Tag: creativity

  • Art and Obedience

    Art and Obedience

    Now that 2021 is nearly halfway through, accountability might just become the word of the year. It pops up in all kinds of commentary about policing and the behavior of our elected officials. “There is no ‘healing’ from this without accountability,” tweeted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the days following the Capitol riot. I myself bristle…

  • Anselm Kiefer’s “Oh Stalks, Your Stalks, Oh Stalks of the Night”

    Anselm Kiefer’s “Oh Stalks, Your Stalks, Oh Stalks of the Night”

    From the editors at The Showbear Family Circus: Since submitting this essay, writer Michelle Mitchell-Foust has passed away. We extend our deepest condolences to Michelle’s loved ones and dedicate our current issue to her memory. A brief excerpt from her obituary appears below. “Michelle was a life-long learner.” Musgrove Mortuaries & Cemeteries Philosopher Hélène Cixous…

  • Spark

    Spark

    I sip the teas of prose and guzzle electrolytes of poems. I proselytize by the Shamanism of my native tongue; my inner, transcendent, mystical language. The dancing wick is never doused, sickly as it shivers. Inspiration hides itself, imagination rebels, creativity is inured. Recurrent chapters of stimulative destitution trigger the hunt. I attempt to thwart,…

  • Fail Fast Habits

    Fail Fast Habits

    Over the next week, I’m going to talk about making brave art and making art bravely and today that means talking about my fail fast resolutions. Featured Download: If you’d rather have the cliffnotes of the entire Brave Art series, click here. Here’s the thing: not only am I not perfect, I fail often and…

  • Short Film Festivals :: DOs and DON’Ts

    Short Film Festivals :: DOs and DON’Ts

    I’ve been a judge for several short film festivals in NYC since I moved here and I’ve noticed common threads in the ones I reject (finishing up my list for one of the bigger festivals today). Those of you who have been around the block won’t need to read this — you know this stuff…

  • A Life of Learning :: Striving for the Striver’s Life

    A Life of Learning :: Striving for the Striver’s Life

    “When am I ever going to use this in real life?” Remember asking that in sophomore Algebra? Here’s the best-kept secret in education: this inevitable question pokes a hole not only in algebra but also in every other subject. Through that hole, a light leaks in from a land much deeper and higher: from a…

  • Dear Future Lance: The Project is Ash — and that’s what makes it beautiful

    Dear Future Lance: The Project is Ash — and that’s what makes it beautiful

    The best things I ever accomplish always immediately follow me: getting to my wits end, realizing that I am nothing, I am finite, I will die — meditating even on the circumstances that will attend my death and that I will only die in one of the many billions of ways that exist for man…

  • On the Perfection Practice Makes • Artistic Craftsmanship

    On the Perfection Practice Makes • Artistic Craftsmanship

    Confession time: I have a problem. A dialog problem.   If there’s anything I learned early on, it’s that the professional discovers his weaknesses as quickly as possible and moves to mend them. That’s why they tell you to never tell a poker pro if you discover their tell — they’ll correct it at the first opportunity.…

  • Burdens [song] • from 54 poems at 27

    Burdens [song] • from 54 poems at 27

    written originally during Lent for The Calendar Years C maj7             C7 We set down indulgence Fmaj7              Fm7 and pray for your restraint Em7                A7 We give up our taking Dm7                G7 and take away complaint Cmaj7 I need less violence C7 Need less slander Fmaj7              Fm7                 C need less of what I hate I hand you…

  • Assorted Thoughts • from 54 poems at 27

    Assorted Thoughts • from 54 poems at 27

    Nested bowls work if you stack carefully. If not, they lean. Contractors in 1173 were likely rushed through a soup luncheon in that Pisa basement. My friend has an acrylic sweater that changes color and shape every day, namely because every morning he chooses a different brush and palate to paint it on. I once encountered…

  • The 54 Poems I Wrote at 27 …ish

    The 54 Poems I Wrote at 27 …ish

    After much deliberation, I decided to keep the whole tradition of doubling my age and writing that many poems in a year. You’ll notice that April Thirtyish has already passed, so I’m late in posting. I’ve gotten about half of them written and will begin posting this week. I started this whole mess with 46…

  • How to be Creative, Even if You’re Not

    How to be Creative, Even if You’re Not

    because we’re all in the process of reshaping the world around us, we’re all “creative” – we’re all makers. Legislators make order. Lawyers make cases. Chemists make cures.