January 24, 2014 Photo (024/365): "Drifting"
"To reach a port, we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it, but we must not drift or lie at anchor."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
(How hard it is to think of sailing when the snow is blowing and drifting...)
January 23, 2014 Photo (023/365): "One"
It's difficult to feel creative when the polar vortex prevents you from really exploring. The walls of work and home feel restrictive. Everything seems so cold, gray, and uninspiring, yet it's easier to stay inside, distracted by work and routine, repressing the urge to see differently, to think differently. Outside my window, this singular icicle stands out against the tangled branches. It is attached and structured, yet its unique form continues evolving independently. Inside it seems to be bubbling with potential for continued growth. The beauty of the icicle amid the chaotic tangle of branches reminded me of the book I finished reading today, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie. The Hairball is a metaphor for the traditional business model, "a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past--that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity". MacKenzie's insightful and entertaining book offers ideas for avoiding the loss of one's creativity and vision, techniques to resist getting sucked into the "Giant Hairball" of corporate life.
Although the book is primarily intended for business people, it begins in an elementary school where the author is shocked by how young students seem to have lost their inventiveness and even their willingness to admit their creativity. As an educator and instructional coach, I view the book as an endorsement of the "Genius Hour" philosophy. Students and teachers need time to work on their own passion projects; to read and learn and create something that will contribute to their own education and success while also benefiting the organization. I recommend Orbiting the Giant Hairball to educators who crave Genius Hour time, as well as to administrators who want to nurture teachers' and students' innovation, and in turn, increase their productivity.
Finally, recognizing people's need to be creative, to explore, to take risks, to learn and to grow, to write their own verse, Apple's new iPad Air commercial features Walt Whitman's "O Me, O Life" (recited by Robin William's in Dead Poet's Society). The commercial gives me goosebumps! Earlier this winter, I challenged my American Literature class to think about what their verse would be. We may not have a Genius Hour (yet?), but our ten-minute "Trust the Gush" writing activity allows us the freedom to express ourselves without restrictions, to awaken and foster our own creative geniuses! "What will your verse be?"
January 22, 2014 Photo (022/365): "Chokeberries"
“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
January 21, 2014 Photo (021/365): "Oh deer!"
A fresh snowfall and a renewed awareness...
Rabbit tracks, beagle tracks, diminutive human tracks...Am I on the right track?
"The first step toward change is awareness." - Bertrand Russell
January 20, 2014 Photo (020/365): "Dragonflicicle"
"Children see magic because they look for it." - Christopher Moore
Yesterday, we celebrated my mom's 76th birthday with brunch at the Silver Spring Country Club. My nephews love Grandma, but not even a chocolate fountain is enough to keep them busy for over two hours. While the adults chatted, sipping champagne and coffee, I suggested that the boys go for a walk to help Auntie take pictures for her blog. It was so much fun to witness their excitement when Chase spotted the tiny icicles on this shrub and Alec pointed out that one looked like a dragonfly! The boys have an amazing ability to use their imaginations to see things that are less than obvious. Unfortunately, this remarkable talent is often lost when children grow up. Le Petit Princeteaches us that "all grown-ups were once children...but only a few of them remember it." He laments the fact that “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” By taking photos each day and writing about the ideas that these images evoke, I hope to regain some capacity for childlike wonder and imagination.
January 19, 2013 Photo (019/365): "Nuages"
Today's photos feel reminiscent of the art of Belgian surrealist, René Magritte.
Magritte maintained. "The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown."
What to write today is a mystery, and the meaning of this post is unknown.