After spending three years in the city that never sleeps (or shuts up), I’ve recently made a move back to the small town of my childhood. The reasons for this are mostly too depressing to go into (New York City isn’t known for being easy on the wallet or mind), but now that I’ve been here for a few months and foresee myself staying for a few more, I can’t help but notice how interesting / scary / sweet / comfortable / paralyzing Suburbia really is.

Teenagers Got It Wrong

When you’re growing up in a place like this, you don’t really hear or see it. Mostly you’re asleep to everything around you until you decide you hate all of it, and then you leave, grasping onto college or a one way ticket to Somewhere New, promising everyone you’ll never look or come back. To a teenager, Suburbia is just boring. It’s one movie theater and awkward PTA dances and diving behind a locker whenever you pass your mom (the new substitute!) in the hallway at school. Suburbia ain’t anything. And that’s why you leave.

But when you grow up a little and look at the neatly lined-up houses, manicured lawns, SUVS, and strangely similar dress (what’s with all the matching velour tracksuits?), you begin to realize you’re smack dab in one of the most interesting places ever created.

There’s no sarcasm here – Suburbia is interesting. Just check out your local bookstore or theater; we’re constantly creating art on what it means to live in a place manufactured to feel safe, clean, and comfortable. And the funny thing? Most of that art is just the opposite of safe, clean, or comfortable. Artists are a little afraid of cul-de-sacs and small town politics. Afraid and mystified.

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My four-year-old, Harry, came running out of school, excited to tell me that he’d made a ‘diva’. My first thought, of course, was that he’d fashioned some likeness of Mariah Carey or maybe Diana Ross. I couldn’t think why, but I was willing to go with it. But then, from out of his book bag, he pulled the ‘diva’.

Made of clay, it looked rather like a diseased liver with a candle stuck in the middle. I tried not to recoil. I praised his amazing painting skills and then tucked the diva back in his bag. I wasn’t thinking, “Wow, my child is so talented”, I was thinking “Where the hell am I going to put that monstrosity?!”

Look At All This…Art

The first time your child brings a piece of art back from school, you exclaim with delight, you show everyone, you stick it to the fridge or even frame it and hang it on the wall. All this despite the fact that it’s probably just a collection of paint smudges on rough, khaki-colored paper.

As the child proceeds through preschool and then “big” school, they bring home more and more. Some of it is quite good (although the better it is, the more you suspect they didn’t actually do it themselves). Some of it is dreadful. My son once brought home what looked like a random pile of crap all glued together and poorly painted over. Turned out it was a “rubbish sculpture.” It really was. In more ways than one.

But still you feel like you need to keep it all, don’t you?

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Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a writer (for both adults and children), creator, and creative inspiration. I was thrilled to be given the chance to interview her.

I love the Howard Thurman quote: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs—ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” What makes you come alive?

I love that quote, Keris. It’s so weird because I was preparing notes for a talk I’m giving today at a middle school. And I came up with this bit of advice for them: “pay attention to what you pay attention to.” I think this is aligned with Howard Thurman’s (way more eloquent) doctrine.

What makes me come alive? Ideas! Travel! Music!

Do you have a theme song?
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life does. Have you heard it? It’s on the book’s website, and also on my site. Check it out! Written and performed by Tony Rogers.

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Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s 2005 book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is one of the sweetest and most inspiring books I’ve ever read, so I’m constantly checking for Amy updates. This week, I struck lucky with a YouTube video, The Beckoning of Lovely (see above).

At the end of an earlier video—17 Things I Made—Amy asked people to meet her in a Chicago park to make an 18th thing. What was the thing? No-one knew. And yet, hundreds turned up.

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Lee-Anne Ragan and Dolly Hopkins present:

Embracing Creativity: How to Rediscover Your Creative DNA

Thursday, October 23rd (2008)
9:30am to 4:30pm
held at: Langara College, Vancouver, BC
$125.

Feel the need to be more creative but not sure where to start? Is the pace of change outpacing your ability to keep up? We’ll open the door to your creative DNA through fun and engaging activities. We’ll combat common myths (’I'm not creative’) and common fears (’I'm not creative enough’) through practical application of 6 main creativity skills for use both at home and in the workplace.

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