You can get straight A’s at the university, no matter what your current performance looks like. But don’t get disillusioned once you reach the top. Universities may muzzle your creativity. But you can still upset the status quo—especially with a routine of rest, exercise, and outside interests related to your major. Be warned that universities… Read more »
“Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I’ve decided, is only a slow sewing shut.” Jodi Picoult There is a place on the borderlands of our consciousness, where the great beasts of human inventiveness—human potential—frolic and prowl. It is the realm where art and science, left brain attention to detail and… Read more »
Being focused is great. Determination to find your way on a path, also great—and necessary. But it is important to keep an open mind as you work toward a goal—to allow yourself room to grow and to grant yourself permission to change that goal. This was something I did, for the first time, throughout my… Read more »
It is an unfortunate truth that in the pursuit of making money to cover the high costs of living, much of human innovation is being left on the back burner. As technology takes over every second of our free time, inventing, drawing, writing, and many other creative pursuits are fading. Just Google “creativity is dead”… Read more »
Fitness might not make you Michelangelo, but it makes you more creative than Jim Carrey’s graffiti porn. Sheesh! The guy needs a lifetime pass to Curves. In high school, I took art. Once, a guest instructor taught me and my two friends pottery. We acted up, laughing as our clay slapped onto the floor from… Read more »
Ever start a speech with a sudden faceplant? If so, you’ve wobbled into the world of improv! Improv requires acting on the spot—without any scripts. Improv also teaches teamwork, risk-taking, inner-critic blocking, and desire-awareness says Kate Goodman in her book, Improvisation for the Spirit: Live a More Creative, Spontaneous, and Courageous Life Using the Tools… Read more »
Creative writing can be hard—worthwhile and fulfilling, but hard. It is difficult to get the words out some days, and it is easy to be hard on yourself when it is. It takes a lot of time and effort, a lot of being critical of your own work and merciless when it comes to editing… Read more »
What do snarly puppets, Snoop Dog, and I have in common? My older brother. As a child, my brother directed a drama piece. All the kids on the block starred, including me. The bit part I played marked a highlight of my youth. Yet my brother stopped directing after managing our talentless crew. Deep down,… Read more »
Do you want to write like an illiterate? Like Stephen King stripped of K-12? Like J. K. Rowling at a loss for how to handwrite the letter “H”? I’d bet you do—that is, if you love Shakespeare. Some say Shakespeare, an illiterate, honed his mastery in adulthood. Others say he had a ghost writer. As… Read more »
Book: Creative Block Author: Danielle Krysa For fellow AU students seeking a book oozing with creative inspiration and artistic motivation, look no further than Danielle Krysa’s Creative Block (2014). This gem of a book overflows with solid advice from fifty different artists worldwide who work in a variety of diverse mediums. Each artist outlines a… Read more »