history pragmatic historian

What Do a Young Blacksmith and Public Domain Have to Do With Each Other?

My brain has a tendency to connect the most disparate things. But isn’t that where creativity comes from? So, let’s forge ahead with today’s blog post! An Enthusiastic Blacksmith Over the holidays while our kids were home, our Eldest Son introduced us to the videos of Alec Steele. Alec Steele is a young British blacksmith who produces YouTube videos showing people his projects and experiments in his shop. He is excitable, sharing his craft with…

Continue reading

art ideas inspiration process reading thought fodder writing

Being a Creator in a World of Too Much Stuff

While I was at the Twin Cities Book Festival, I picked up a few books at the used book sale. “The Plenitude: Creativity, Innovation, and Making Stuff” by Rich Gold was one of those books. It’s a slim volume, so it only took a couple of days to read. It expressed in written form a number of ideas I’ve had about being a creator in a world of too much stuff. Rich Gold was an…

Continue reading

reading

YOCR #17 – Meh.

I think I have come to the end of my Year of Creative Reading. I have two books on creativity sitting at my bedside waiting to be read and my reaction to them is, “Meh.” I don’t care if I ever get around to reading them. Okay, so I did read the section that supposedly has a direct relationship to me in one of them, but that was 3 pages and I’m not interested in…

Continue reading