In any medium of expression there comes a time when the words refuse to form, the paint will not flow, the clay hardens into a lump on the wheel, and the melodies fall as flat as the Kansas horizon. I am speaking, of course, about that most feared of phenomena, the dreaded Creativity Vacuum. It is a black hole in the artist’s universe into which uncounted novels, sonatas, sculptures, and paintings have vanished, never to return.
I am a writer by trade, and in my line of work we refer to this demon as Writer’s Block. It can be a fearsome adversary if allowed to run free, but there are ways to wall it off, like Poe’s Fortunato, and thus render it impotent. As anyone involved in the pursuit of creativity and art will tell you, creative expression is hard work, and often the artist’s tendency is to find a less demanding way to spend the time they have set aside for creative expression. Hopefully, the following creativity prompts can be helpful the next time the logjam occurs and the Muse refuses to pay a visit.
Imagine your ideal vacation, the one you have waited your entire life to take. Then, depending on your chosen medium, record that vacation for posterity as if it has already happened. If you are a writer, treat your imaginings as memories and jot them in a journal. If your forte is painting, envision and then paint your favorite scene from the trip. The great feature about this prompt is that it will tailor itself to any art form, from poetry to sculpture, from music to drama. It may also have the decidedly positive secondary benefit of rekindling your desire and commitment to take the actual trip!
Experiment with alternative forms of creativity. If you are a writer, paint or sculpt your story. If you are a poet, put your words to music. By placing yourself outside of your medium, you are in effect removing yourself from the rut and allowing your creativity to move once again to the forefront. The newness of the substitute art form may serve to put the fun back into the process. You may also discover a new hobby as you experiment with alternative means of expression. I used this prompt while writing my second novel and discovered that I am a closet impressionist painter. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a lousy closet impressionist painter, but I enjoy it just the same.
Sometimes if your creative urges have abandoned you, it helps to go through the motions by replicating the art of others. Rewrite a chapter from a classic tale in modern day language. Re-create your favorite Monet or Renoir to the best of your ability. Try to capture the feel of an Ansel Adams photograph in your own work. Much of human activity is strictly behavioristic in nature. Thus, if you act creatively, there is a good chance that the proper neural connections will click and you will become truly creative once again.
Often a change of scenery will get you out of a creative rut. I write every day at the same desk staring at the same screen in the same office with the same old dog snoring at my feet. Most days, this homey setting works just fine, but there are the occasional times when I need a different environment. On those days, I pack my good Parker pen and my legal pad and head for parts unknown. Invariably I return from one of these field trips with a notebook full of jottings and a new lease on the creative process. Please note that if your art is the reclamation of car bumpers by welding them into modernistic sculpture, I am not suggesting that you load the welder and seven miles of extension cord into the trunk. You, too, can take a legal pad, and as you view the scenery you have chosen for your inspiration, you can jot ideas for your next work of bumper art.
In addition to the prompts I have already discussed, there is a list of simple rules I have always found helpful to the creative process:
Always carry a pocket notebook and a good pen. You never know when inspiration might pay a visit.
Work even when you don’t feel like it. Michelangelo didn’t feel like painting the Sistine Ceiling every day, but he went anyway. Well, ok, sometimes the Pope’s soldiers marched him over there, but the point is still valid.
Leave the TV turned off.
Play some nice, soothing music in the background. Or the Stones, if that is more to your liking. Music facilitates creativity.
Discouragement is self-indulgence and an excuse. It is also extremely habit-forming.
Set a time and create.
These are just a few of the ways in which I have combated the Creativity Vacuum. I hope you have found the list helpful, although I am certain that everyone reading this column has employed similarly effective methods with great success. Remember, our responsibility as creative individuals and as mentors of the next generation of creators is to keep the process of creativity in motion and to keep the dreams alive.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Arts and Smarts
This article was written by the late Dr. Charles Reichel. His words continue to speak to us.
It really makes “dollars and sense” for each of us to know the basics of “running-our-own-brains.” And, it’s pretty simple to master “Brain Basics 101.” Just as we don’t need to understand all the electronics and details connected to “running” and caring for our cars, just so for our brains. Our brain is an awesome, complex, “parallel processor” (doing many, many, things at once). Happily, for us, when running well, most of this processing is happening beneath our conscious awareness or we would be overwhelmed. Nonetheless, we should, certainly, be aware of how to consciously and most efficiently use our brains in service of our intentional learning goals, invention and creativity. So, teachers, and students review the basics with me and be amazed how simple it is to "run-your-own-brain" with intention--instead of only reaction.
Beginning with this article and in coming weeks, I'll remind you of some vital brain principles that enable us to live consciously. One of these is that all brains learn better when "awake." And, they are awakened by surprise and novelty. Surprise yourself and those around you. Stay awake! Teach by responding differently in the days ahead! If something is not "working," try doing it differently! A lot of surprising learning will happen in, with, and through you and your energy will increase!
This article focuses on positive brain growth through providing children with non-poisonous, enriched environments—beginning in the womb and continuing on.
Have you thought of a mother’s womb as our first classroom? It is. Each person’s brain architecture will be formed in the mother's womb to help that organism best survive in the environment into which it will be born. Thus, if the mother and father live in a highly stressful relationship or environment, the embryo will be continually bathed with stress hormones such as cortisol. The neuronal cells will prepare and build that child’s brain differently from that of a child whose mother, is herself in, and able to provide the child with, a regular bath in the hormones of joy and pleasure--such as serotonin.
As our children grow, from embryos to adolescents, their brains are continually learning from their environments by growing neurons—learning cells. (By week four after conception, in the mother’s womb, over half a million neurons are growing every minute). These neuronal cells soon migrate to their proper places to begin forming what will be the brain. They have the potential to form branches (like a plant’s root system) or cell extensions called axons that join with dendrites at junctions called synapses.
These synapses or junctions are where, literally and metaphorically, we “make connections” and learning is happening. Dr. Judy Willis, M.D., classroom teacher and neurologist (See ASCD book info below), tells us that these synapses reach a maximum development rate of two million per second. While neuron cell growth may stop about age twenty, the growth of synapses and the power of making connections continues for a life-time. The capacity to continually grow connections and learn new things, in new ways, is called the brain’s “plasticity.” This is the brain's fantastic ability to reroute and rewire and relearn even after brain traumas and tragedies.
However, plasticity is coupled with brain “pruning.” The multitude of neurons and connections is pruned (reduced by cell destruction) in the last few weeks before birth and, again, most prominently, around age eleven. Pruning implies the “use-it-or-lose-it” factor. When cells are active and enriched they send messages to the circulatory system to bring food and take away toxins or waste. When cells are not active, waste accumulates in the form of calcium ions and the enzyme calpain accumulates and causes the cells to self-destruct. By the time we are adolescents, then, each brain, through their use or disuse, has selected the neuronal cells for our adult life. (That's why, for instance, it is so much easier to learn another language by beginning in early childhood and laying that language's foundation of sounds and structure prior to age eleven or twelve when a major brain pruning happens. Continued, adult learning of that language is then easier.)
Our responsibility and opportunity, then, as parents, students, and teachers, is to be certain, as much as possible, to always keep our learning environments—wombs and rooms--safe from toxins and creatively enriched appropriately at the right developmental moments. Can the provision of arts-enriched environments—such as a mother who sings and makes music during her pregnancy--make a positive difference in the child's brain circuitry and learning development? From my own life and family experience and awareness of research, I certainly think so. We do know fromearlier research, such as the Champions of Change study posted on our website, that the grades, test-scores, and school affinity of students actively involved in the arts increase.
That, is, in part, is why the National Creative Society exists. We seek to join with others to help keep young artists honored, nurtured, and encouraged. We are already firmly convinced that the "arts and smarts" are vitally connected. Deep-learning, academic, and test-taking success, creativity, invention, and the arts are interwoven as whole cloth! " . . . You can't have one without the other!"
However, seeking evidence of still deeper connections, the Dana Arts and Cognition Consortium commissioned cognitive neuroscientists from seven universities in the United States to use the best brain scan technologies to see what they could see--"under the hood." Their first reports, recently released (and available to you) seem to suggest some early sightings of synapses. More research is, of course, called for.
Find Dana's available reports (http://www.dana.org) to see what you can see there. The first necessary step for all intentional learning is to "get curious." So, check out the Dana links and the many practical resource links posted on our NCS website! The second necessary stop for learning breakthroughs is to "get frustrated." May such curiousity and frustration lead to many enriching and surprising breakthroughs for you--for the sake of all! We each make a world of difference--in different ways--when we're on-purpose!
It really makes “dollars and sense” for each of us to know the basics of “running-our-own-brains.” And, it’s pretty simple to master “Brain Basics 101.” Just as we don’t need to understand all the electronics and details connected to “running” and caring for our cars, just so for our brains. Our brain is an awesome, complex, “parallel processor” (doing many, many, things at once). Happily, for us, when running well, most of this processing is happening beneath our conscious awareness or we would be overwhelmed. Nonetheless, we should, certainly, be aware of how to consciously and most efficiently use our brains in service of our intentional learning goals, invention and creativity. So, teachers, and students review the basics with me and be amazed how simple it is to "run-your-own-brain" with intention--instead of only reaction.
Beginning with this article and in coming weeks, I'll remind you of some vital brain principles that enable us to live consciously. One of these is that all brains learn better when "awake." And, they are awakened by surprise and novelty. Surprise yourself and those around you. Stay awake! Teach by responding differently in the days ahead! If something is not "working," try doing it differently! A lot of surprising learning will happen in, with, and through you and your energy will increase!
This article focuses on positive brain growth through providing children with non-poisonous, enriched environments—beginning in the womb and continuing on.
Have you thought of a mother’s womb as our first classroom? It is. Each person’s brain architecture will be formed in the mother's womb to help that organism best survive in the environment into which it will be born. Thus, if the mother and father live in a highly stressful relationship or environment, the embryo will be continually bathed with stress hormones such as cortisol. The neuronal cells will prepare and build that child’s brain differently from that of a child whose mother, is herself in, and able to provide the child with, a regular bath in the hormones of joy and pleasure--such as serotonin.
As our children grow, from embryos to adolescents, their brains are continually learning from their environments by growing neurons—learning cells. (By week four after conception, in the mother’s womb, over half a million neurons are growing every minute). These neuronal cells soon migrate to their proper places to begin forming what will be the brain. They have the potential to form branches (like a plant’s root system) or cell extensions called axons that join with dendrites at junctions called synapses.
These synapses or junctions are where, literally and metaphorically, we “make connections” and learning is happening. Dr. Judy Willis, M.D., classroom teacher and neurologist (See ASCD book info below), tells us that these synapses reach a maximum development rate of two million per second. While neuron cell growth may stop about age twenty, the growth of synapses and the power of making connections continues for a life-time. The capacity to continually grow connections and learn new things, in new ways, is called the brain’s “plasticity.” This is the brain's fantastic ability to reroute and rewire and relearn even after brain traumas and tragedies.
However, plasticity is coupled with brain “pruning.” The multitude of neurons and connections is pruned (reduced by cell destruction) in the last few weeks before birth and, again, most prominently, around age eleven. Pruning implies the “use-it-or-lose-it” factor. When cells are active and enriched they send messages to the circulatory system to bring food and take away toxins or waste. When cells are not active, waste accumulates in the form of calcium ions and the enzyme calpain accumulates and causes the cells to self-destruct. By the time we are adolescents, then, each brain, through their use or disuse, has selected the neuronal cells for our adult life. (That's why, for instance, it is so much easier to learn another language by beginning in early childhood and laying that language's foundation of sounds and structure prior to age eleven or twelve when a major brain pruning happens. Continued, adult learning of that language is then easier.)
Our responsibility and opportunity, then, as parents, students, and teachers, is to be certain, as much as possible, to always keep our learning environments—wombs and rooms--safe from toxins and creatively enriched appropriately at the right developmental moments. Can the provision of arts-enriched environments—such as a mother who sings and makes music during her pregnancy--make a positive difference in the child's brain circuitry and learning development? From my own life and family experience and awareness of research, I certainly think so. We do know fromearlier research, such as the Champions of Change study posted on our website, that the grades, test-scores, and school affinity of students actively involved in the arts increase.
That, is, in part, is why the National Creative Society exists. We seek to join with others to help keep young artists honored, nurtured, and encouraged. We are already firmly convinced that the "arts and smarts" are vitally connected. Deep-learning, academic, and test-taking success, creativity, invention, and the arts are interwoven as whole cloth! " . . . You can't have one without the other!"
However, seeking evidence of still deeper connections, the Dana Arts and Cognition Consortium commissioned cognitive neuroscientists from seven universities in the United States to use the best brain scan technologies to see what they could see--"under the hood." Their first reports, recently released (and available to you) seem to suggest some early sightings of synapses. More research is, of course, called for.
Find Dana's available reports (http://www.dana.org) to see what you can see there. The first necessary step for all intentional learning is to "get curious." So, check out the Dana links and the many practical resource links posted on our NCS website! The second necessary stop for learning breakthroughs is to "get frustrated." May such curiousity and frustration lead to many enriching and surprising breakthroughs for you--for the sake of all! We each make a world of difference--in different ways--when we're on-purpose!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Good Questions
The national Youth-At-Risk Conference has gathered for just about two decades in Savannah, Georgia. My wife and I have just returned from that conference where we invited others to “Champion Young Artists” and join their energies with the National Creative Society by forming an NCS chapter.
This annual conference brings together adult professionals from many disciplines, different states, and even a few other countries. It provides a great learning context with inspiring and helpful formal presentations; provocative conversations, and the opportunity to raise good questions. A good question is always a far better way to open toward true learning and creative solutions than is a pat answer. Ask good questions!
The dynamic, opening, keynote speaker raised a good question that has been around this conference for several years. She asked, why not change the Conference’s official name to “Children-of-Promise” or, “Children-of- Genius”? That good question refocuses participants’ perspectives through the lens of promise rather than problem and it is more likely to open toward the needed patience and power to change situations.
It is also a fact, as the outstanding research of the Search Institute in Minneapolis regarding the needed “40 Developmental Assets” has shown, that it is all youth in our country who are “at-risk” and not just some from certain locales or socio-economic groupings. (See the link in the article below to this research or find it posted on our website.) “At-Risk” may thus, set a “mind-trap” that is limiting. A good question may help snap a trap!
No matter how named, this conference seeks to address issues that have always been with us and whose negative symptoms show themselves in young lives. Chief among the issues is broken family structures. An earlier article in this e-zine series celebrated the insights of Stephen Schwartz’s dramatic musical, Children of Eden and the vital role our families of origin play. (See our archived articles at www.nationalcreativesociety.org.)
Still, whether we would choose to quote a nursery rhyme, “There was an old woman, Who lived in a shoe; She had so many children, She didn’t know what to do…..” or, to sing the lyrics from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) with its theme of favoritism and sibling rivalry, our families falter—and always have.
As parents, children, and teachers, we need back-up systems and people to bring new support. We need models and mentors all across our life-span. One of the clearest themes of this year’s conference presentations (and past years as well) is that people are able to change perspectives, behaviors, and life situations to the degree that they are inspired-to and supported through these changes.
That’s what mentoring provides: inspiration and supportive encouragement and feedback. That, also, is the intention and mission of the National Creative Society: to serve as a catalyst to gather young artists, their parents, teachers, and other mentors into locally-led chapters that group like-minded folks across the nation to share “best-practices” and resources toward a common, beauty-bringing mission!
So, let’s end this week’s article with some good questions, whatever your role, life-stage, and situation. 1) Am I currently getting results in my life that are satisfying, productive, and fruitful? Or, am I “stuck” in some way? 2) Would I benefit from having a coach or mentor at this time in my life? 3) Am I willing to be held accountable for new directions and life goals I would set? 4) Is it a time in my life when I am able and willing to mentor others? 5) Can I see that forming a local chapter of the National Creative Society might bring resources together to collaborate creatively to aid me and others?
All good questions! Your responses may make a world of difference—at least two lives at a time!
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
This annual conference brings together adult professionals from many disciplines, different states, and even a few other countries. It provides a great learning context with inspiring and helpful formal presentations; provocative conversations, and the opportunity to raise good questions. A good question is always a far better way to open toward true learning and creative solutions than is a pat answer. Ask good questions!
The dynamic, opening, keynote speaker raised a good question that has been around this conference for several years. She asked, why not change the Conference’s official name to “Children-of-Promise” or, “Children-of- Genius”? That good question refocuses participants’ perspectives through the lens of promise rather than problem and it is more likely to open toward the needed patience and power to change situations.
It is also a fact, as the outstanding research of the Search Institute in Minneapolis regarding the needed “40 Developmental Assets” has shown, that it is all youth in our country who are “at-risk” and not just some from certain locales or socio-economic groupings. (See the link in the article below to this research or find it posted on our website.) “At-Risk” may thus, set a “mind-trap” that is limiting. A good question may help snap a trap!
No matter how named, this conference seeks to address issues that have always been with us and whose negative symptoms show themselves in young lives. Chief among the issues is broken family structures. An earlier article in this e-zine series celebrated the insights of Stephen Schwartz’s dramatic musical, Children of Eden and the vital role our families of origin play. (See our archived articles at www.nationalcreativesociety.org.)
Still, whether we would choose to quote a nursery rhyme, “There was an old woman, Who lived in a shoe; She had so many children, She didn’t know what to do…..” or, to sing the lyrics from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) with its theme of favoritism and sibling rivalry, our families falter—and always have.
As parents, children, and teachers, we need back-up systems and people to bring new support. We need models and mentors all across our life-span. One of the clearest themes of this year’s conference presentations (and past years as well) is that people are able to change perspectives, behaviors, and life situations to the degree that they are inspired-to and supported through these changes.
That’s what mentoring provides: inspiration and supportive encouragement and feedback. That, also, is the intention and mission of the National Creative Society: to serve as a catalyst to gather young artists, their parents, teachers, and other mentors into locally-led chapters that group like-minded folks across the nation to share “best-practices” and resources toward a common, beauty-bringing mission!
So, let’s end this week’s article with some good questions, whatever your role, life-stage, and situation. 1) Am I currently getting results in my life that are satisfying, productive, and fruitful? Or, am I “stuck” in some way? 2) Would I benefit from having a coach or mentor at this time in my life? 3) Am I willing to be held accountable for new directions and life goals I would set? 4) Is it a time in my life when I am able and willing to mentor others? 5) Can I see that forming a local chapter of the National Creative Society might bring resources together to collaborate creatively to aid me and others?
All good questions! Your responses may make a world of difference—at least two lives at a time!
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wax-On/Wax-Off: Offering/Asking—In Context
This is a good week to discuss the life-renewing energies, earlier discussed in this e-zine, that are released from the dance of mutually giving-to and receiving-from each other— in families and also in mentoring relationships.
The headlines of my hometown sports page today report that “Glavine’s door is open.” The reference is to Atlanta’s veteran pitcher Tom Glavine now back with the Atlanta Braves after five seasons with the New York Mets.
The article mentions that very few young professional pitchers have 300 game winners to whom they can turn for advice. It reports that Tom Glavine is letting Atlanta’s younger pitchers know he’s available to guide them in their pitching careers. Glavine is quoted as saying, “I would not consider myself to be an extremely outgoing person, but I try to portray a personality that I’m approachable and you can come up at any time….I’ve told most of them I’m not going to come to you…, but if you ever want to ask a question or you ever want me to watch a side session, just tell me a time and I’ll be there.”
We’re told that Braves pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes is one who has asked. There it is! if it is not literally a “match-made-in-heaven,” it is, at least, a match “made in the bull-pen.” It happened because someone offered; someone asked and an organization (The Braves) provided the system to make the match.
In my own adult career, which includes directing a college career counseling center, I have been convinced by research reports and by observation, that the mentor-student relationship can be vitally and equally crucial to both—even though each person is in a very different career stage.
I know that teachers and other professionals who have had their lives’ gear-shift levers set on “coast” and complacency—who assumed they were on the down-hill part of their careers-- have been revitalized by becoming mentors. Getting-up-in-the- morning and going to work became exciting again! Once again they were “on-purpose” and challenged!
Also, I have observed (not always; but often) students whose lives were stuck in idle or reverse, who came unstuck because they or their parents or grandparents asked for help from the school system or from an after-school program or community club. Thank God for relief systems and bull-pen people and the invitation to “ask and receive.”
The title of this e-zine article, of course, alludes to the Great 1984 movie about mentoring The Karate Kid. The teen-ager Daniel and the handy-man, Mr. Myagi are “providentially matched” and explore the ground rules for a disciplined relationship--which moves through the inevitable disillusionments and trials that all relationships experience. Get the video. Review the process! Discover the result! Providence is poised to provide such matches!
In 1990, when our daughter Cara, then fifteen years old, won the national “Written and Illustrated By” Contest with her book originally titled “Stone Prayer” her adventure was just beginning. To see it through to final publication, she and we necessarily entered a contractual arrangement with the publisher, artist/author and mentor, the late Mr. David Melton. The relationship was that of editor-to-author; senior-to-junior. It was two different personalities and perspectives relationally and providentially joined. The result was the inspiring book The Stone Promise. (Information on both the contest and the book can be found at www.nationalcreativesociety.org.)
The book itself tells the story of a vagabond orphan boy in medieval France who finds care-takers and mentors who help him to see beauty and bring beauty as a growing artist. The orphan made a promise, in return. It was, particularly, that he would eventually return to his village of Colliure to help others there see and bring beauty, too.
The National Creative Society’s mission is to offer an effective and adaptable model that provides one context in which to honor and bring together young artists, with each other and with older mentors, for the purpose of seeing and bringing beauty to their communities. It was therefore a great privilege, while representing NCS at the Savannah Youth-At-Risk-Conference, to meet the current United States “Teacher of the Year” Mrs. Andrea Peterson.
After hearing Andrea sing beautifully and observing her way of offering her own gifts to evoke creative beauty and artistry from her primary school students, I quickly went back to our NCS’ exhibit table to get a gift copy of The Stone Promise to present to her. For she told her audience that, after this year of national speaking as “Teacher of the Year” her heart is set to return home to her little Oregon town to make an offer that she hopes others will accept: the nurturing of young lives and bringing beauty!
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
The headlines of my hometown sports page today report that “Glavine’s door is open.” The reference is to Atlanta’s veteran pitcher Tom Glavine now back with the Atlanta Braves after five seasons with the New York Mets.
The article mentions that very few young professional pitchers have 300 game winners to whom they can turn for advice. It reports that Tom Glavine is letting Atlanta’s younger pitchers know he’s available to guide them in their pitching careers. Glavine is quoted as saying, “I would not consider myself to be an extremely outgoing person, but I try to portray a personality that I’m approachable and you can come up at any time….I’ve told most of them I’m not going to come to you…, but if you ever want to ask a question or you ever want me to watch a side session, just tell me a time and I’ll be there.”
We’re told that Braves pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes is one who has asked. There it is! if it is not literally a “match-made-in-heaven,” it is, at least, a match “made in the bull-pen.” It happened because someone offered; someone asked and an organization (The Braves) provided the system to make the match.
In my own adult career, which includes directing a college career counseling center, I have been convinced by research reports and by observation, that the mentor-student relationship can be vitally and equally crucial to both—even though each person is in a very different career stage.
I know that teachers and other professionals who have had their lives’ gear-shift levers set on “coast” and complacency—who assumed they were on the down-hill part of their careers-- have been revitalized by becoming mentors. Getting-up-in-the- morning and going to work became exciting again! Once again they were “on-purpose” and challenged!
Also, I have observed (not always; but often) students whose lives were stuck in idle or reverse, who came unstuck because they or their parents or grandparents asked for help from the school system or from an after-school program or community club. Thank God for relief systems and bull-pen people and the invitation to “ask and receive.”
The title of this e-zine article, of course, alludes to the Great 1984 movie about mentoring The Karate Kid. The teen-ager Daniel and the handy-man, Mr. Myagi are “providentially matched” and explore the ground rules for a disciplined relationship--which moves through the inevitable disillusionments and trials that all relationships experience. Get the video. Review the process! Discover the result! Providence is poised to provide such matches!
In 1990, when our daughter Cara, then fifteen years old, won the national “Written and Illustrated By” Contest with her book originally titled “Stone Prayer” her adventure was just beginning. To see it through to final publication, she and we necessarily entered a contractual arrangement with the publisher, artist/author and mentor, the late Mr. David Melton. The relationship was that of editor-to-author; senior-to-junior. It was two different personalities and perspectives relationally and providentially joined. The result was the inspiring book The Stone Promise. (Information on both the contest and the book can be found at www.nationalcreativesociety.org.)
The book itself tells the story of a vagabond orphan boy in medieval France who finds care-takers and mentors who help him to see beauty and bring beauty as a growing artist. The orphan made a promise, in return. It was, particularly, that he would eventually return to his village of Colliure to help others there see and bring beauty, too.
The National Creative Society’s mission is to offer an effective and adaptable model that provides one context in which to honor and bring together young artists, with each other and with older mentors, for the purpose of seeing and bringing beauty to their communities. It was therefore a great privilege, while representing NCS at the Savannah Youth-At-Risk-Conference, to meet the current United States “Teacher of the Year” Mrs. Andrea Peterson.
After hearing Andrea sing beautifully and observing her way of offering her own gifts to evoke creative beauty and artistry from her primary school students, I quickly went back to our NCS’ exhibit table to get a gift copy of The Stone Promise to present to her. For she told her audience that, after this year of national speaking as “Teacher of the Year” her heart is set to return home to her little Oregon town to make an offer that she hopes others will accept: the nurturing of young lives and bringing beauty!
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
Monday, August 9, 2010
Get One; Be One: Mentors as Momentous and Monumental
Another of the many fine articles written by the late Dr. Charles Reichel:
Several weekends ago, I had the privilege of purchasing two, "just-published" books of poetry. Both of these books were written by inspiring friends whose lives had intersected my own. One of these friends is an age-mate of mine; the other is a generation older. While each of these lives had energized mine, I had not known that the lives and creative energies of these two authors had also touched.
I was, therefore, surprised-to-a-smile, to see, on the Sunday that I talked with my age-mate author, that he had inscribed a dedication to the other, older author in his book. The inscription referred to her as “a poet, teacher, friend, inspiration”.
The teachers and poets and "inspirers" of our lives most typically do not intend for such inscriptions to be written in their honor. They never viewed us as stone markers standing still in a cemetery upon which they would engrave their names. Yet, still, their airbrushes of inspirations have marked our hearts and cleaned our arteries. Somehow their time and touches removed stones and blockages. They helped our life-energies to flow again. Their inspirational breathings were sufficient to fill, at least, the jib sails of our becalmed and drifting ships. We sense that we came into stronger currents and favorable winds because of them!
It is usually only in other, later moments of our lives, and with a backward and reflective look at the roles these people played in them, that we can place our small tributes--or monumental inscriptions-- in thanks to them. In fact, most of us older folks can think of someone we should phone or e-mail with, at least, a small tribute right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you to return…!
The first two issues of this newsletter have been written to address family support and challenges. (They can be found archived at www.nationalcreativesociety.com through our portal site.) In our families we first learned about the hues, and shadows, of differing personalities. It was there, for reasons of celebration and solace, we learned first to hum our heart songs. Our families were primary and provided our first words, definitions and perspectives; but, not our final ones. The family was absolutely vital; but, not absolutely all!
Realistically and thankfully, as each family has limits in supplying and sharing nurture to the lives first entrusted to it, there are “back-up” relief structures and “bull-pen” people provided to our lives!
All of us know that the current societal and cultural shapes of family structures vary greatly. No matter, whether the geometry of our own family structure seems more or less stable, in all of our cases, it must be propped and supported by others.
Sometimes these support people are simply called “extended family.” Often, and for many life situations, they are trusted and expert friends called “mentors”. In recent years, the term “life-coaches” has become popular.
Several years ago, in my own teaching and writing, I coined my own term: “hodogete”. As a counselor specializing in career direction, I became aware that the word “career” comes from the French word for “path.” I am very certain our career “path” is walked from birth to death. It does not begin with choosing a job or profession. However, we do need “journey guides” to help us discern our unique directions. I coined my new term from the Greek word for “road” combined with the Greek word for “finding meaning.”
In the next articles to come, I will explore how being a mentor is revitalizing for those of us in more mature life-stages. Equally, I will explore how vital it is, to those maturing as young, creative artists to have a "hodogete" and how best to find one! I offer this for your consideration—to “get one” or “be one”--or both.
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
Several weekends ago, I had the privilege of purchasing two, "just-published" books of poetry. Both of these books were written by inspiring friends whose lives had intersected my own. One of these friends is an age-mate of mine; the other is a generation older. While each of these lives had energized mine, I had not known that the lives and creative energies of these two authors had also touched.
I was, therefore, surprised-to-a-smile, to see, on the Sunday that I talked with my age-mate author, that he had inscribed a dedication to the other, older author in his book. The inscription referred to her as “a poet, teacher, friend, inspiration”.
The teachers and poets and "inspirers" of our lives most typically do not intend for such inscriptions to be written in their honor. They never viewed us as stone markers standing still in a cemetery upon which they would engrave their names. Yet, still, their airbrushes of inspirations have marked our hearts and cleaned our arteries. Somehow their time and touches removed stones and blockages. They helped our life-energies to flow again. Their inspirational breathings were sufficient to fill, at least, the jib sails of our becalmed and drifting ships. We sense that we came into stronger currents and favorable winds because of them!
It is usually only in other, later moments of our lives, and with a backward and reflective look at the roles these people played in them, that we can place our small tributes--or monumental inscriptions-- in thanks to them. In fact, most of us older folks can think of someone we should phone or e-mail with, at least, a small tribute right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you to return…!
The first two issues of this newsletter have been written to address family support and challenges. (They can be found archived at www.nationalcreativesociety.com through our portal site.) In our families we first learned about the hues, and shadows, of differing personalities. It was there, for reasons of celebration and solace, we learned first to hum our heart songs. Our families were primary and provided our first words, definitions and perspectives; but, not our final ones. The family was absolutely vital; but, not absolutely all!
Realistically and thankfully, as each family has limits in supplying and sharing nurture to the lives first entrusted to it, there are “back-up” relief structures and “bull-pen” people provided to our lives!
All of us know that the current societal and cultural shapes of family structures vary greatly. No matter, whether the geometry of our own family structure seems more or less stable, in all of our cases, it must be propped and supported by others.
Sometimes these support people are simply called “extended family.” Often, and for many life situations, they are trusted and expert friends called “mentors”. In recent years, the term “life-coaches” has become popular.
Several years ago, in my own teaching and writing, I coined my own term: “hodogete”. As a counselor specializing in career direction, I became aware that the word “career” comes from the French word for “path.” I am very certain our career “path” is walked from birth to death. It does not begin with choosing a job or profession. However, we do need “journey guides” to help us discern our unique directions. I coined my new term from the Greek word for “road” combined with the Greek word for “finding meaning.”
In the next articles to come, I will explore how being a mentor is revitalizing for those of us in more mature life-stages. Equally, I will explore how vital it is, to those maturing as young, creative artists to have a "hodogete" and how best to find one! I offer this for your consideration—to “get one” or “be one”--or both.
Creatively and Carefully,
Charles E. Reichel
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Contest Winners Announced
The 2009 National Creative Society Literary Competition and Awards
Prize-Winners
2009-2010 Literary Contest
First Place High School: $1000 savings bond
Hannah Marie Sattler
The Harnessing of Lightning
Second Place High School: $250 savings bond
Casey Kean
Pinocchio
Third Place High School: $150 savings bond
Eleanor Mae Fox
Essay
First Place Middle School: $300 savings bond
Kailyn Julianna Nickel
Untitled Story
Second Place Middle School: $200 savings bond
Tristan Davolt
The Hallway
Third Place Middle School: $100 savings bond
Joanna Benshoof
Shadow Mask
Prize-Winners
2009-2010 Literary Contest
First Place High School: $1000 savings bond
Hannah Marie Sattler
The Harnessing of Lightning
Second Place High School: $250 savings bond
Casey Kean
Pinocchio
Third Place High School: $150 savings bond
Eleanor Mae Fox
Essay
First Place Middle School: $300 savings bond
Kailyn Julianna Nickel
Untitled Story
Second Place Middle School: $200 savings bond
Tristan Davolt
The Hallway
Third Place Middle School: $100 savings bond
Joanna Benshoof
Shadow Mask
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Our Mother, Our Father, Our Context, Our Creativity
Note: This is a reprint of an article originally written by the late Dr. Charles E. Reichel, Executive Director, National Creative Society. His words continue to speak to us.
Wow! It's Super Bowl XLII Sunday Night, 2008. The results are in.
I just saw Eli Manning accept the MVP trophy for leading the New York Giants to this year's Super Bowl title. Last year his older brother Peyton had led his team to the same title and stood center-stage. Tonight we caught glimpses, during the game, of Peyton and mom and dad cheering-on (and undoubtedly praying-on) Eli and team.
One thing, for certain: the family provided the context for their boys' content and it was not the first time they were cheering (and praying) them on!
My thoughts turned to my own life-work and our family-generating time that had us in Oxford, Mississippi and Ole Miss during the seminal years of dad Archie's magical and mythical career. Archie even inspired a juke-box song (played in many a restaurant and road-house) during his days as the UM quarterback; when mom Olivia was the homecoming queen. To say the least, we learned a lot about the culture of SEC football in those days---living just across the highway from the Ole Miss campus,
One thing, for certain: in that cultural context, football was king and tail-gating parties an art form!
Since then, especially in recent years, with Peyton and Eli coming to maturity and increasing prominence, the public has been allowed glimpses into the Manning family and the individual uniqueness of each of the three boys and their relationships to their parents. We've seen some early home movies of the family, heard some homely stories of wholesome sibling rivalry, and learned of each of their sons closer identification with one or the other of the parents. For instance, Eli, the quieter of the two, is a self-identified "momma's boy." Mother Olivia apparently reported to Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, "Eli gets his calm from my mother. He is different from Peyton."
One thing, for certain: each of our children is unique and recognizing and encouraging that uniqueness is itself a most vital parenting skill.
At a recent, October planning meeting for the Georgia Thespian Conference, I was gifted by some post-presentation discussion with several parents. It became much clearer to me, then, that, we parents, have the highest investment in and passion for nurturing the "spark of creation" in our children. (See my next article for clarification of that reference.) It became very clear also, that for chapters of the National Creative Society to flourish and grow in number, that parent involvement as "boosters", chapter advisors, models, and mentors would be essential.
One thing, for certain: young artists seeking to bring and express their beauty through the visual and performance arts and creative writing need a cultural equivalent of "tail-gating" celebrations. Parents are vital to catalyze a great context for their children's content by cheering them (and praying them) on-also by creating some cultural tail-gating circles in your own community's equivalent of the Ole Miss "grove."
The National Creative Society looks forward to partnering with parents and advisors to form new chapters in that mission, for reasons of beauty-bringing to our communities and helping our children's "soul-purpose"-- more than their fame. Please join us! In celebration-one parent with another!
With carefulness and creativity,
Charles E. Reichel
Wow! It's Super Bowl XLII Sunday Night, 2008. The results are in.
I just saw Eli Manning accept the MVP trophy for leading the New York Giants to this year's Super Bowl title. Last year his older brother Peyton had led his team to the same title and stood center-stage. Tonight we caught glimpses, during the game, of Peyton and mom and dad cheering-on (and undoubtedly praying-on) Eli and team.
One thing, for certain: the family provided the context for their boys' content and it was not the first time they were cheering (and praying) them on!
My thoughts turned to my own life-work and our family-generating time that had us in Oxford, Mississippi and Ole Miss during the seminal years of dad Archie's magical and mythical career. Archie even inspired a juke-box song (played in many a restaurant and road-house) during his days as the UM quarterback; when mom Olivia was the homecoming queen. To say the least, we learned a lot about the culture of SEC football in those days---living just across the highway from the Ole Miss campus,
One thing, for certain: in that cultural context, football was king and tail-gating parties an art form!
Since then, especially in recent years, with Peyton and Eli coming to maturity and increasing prominence, the public has been allowed glimpses into the Manning family and the individual uniqueness of each of the three boys and their relationships to their parents. We've seen some early home movies of the family, heard some homely stories of wholesome sibling rivalry, and learned of each of their sons closer identification with one or the other of the parents. For instance, Eli, the quieter of the two, is a self-identified "momma's boy." Mother Olivia apparently reported to Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, "Eli gets his calm from my mother. He is different from Peyton."
One thing, for certain: each of our children is unique and recognizing and encouraging that uniqueness is itself a most vital parenting skill.
At a recent, October planning meeting for the Georgia Thespian Conference, I was gifted by some post-presentation discussion with several parents. It became much clearer to me, then, that, we parents, have the highest investment in and passion for nurturing the "spark of creation" in our children. (See my next article for clarification of that reference.) It became very clear also, that for chapters of the National Creative Society to flourish and grow in number, that parent involvement as "boosters", chapter advisors, models, and mentors would be essential.
One thing, for certain: young artists seeking to bring and express their beauty through the visual and performance arts and creative writing need a cultural equivalent of "tail-gating" celebrations. Parents are vital to catalyze a great context for their children's content by cheering them (and praying them) on-also by creating some cultural tail-gating circles in your own community's equivalent of the Ole Miss "grove."
The National Creative Society looks forward to partnering with parents and advisors to form new chapters in that mission, for reasons of beauty-bringing to our communities and helping our children's "soul-purpose"-- more than their fame. Please join us! In celebration-one parent with another!
With carefulness and creativity,
Charles E. Reichel
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