and is original.  But how do you summon the muses when they aren’t already gracing your presence?  This is an eternal question in art.

The Guardian has a list of general and specific things that established artists use to promote creativity.  Try doing some of these before you start writing!

Click here for the list.

Post by Lee.

Chapter Four | You Have the Power: “The Fires of Creation”

Chapter four of You Have the Power, entitled “The Fires of Creation,” argues that the base human fear of conflict acts as a form of societal and self-imposed oppression which stifles self-definition, empowerment, creativity, and change.  That is, because we fear resistance from the status quo (those in power, society, etc.), we restrict expression of our own opinions that we consider controversial.  The author argues that such restricted ideas, in being controversial — against the grain — are also individuating.  Thus, restricting such opinions is yielding to conformity and failing to define yourself. For this reason, conflict is critical.

On an interpersonal scale, conflict is a means to creation — the fire it ignites forces both parties to reexamine their positions and clears away outdated, wrongheaded notions while (ideally) constructing something new.  Critical to this is the mutual listening and empathy of both parties. Without this, you get a room full of empowered groups shouting at each other, producing an insuperable cacophony — fire burning futilely. Throughout, she illustrates her argument with interesting narratives of grassroots political activism.

I generally agree with her main conclusion:  overcoming one’s fear of conflict is an art involving acquisition of knowledge and confidence that is empowering.  However, I believe the author perhaps overstates conflict’s role in interaction — she occasionally attributes behavior to fear of conflict rather than to ideas of values, as well as fails to examine the question of whether there can be true ‘fires of conflict’ if both parties are cooperative, empathetic, and accepting (isn’t this just difference?).  Moreover, I would have liked her to consider the idea that activism itself can become a type of conformity, albeit conformity to a small subgroup, and that controversy/radicalism can actually attract followers rather than frighten them away (see: Tea Party Movement, Showtime programming, cults).

Particularly interesting to me is the idea of conflict and self-expression: the author implies that without conflict, you cannot define yourself. Although I do believe that one can be perfectly well-defined and not lead a controversial lifestyle, often parts of our lives to run up against societal norms.  Often, we hide these parts of our lives.  Hidden, we may not acknowledge or comprehend them as we should, and, unable to face them, we fail to understand their origins and implications.  Essentially, we mislead ourselves and others, which can be disastrous.

This is particularly relevant to me, as it well describes my relationship to being gay up until the end of high school.  Fear of conflict — conflict resulting from embracing a societally controversial aspect of myself — caused me to repress it.  Although my high school years were generally positive and productive, there were also areas of myself that remained stagnant, so that as productive as I was, I was never fully developed — I missed many normative social and developmental experiences most others had, so that my reminiscences of high school now carry a patina of missed opportunity and oppressive enclosure (although perhaps in this respect my experience was completely normal).

Coming to college and coming out, I have experienced first hand the creative, generative power that conflict (perhaps better characterized as difference) holds.  Like a canyon-dwelling tree, so much can grow out of the divide, the overlapping margins.  Overcoming this fear of being difference, queer, I have grown socially and academically, both entwined in my desire to better understand the human condition and its rich rope of narratives that all run against and along each other (the former holding us firmly together, the latter giving us common direction)  — a perspective only visible by viewing the world through difference.  Because difference, really, is just the centralized location between two bodies; a point of division can equally well become a point of collaboration transformed through engagement. After all, doesn’t interaction inherently require the connection of separate entities, a bridging of a divide?

Thus, as the author concludes at the end of chapter four, “conflict means engagement.” It is an incredibly powerful way of defining, examining, and empowering oneself.

Posted by Lee.

Cool Inventions: Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest

Theo Jansen’s creations are truly remarkable.  It’s amazing to consider the stretch of human imagination and creative application of our ideas.  If we put our minds to it, we really can achieve anything—even if we feel like it hasn’t been done before!  This may require countless trials and errors, but every attempt enlightens us with lessons learned and brings us closer to our goal.  Enjoy!

Short Essay: Curiosity and Strategy

“…it is also a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation; for when you come back to the work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment. It is also advisable to go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion in various parts and the colors of the objects is more readily seen.” - Leonardo da Vinci

Documents about Leonardo da Vinci are particluarly insightful because not only is he the champion of curiousity, but records that we have of his work also show that he adamantly used his inquisitive nature strategically. While some of us fortunately have retained or rediscoverd our curious tendencies in the college setting, taking this curiousity a step further can be enhanced by viewing our curiosities from many vantage points. Da Vinci often drew pictures of flowers from multiple angles, readily accepting that there are infinite ways of beginning to ask questions about the flower’s life.  Sometimes one can take it for granted that like-minded people are like-asking people. That is to say, just because someone thinks like you doesn’t necessarily mean that she will ask questions concerning your shared thoughts in the same way that you do. In this case,  despite like-mindedness, your questions will elicit different answers. By playing that game with his own curiousities, Da Vinci was able to be one of our greatest thinkers. In brief, it seems that our capacity to maximize our curiosity potential lies in an ability to re-ask our questions strategically depending on our surroundings, audience, or purpose.

 

Posted by: Tiffany