And, once again, I’ve fallen off my list of creative reading, this time with a book I had read once before: NutureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. I’ve read a number of Po Bronson’s books and enjoyed them. He tends to focus on sociological topics, which I find interesting. The study of people stirs creative thoughts in me, which is how this book relates to my Year of Creative Reading, even though it’s not…
Anita Mills, one of my college professors, posted this marvelous New York Times article about blind contour drawing [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-blind-contour-drawing.html?_r=0] on Facebook. I remember blind contour drawing well. The exercise has students, using charcoal and large pieces of newsprint paper, draw a subject without looking at the paper. The results are always laughable, but the exercise makes students see their subjects differently and frees them from trying to draw the “perfect” picture. This is what Sam…
The other day I wrote a post about being cynical in my middle age, positing that perhaps it was because of the polarization we’re feeling in politics and the sense that things aren’t working as they should. I just want things to be fixed. I received a thoughtful comment from a reader that indicated that people on both sides of the political spectrum believe they have the answers to fix what’s going wrong in America.…