Made up poem needed. Need by 7:30 A.M. Nov. 29th.

In other words, do your own homework, dear.

8:15 tonight? Is that Eastern Time, also?

It is not homework... It is forced creativity and so, nonsense... You cannot stop creative people from creation, and you cannot make non creative people creative... Yet; even then, people can try to express themselves with rythem if nothing else... You must have feelings. Some one is trying to make you reveal before god and country that you have no talent, no ambition, and no creativity... Does that not make you want to say a little something in their ear??? I think they, or him, or her, are being cruel to you... If your only legal weapon were words; what would you throw at them.. You may be a fool, for fools are common; but there is no need for them to be assholes and make you ashamed of your foolishness... So; write as you speak, and hold your meter, and you should know what I mean, and say your piece... You are painting the moon, and not the Mona Lisa.... Perfection is not required, but progress is...

Oh, baloney. Every creative person I know works best on deadline. Including me.

I hope our OP bit the bullet and did the work herself.

Yep.

I also argue that you can teach creativity.

And deadlines are real sparkers..

Of course you can teach creativity. I do it all the time.

Actually, I don't teach people how to be creative, I just figure out ways to unlock it. Everyone is creative in their own way. Anyone who says they aren't creative is lacking imagination, not creativity. And imagination can be "sparked." (Love that word, Osso.)

Here's an example: At the beginning of each semester, my middle school newspaper kids wonder how on earth they are going to come up with ideas for things to write about. I tell them they are reporters, and reporters are very curious people. They notice things everyone else passes by. And they ask questions about everything. I'll show you. See this white board? Who invented white boards? Whose idea was it to buy white boards for the school instead of blackboards? Where are the extra dry erase markers kept? Why are there eight different colors of markers in our room, but only black and blue in the Math room? How many white boards are there in the whole school? Yes, Shelby? How much did they cost? That's a good question. Yes, Dylan? Where did we buy them? There's another. Tristan? Who cleans them? I've wondered about that myself...good question! Caitlyn, you have one? How long will they last? I'll write that one down, too. Anybody else?

Then I give each of them a steno notebook and a pencil, and I turn them loose on the school grounds for 10 minutes. They are to go out by themselves and write down questions about anything they see. Anything they wonder about. I tell them the person who comes back with the most questions gets a prize.

I usually have about 10-12 students in this class. I typically get a total of about 120 questions, and I compile them into a list. Then I tell them that all these questions are possible article ideas, and they've just come up with 120 ideas in 10 minutes! They are amazed. Then I tell them that anytime they can't think of something to write about, they can use this list or just go take another "Reporter's Walk."

And off they go.....

Hey, that's some good teachin'.

I agree with the unlock it phrasing. I think creativity is a state of mind.

Back years ago when I still worked in a lab but was taking many art classes in the evening for a few years, people were interested in what I was doing - so I had six or seven of those interested over to my house to share some of what I had learned, plus had some food at hand. They stayed all day... I unleashed a giant.. a couple of people still tell me every so often that I opened up the world. (something about their connection to it). They might have previously done crafts from kits, but I had them drawing fast on 18 x 24 news print, ink brushing on good paper, lots of stuff. What a jolly day.

I just heard from one of those people on Saturday, something like 35 years later.

Thanks, Soz!

And Osso, I would definitely come to one of those sessions. And I don't even really like to paint!

This might be a place to post about a website I ran across today searching for I forget what. Oh, yes, I was hunting pre raphaelite painters for the What is this Painting thread - didn't get anywhere on that (probably wasn't pre raphaelite) but found this charming website. The blogger adds a lot of graphics and painting photos I like to her thread about writing...

http://writingupastorm.typepad.com/

I was the worst painter in the universe when I started. I still remember my first extremely stupid paintings.. not that I've advanced that much, but I'm more sanguine about it now. Drawing - I got teacher accolades, even the avant ones. Painting, it was a schlep. But those are just two kinds of creativity. It is the looking part of creativity that is important. Well, important first.

I'm not a blank canvas person. I need structure...a problem to solve. The more tightly you define an assignment, the better I can think.

I agonized my way through three semesters of freehand drawing in college as an Art major. They'd throw a bunch of junk into the middle of the room and say, "Draw something. Anything. We don't care what." I could be sitting there staring at the blank newsprint pad for the entire two hours.

Finally they took me by the hand and led me down the hall. "This is the Commercial Art department," they said. "You're going to be much more comfortable here." And I was.

Laughing. I had the trashcan dump experience too.

I was also totally horrible at contours. (Funny that I later liked landscape contours, understood them). My hand contour drawing was held up as an example of what not to do.

But one teacher told me my drawing reminded him of Ingres (not re the long arm) so that kept me going. I got used to having abilities and deficiencies.


Re that website I just linked, the blogger's interests aren't mine, but I found the site a kind of delicacy.

I'm that way in design. Show me the problem and let me alone.

Since nobody would help me, I did the work during lunch break (it was due 3 periods after lunch) and here it is:
Starry Midnight on the 13th Moon

Dedicated to Neptune,
For letting me use,
Neso - His 13th moon.

A sparkling star, from here a long way
Wishes to see, the light of the day.

Far away, by Neso he does stand
But the number 13 he does not command.

"Oh why is it always me he must choose?"
"Why always in battles should I lose?"

And then it comes, the hard to see truth
It won't be fulfilled, the dream of his youth.

What do you say? Is it good?

See, you can do it. The poem's fine.

Why would you let others write your poems? You could use more attitude!

I better leave it to someone else to judge.

Sorry about not coming through for you. I should have known wouldn't be able to come up with something. Anyway, it looks good to me, and you did do it yourself. That counts!

I work only when I have all the time in the world, and when I'm pressured to get it done before the deadline. Yesterday was in between, so I had poeter's block (writer's block). Lunch was my only time left to do it, that's why I actually thought of something. Even then, I only finished it by the last second of lunch break. And there's nothing wrong with my attitude.

Yes, there is. You are being - if others do the work - a user. This is is dumb for many reasons, including that you cruise and then lose. But also, using people can be a life long very bad trait.