{"id":7137,"date":"2011-09-07T19:51:14","date_gmt":"2011-09-08T02:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=7137"},"modified":"2011-09-07T19:51:14","modified_gmt":"2011-09-08T02:51:14","slug":"talk-about-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/07\/talk-about-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk about creativity!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every couple of weeks, all this summer, my post office box has been graced — and the postal clerks and I entertained — by a wild array of packages.<\/p>\n

The boxes, sent by ST, a reader and frequent commentor on the blog, are so weirdly charming on the outside I’ve sometimes hesitated to open them. But when I do, they turn out to be just as weird — and entertaining — inside. I mean the insides of the boxes themselves, which are sometimes even more decorated than the exteriors.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah. And they contain … well, just what you might imagine such imaginative packages would contain.<\/p>\n

But never mind my verbiage. Have a look for yourself. This is just a representative selection. <\/p>\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Creativity<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Creativity<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Creativity<\/a><\/p>\n

Many of the items in the boxes have to do with light. Here’s a homemade lamp — a mounted junction box painted and jazzed up with a temporary tattoo — and a decorated flashlight that served as its own mailing container.<\/p>\n

\"Creativity<\/a><\/p>\n

The measuring spoons below are the kind labeled “pinch,” “smidgen,” and “dash.” It happens that I’ve been wanting a set of those. \ud83d\ude42 A man after my own heart, ST got them at a garage sale.<\/p>\n

\"Postcard<\/a><\/p>\n

Some of the items defy description. I think this one goes well with my 1950s countertops, though.<\/p>\n

\"Creativity<\/a><\/p>\n

These packages have made a huge hit with everybody at the post office — and with me, of course. <\/p>\n

There’s always a little danger in writing about one person’s gift; I’ve been blessed with a number of gifts for which I can’t express enough gratitude. Some are practical, some life-savers, some make me laugh, some are delicious, all are spirit-lifters. There are people hereabouts who have literally saved my life. Or kept me going through the years when I felt like quitting. I hope I can give proper thanks for every blessed person who has ever reached out to me.<\/p>\n

But for sheer oddball originality … the mind boggles. Above all, I envy — or, no, let’s say I’m happily reminded of — the uninhibited creativity ST puts into these treasure boxes. <\/p>\n

We (and that most definitely includes me) tend to put “creativity” up on some high shelf. We “allow” writers, artists, actors, poets, composers, and playwrights the exalted designation of “creative” — and in so doing we forget to notice that everyday life is filled with opportunities for creativity, even for those of us who can’t draw a stick figure or play a musical note that wouldn’t cause our neighbors to complain to the police and our cats to think the local tom is challenging them.<\/p>\n

ST obviously has the art kind of creativity, too. But what he’s really got in spades is the, “Hey, what if?” “Oh boy, look at this!” “Wow, what I could do …” kind of creativity that’s really a much bigger deal.<\/p>\n

I’ve been charmed that ST has expressed that in art and doodads and sent it my way. But that kind of creativity has endless<\/i> uses.<\/p>\n

Among other things — to bring this back to the theme expressed in the name of this blog — that kind of unstoppable creativity is totally, utterly, absolutely subversive of Received Authority. Wild creativity in everyday life is the eternal enemy — and happy bane — of all that’s rigid and stodgy and bureaucratic and predictable and rule-bound.<\/p>\n

And ain’t that grand?<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

P.S. Anybody recognize the flag in the first photo?<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every couple of weeks, all this summer, my post office box has been graced — and the postal clerks and I entertained — by a wild array of packages. The boxes, sent by ST, a reader and frequent commentor on the blog, are so weirdly charming on the outside I’ve sometimes hesitated to open them. But when I do, they turn out to be just as weird — and entertaining — inside. I mean the insides of the boxes themselves, which are sometimes even more decorated than the exteriors. Oh yeah. And they contain … well, just what you might…<\/p>\n

Continue readingTalk about creativity!<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-aesthetics","category-mind-and-spirit","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}