I Am This Woman

How many times a day do you “get creative”? This is a phrase I hear in meetings and conversation all the time. When one is trying to solve problems, the bizspeak is “let’s get creative,” “let’s find some creative solutions.” It can be interchanged with “pro-active.”

But what does this mean? Does one ever choose to get “reactive”? Is there ever a time when you want a standard, off-the-rack answer to a problem? I’m thinking that indeed if you have an easily solved problem, the last thing you want to do is get creative because that would waste energy, would suck out time to be creative for real!

When I want to be creative, I want to also feel that buzz, that little rush of whatever that comes along with it. Finding just the right word, putting two colors together, crafting a texture or line that is pleasing - this usually isn’t something that will directly solve a problem. When I “get creative,” I do it for ME. IN that respect, it is proactive. It’s pro-me. And if it handily solves a problem (”how can I get through this meeting?” “what will I give Aunt Maude for her birthday?”), then I am doubly happy.

Yahoo story here.

I am saddened to hear of the passing of this wonderful actor. I admired her work, esp. her sense of humor and grace in a crazy business. The “extras” interview on “An Affair To Remember” on DVD depicts her as a working actor who appreciated the fun of what she got to do, as well as the craft. The scene of her at the piano with the old French grandmama makes me cry each and every time.

Saddened is rather a strange word to use when someone you don’t know passes away… she was ill from Parkinson’s and I admire the fact that she lived to 86. That’s an achievement with that disease. I know my father was ready and willing to go at 85.5. But why am I saddened? perhaps it’s the frisson one feels when reminded that we are all inexorably marching, slinking, tiptoeing, padding or tripping towards our own obituary some day.

As West says (previous entry), forget the epic - there’s only time to explode.

Thanks, Deborah, for livening up my romantic life as a movie fan. (I think I’ll watch that movie later today.)

Author Nathanael West said, “Forget the epic, the masterwork … you only have time to explode.”

I did it. Hold on, ‘cos I’m coming back with a story to tell.