1:10:100

Living in a college town has some really great advantages, including free talks by neat people. I recently got to see the guys from eepy bird, of "coke and mentos" fame, give a talk. One of them was the son of two mathematics professors, so it was kind of like getting a glimpse into Sofia's potential future, or half of it anyways, since she only has one math-professor-parent. It was timely because I have been struggling with a desire to nourish creativity lately, but not feeling like I have all the tools or environment to do so. While the presentation didn't answer my questions from my recent blog post on the topic, it was still really encouraging. Also, considering Emily's recent realization that her dream is to do something creative, I thought at least my Lobster might enjoy some process encouragement, so I have to share. 

You can essentially see the exact talk I saw in this 7 minute "1-10-100" youtube video. This is their explanation of the creative process that they believe anyone can execute. As I discussed in a recent post, creativity [and this process they discuss here] is something that can be applied in so many different contexts - be it math, writing, juggling, or coke explosions. I'll just splice in some of my own thoughts and a few examples they shared that aren't included in the video. 

"1-10-100"
Experiment one: Just start with something that piques your interest. For these guys it was putting mentos into a bottle of coke. As they went through their talk, I found it helpful to consider a couple possibilities for what my experiment 1 might be, so that I could apply their advice as I considered where it could go. I have a few seeds of potential writing ideas in the back of my mind. I've wanted to write for ages but have just never known about what. It seems like there have been so many good books already produced, it's hard to think what more there is for me to contribute. But there are tons of things that pique my curiosity, so I started to think about two of those as they went through the rest of the presentation.

I'll pause for a minute while you come up with a potential experiment one for yourself.

...

Ok . . . Once you have an experiment one, you just test it out. Drop that mentos in the bottle, draft up a little 500 word essay, start to jot down a proof, run some numbers, put together a spreadsheet or a sketch. To get from experiment one to experiment ten, just apply variation. Play. See what all you can do with your experiment one - come at it from different angles, get wacky, get bold, explore. Explore alot.

For the sake of this post, I'll tell you about one idea I have, which is writing about cooking. On one side of my family, I have one cousin who is a chef and owns/runs three restaurants. On the other side, I have a cousin who is an actual and very accomplished food writer. So there seems to be a familial value and theme coming at me from every angle. I've started to play around with that in my cooking with zoe series here on this blog. I've just been playing around with the idea in various ways. 

After you play around for a while, and you invest time into it, you can eventually formulate a sketch like a skit or an article or an outline that is quick and dirty, but is a rough picture of something really cool. This is Experiment Ten. They point out that most people stop here. With their experiment ten, people thought it was cool and told them to post on youtube. 

Emily tells me this cooking with zoe post was the best thing I'd ever written. Thanks, Pyg! I think it was probably my experiment ten. And while it was cool, here's the thing about making something great, don't stop at experiment ten, because you're not done until you have something "unforgettable."

They give 4 charges for getting from experiment ten to Experiment 100.
1) Be obsessive. Become the expert. Really put in the time and explore your object of curiosity more than anyone ever has before. Example: Theo Jensen: Animaris Rhinoceros. This guy got curious and became an expert on sculptures powered by the wind. Check out this crazy video of one of his pieces:

2) Be stubborn. If you have a gut intuition that you want to see something come to fruition, keep at it even when it doesn't seem to be working. Find creative ways to get around blockades. I felt like they discussed all kinds of neat and crazy possibilities they explored and had to let go of - so I think there must be an art to stubbornly pursuing something with neat potential, and knowing when something simply isn't working out and needs to be scrapped or edited out or let go of. This point probably troubled me because I really have trouble editing down, in case the length of my posts hadn't already made that painfully obvious to my regular readers!
 
3) Be extreme. Scale up. Quantity can change quality, break away from the pack and discover something new. They talked about how it was cool to see mentos dropped into 10 bottles of coke, but what about 100? I've thought about the trickiness of quantity before through this blog. And it counter-intuitive to me to admit that there is value in greater quantity, but I see what they mean about something great becoming something grand in this way. I think this is maybe just a trickier point for me to understand how to apply to my own creative project. Thoughts, Lobsters?

4) Limit yourself. This was my favorite point. I'm from Texas, Lobsters. You know, where everything is bigger? And yet these guys beautifully illustrated how powerful it is to limit yourself, to think inside the box. 

A trippy math fact I learned from my husband, did you know that some infinities are greater than others? I'll give you a minute to try to wrap your mind around that . . . tough,  I know, we'll just move on. So some infinities are greater, and in fact, the infinity of numbers between zero and one [1/2 or 0.5 being right in the middle of that list of numbers] is greater than the infinity from zero to infinity on the number line? I'm probably not stating that precisely, Manny will have to leave a comment with a more eloquent statement. But I've always found that truth to be so beautiful. It provides a metaphor for how there is greater depth in drilling down than in blowing up and out. And that's what they seem to be trying to get at here, that Creativity flourishes with rules. 

The examples they provided were so great:

a) This artist, Peter Callesen, explores creating sculptures with nothing but one sheet of A4 white paper. Here's just one sculpture, check out his website to see a whole series. Petercallesen.com.

 

Or in another medium, how about this guy Matt who traveled around the world and took video of himself doing one very simple and silly dance:

I cry every single time I watch that video. Every. Single. Time. 

This was so helpful because I realized if I limit myself to writing around cooking, I'll be forced to go deep into all that that means to me, and hit on some more beautiful stuff, which I think I began to do with my experiment 10, but I have a long way to go. 

One of the key points they make in the presentation is that they did not wake up one day and execute experiment 100 out of the blue. It was a diligent process from one to one hundred. They say, and I leave you with this charge: 

"Don't worry about genius, just get down to business."

What might your experiment one be? Have you ever gotten to an "experiment ten," or an "experiment one hundred"? How did you get there? Did these principles apply to your process? 

struggling to write

I'm married to a mathematician. I feel like that sounds as obscure as telling you I'm married to a philosopher, which is not so far off. People get all squirmy and uncomfortable when I tell them that. I start hearing confessions about how bad that individual was at calculus, how much they hated statistics, or how they just can't add. Or on the other hand, people tell me how much they loved math in school, the nice orderly security of having a definite answer amidst all the other ambiguity of life. Whatever the reaction, it's usually fairly strong, and followed by a quick change of subject. (Are you squirming right now just reading this?) 


I can only imagine what it is like to walk in Manny's shoes and have to experience that much more directly all the time. Anyways, if people don't change the subject so quickly, and they don't always, I love to talk about how amazingly creative the world of math is once you get past the basic requirements schools impose on you. I had no idea, even until years into Manny's Ph.D. program, just what it meant to be a mathematician, and to be honest, I'm probably fooling myself to believe that I get it even now. He humors me. 


What's beautiful about the fact that math is surprisingly imaginative is that it makes our unlikely pairing into a beautifully rooted connection in creativity. I was a philosophy and english major, he majored in physics and math. The only class we had together was ballroom/swing dance. But because there was this creative analysis at the root of what we each loved about our respective disciplines, even if we don't understand the details of what the other has to say, we get the core experience, and for us, that ends up being what truly matters.


The other week, we were able to resonate with each other when our hands were full with Sofia and he just wanted to sit down and concentrate on some research, and I just wanted to sit down and write, and when we were finally able to, we both felt so freed. When I told him how, on days that I don't get to write, it feels like there is a traffic jam of material in my head just blaring their horns, dying to break through, he got me. 


Maybe even if you don't write, or even if you're not a theoretical mathematician (because I know those make up a huge percentage of this blogs following, right?), but you have some form of creative expression, you get me too. Maybe you understand that once you start disciplining yourself to get into your craft, the art starts to flow much more easily and you find yourself refining your process and your results and growing in your abilities in little ways each time you get back to it. And that growth feels fantastic. And the traffic jam similarly grates at your brain and frustrates you. 


Sometimes life is crazy enough, I moved past the point of the traffic jam. The other day, I was so frazzled and sleep deprived I just could not get words out, I might have had a little baby-induced-aphasia. It was as if the road between my brain and my mouth (or fingers) simply crumbled apart. You know after you've been sitting in that traffic jam for long enough, as soon as you get a break through the cars (time to write) you let loose and drive like a maniac because you are making up for all that pent up energy and you drive your car up a median, or in my case write really weird blog posts that you have to come back to and edit furiously once you realize the mistake you've made. 


The worst stage is when I feel like I've been sitting in the traffic so long, I've just given up hope for any movement to pick up, and I've just reclined my seat and curled up behind the wheel to take a nap. On some days, by the time I get a chance to sit down, my brain is fried and it just takes so long to settle into a creatively productive space.


Anyone else connecting with me here? I'm grateful for this blog as it forces me to get some flow going, and I think that helps keep the creativity alive in dry spells. But since it seems like this struggle may transcend across talents. Maybe you identify and have some other tools for how we can navigate this traffic. How do you keep the creative juices flowing? How do you create space for your craft amidst the chaos of life? How do you satisfy those needs when your art can't find its outlet? 

My dream job: A revision

I wrote about my dream job last July. I'll wait while you read that. 


So today I realized that my dream job doesn't even need to be as specific as what I'd written. My vague new dream job: To do something creative. 


That's it.

At my current job (which I'm grateful for and good at but requires very little creativity), we have recently changed the structure of how the office is run, and my supervisor suggested that we do something creative to present these changes. I suggested a funny short film, and everyone miraculously agreed. Today I got to collaborate with a co-worker to write a script and put together a production schedule. Even though this only took up an hour or so of my work time, it made the whole day fly. 


At home, I did an ink and watercolor robot painting. Usually I use crayons, so this was a new experience for me. (Coming to you soon, Mikkele!)

(Photo credit goes to Jeff. He's so talented at everything.)

After work, I cooked a meal for about ten people who were doing construction at church. I decided on a taco bar. I realize cooking isn't that creative, especially since I didn't make up any recipes or anything, but if you grew up in my house you'd understand that it does require a measure of creativity. Just saying - no one ever told me how to make guacamole. Or how to brown meat. Or how to chop lettuce. (I love you, 'Rents!)


All day, I cared for a seven month old. That requires buckets of creativity. Trust me. I'm pretty sure I created new sounds when trying to get her to finish her peaches this afternoon. "AaaaaAwhhahhhwaaaah. Open up!"


Right now, I'm writing a blog. BAM! Creativity. I can write whatever words I want. Blows your mind, doesn't it?


In conclusion, I'm not saying I'll turn you down if you want me to Guest Star on SNL, Lorne. I'm just saying that my dream job is flexible. And I like that. Today was a beautiful creative day, and I am going to go to sleep feeling happy, fulfilled, and exhausted. I wish every day was like this.