Imagine: How Creativity Works...and How it Doesn't

In our world, economic capital isn't scarce. Money's out there. The thing that makes the difference? Human capital. Creativity can never truly be commodified, and that's why people with imaginations and aesthetic ability are so important. In Imagine: How Creativity Works, author Jonah Lehrer outlines ways to increase creative insight: when to let our minds wander and when to hunker down and focus on a problem. His suggestions of improvising, traveling, and collaborating make sense and drew me in to his book, another self-help that isn't quite so obvious about its self-help-ness. Then I googled him.

His Wikipedia page summary--"disgraced American author"--doesn't give a reader much confidence. Turns out he recycled some of his own previous work (lazy, yes, but if that was his only fault, forgivable), and took creativity to its dark side by making up several of the Bob Dylan quotes he used. The book was pulled by the publisher, but the library still has it on the shelves, which is how I came upon it. I wish they would have put a disclaimer on it somewhere: ATTN! Read at your own risk! because I'm not sure how to feel about this book.

Initially, I still agree with Lehrer's underlying message: creativity is important and the more we know about it, the better we can cultivate insights in our own lives. Taking a walk and letting my mind wander does help me let go of a problem, while at the same time allowing my subconscious to work on it. Becoming an outsider (mentally or by traveling) does make me think about things differently. I get where this guy is coming from.

And yet, if we do nothing but read the book and take it for what it is, we miss the bigger picture: Lehrer stole from himself (without telling the reader) and made stuff up in a book about creativity, of all things--that which is rooted in originality and newness and relies on us humans to give it value by keeping it honest. If I force a creative breakthrough by bullshitting a blog post, I know it. And most readers can smell it. I can't in good conscience publish something I don't 100% stand behind, and I don't even get paid for these! (Not that I haven't posted less than stellar stuff in the past, but my blog is a constantly evolving experience. Part of my writerly development is showing you guys my stuff, with the hopes of making it better stuff--and again, I'm not getting paid.)

What I'm saying is, I don't know how to laud the book without giving credit to its writer, and I don't know how to hold sketchy writing practices accountable without dismissing the work. I'm stuck with a crummy feeling that if this guy can BS his way through several books and make a living (he currently has another book deal, and that already has problems), why should any other journalist or writer take care in their craft? He's not the first journalist to endure a scandal, and surely not the last, but it's situations like these that bum out the aspiring writer in me. Knowing that publishers relax their standards when it will make them a buck tarnishes the credibility of the publishing arena.

What reading this book made me realize is how grateful I am for all the genuine, hardworking, and creative writers I've had the opportunity to read, both published and not. They entertain me, make me a better writer, and give me hope that in the end the real artists rise to the top.

Compromise

I chewed two
pieces of gum this week.
I know it's not
fruit or vegetable,
but I think we
can agree it's not bread
or cheese either.

Get Fit: Weekend Update

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday saw more cheating than challenging, but I knew from the start I'd have to cheat a little.

Weight: 130 lbs
Miles biked: 16 miles
Pushups: 30

Cheats:
Cupcake
Deep dish pizza
Chex mix
Juice (high fructose corn syrup)
Ranch dressing
More deep dish
Cookie

Healthy Meals:
Smoothies
Quinoa & veggies
Eggs & guacamole
Carrots & beans & broccoli & hummus
Bison tacos
Apple & banana

Dairy Fast

Sometimes you just need a challenge. Not eating meat (or eating only ethical  meat) isn't so challenging to me anymore, especially since we don't buy meat for our apartment. Two years ago I did a sugar fast right before Halloween, but we don't buy a lot of sweet things either. What I want to do is a dairy fast. I know. Blasphemous. How dare I claim to be from Wisconsin and want to give up dairy products for 10 days.

I tried starting this on Friday, and here is a list of ways I've already cheated:
-ranch dressing
-cheese pizza
-chocolate chip cookies
-a lot of cheese pizza

It's a lot more difficult than one would think. Milk is in everything, not just your average dairy products. But all the research I did on giving up or limiting dairy said it would be worth it. So I'm starting over today. I already don't drink milk, substituting it with almond milk. Now I just need to commit to resisting the temptation of all the cheese in my fridge. :( If I make it through these 10 days, I might go crazy on day 11.

Earth Week: Burn Calories, Not Fossil Fuel

Day Three: No Mechanized Travel (car, train, plane, elevator...) plus No Trash & No Consumption

An easy one for me seeing as I have no car, no $ to buy a car/plane ticket/train ticket/etc, and live on the first floor of my building, negating the temptation for an elevator. I guess since I've already read No Impact Man, I've already consciously thought about my environmental impact so a lot of these changes aren't surprises.

Still, if I want to go to the library across the bridge (and I do, since I get more work done there), I walk or take my bike even if Andrea could give me a ride. I use the stairs to get to work, on the third floor of the library (mostly because it dings loudly when you arrive at your floor, signaling to the rest of the semi-quiet library, "Attention! Lazy slob arriving!").

More friendly travel ideas:

-Bike to work (even if you only do it a couple times each week), especially if you work less than two miles away from your house.
-Carpool...self-explanatory.
-Use public transportation, if it's available. The sad thing about America is public transportation has a negative stigma. Another reason I miss Europe, even with all the complaints (see: stinky Romans, lack of personal space, donne vecchie).
-Run errands all at once, instead of making several small trips.

I should confess: I will be cheating in majors ways later this week when Mom comes to pick me up to go home in a motorized vehicle, then takes me to Best Buy so I can buy a new power cord for my laptop. Hopefully I can at least recycle the dead one, otherwise that means I'll have traveled, consumed and made trash within the span of several hours. Sorry, planet.

In non-Earth Week news, my latest author binge is David Sedaris. I'm thoroughly convinced my attention span is depleting as short stories seem to be the only thing I can read lately. Sedaris holds my attention, though, judging by the way I powered through Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim this weekend.

sugar fast update

I already cheated.

I want to be honest, this is way hard. And to be fair, I'm not trying to be legalistic so I'm not going to get too down on myself for not following this thing as strict as some might. I had pasta tonight, not whole grain, so there were your basic everyday carbs involved.

I'm counting today as a success, though, because I did not binge on the leftover apple cake on the counter or eat any of the frosting in the fridge or stick a finger in the Nutella in the cupboard--all things I have done on occasion and sometimes all on the same day. Or within the same hour.