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From September 30, 2009 issue
Gisela L:
Thank you for the latest "Perspectives". We enjoyed enjoyed them and -as always-you gave us something to think about. I have realized that I am lucky to have many "places of power". Nature is a most important one, so are meditation and prayer, and also books. A book which has been a true source of power to me for some years now is Bear Heart`s "The Wind is my Mother". The title doesn`t sound very convincing, but the book is great. Perhaps you have read it. The author was an old Indian medicineman who lived in Oklahoma and died at 90 last year.
From September 9, 2009 issue
Kathryn R:
I think that to be truly creative, one must create. In other words, it is not enough just to "think outside the box" or to be different. As an artist, I want to be very selective in the new lines I draw, the new colors I mix for my palette, or the way I use the space of my canvass. As a preacher, I want my words to be helpful and encouraging; not just to innovate, because how can one really improve upon the Bible? But to find fresh ways of presenting its ageless truths that will enable people to be receptive and to grow in their own understanding and application of that truth.
Everything we create comes from something (or things) that already exist; the art is in how we develop them in new, fresh directions.
That is our opportunity.
Laurel:
Here is some feedback regarding an experience of creative thinking I had recently. I gave a presentation to the public on Wednesday to introduce the library landscape project to the community in the hopes of support, either by participation or by donations. One of the groups represented said their mission was literacy, not landscaping. So I got to thinking, how could we support their goal while tying into ours? I came up with the idea of a reading program centered around ecology and the environment, that could be put together by the library and/or science teachers. The goal of the planting plan is to support biodiversity by reestablishing NJ native plant communities, so installing the landscape would create a sort of lab or demonstration of the types of plants that are suited to this area. The installation of the plants would thereby support the curriculum.
The way I came up with this idea was to think in terms of the goal of literacy, and remember that I have a Master's degree in reading education. I asked myself how I could increase literacy and that is how the idea of a reading program in ecology came to me. So I adopted the viewpoint of the other organization and asked how I could help them, instead of just asking how their organization could help us. Perhaps had I not had that reading education background I might not have adopted that reverse viewpoint. But it was a good lesson for me to see things from a different point of view.
Chris L:
Perhaps since you were at the Denver Art Museum, a more appropriate question might have been "was it art". For me, it need satisfy the condition that I respond and/or learn something from it. It need not be positive, just a reflection of reality in which I come away with a better knowledge of myself or the world in which I live.
Sometimes, one is confined by questioning if one's thinking is inside or outside the box. As my eldest son used to coach me, " Dad, there is no box".
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