Category: creativity and learning
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Self-Portrait in Spring
Self-Portrait in Spring, paper collage, 2022 As I was preparing to post this collage and another one (which I’ve decided to publish at a later date, alongside a poem, methinks), I remembered that I made another Self-Portrait in Spring at this time last year. And how different it looks. I daresay, how far I’ve come […]
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House of Cards
House of Cards, mixed media collage, 2021 I’ve spent time over the past several days working with Victorian cabinet cards and found photographs. What I like most about this particular medium (aside from the fact that it’s inherently playful and fun) is the challenge. If you’re familiar with cabinet cards, you know they are Victorian-era […]
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On Collecting Things
When it comes to collecting behavior, I wouldn’t describe myself as a tried-and-true hobbyist. In fact, there isn’t one particular object or category of objects that generally fascinates me for long. And while I might go through phases in which I’m enamored by, say, watches, vintage magazines, or vinyl records, the likelihood that I would […]
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This must be the place.
This must be the place, paper collage, 2020 This post is formatted to reflect an original journal entry. 11/10/20 Had a significant insight into my own creative process. It happened on Sunday morning, as I was having coffee and reading one of John Muir’s Wilderness Essays. Experienced a flood of positive emotions as I was […]
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On Talent
I first got the idea about two months ago to write a post exploring the relationship between creativity and talent. Following an insightful and thought-provoking conversation with Nitin from There Will Come Soft Rains, I sensed I was close to forming a definitive opinion on the subject, one that, falling line in with more traditional […]
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Promenade
This post was formatted to reflect an original journal entry. 5/10/20 A slow, easy, reflective Sunday. Yoga and some much-needed outdoor time. I can’t wait to go camping. Soon. Have this grand idea of going off the grid for a little while. Heading up into the mountains and losing myself in the stillness. A reclamation of […]
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On Fantasy
I’ve always been a daydreamer. In school, I was a quiet, bookish girl who spent much of her time staring out the window, doodling, or scribbling fragments of poems and short stories in a secret notebook. (How many other young writers kept secret notebooks—the ones you covertly slipped into your real notebook, so you could […]
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On Reading
I am still deep into my quest for creative inspiration. And if I may say, I am enjoying the quest so much, I am not certain I want it to end. Indeed, I set out nearly two weeks ago, in the hopes of revivifying my poetry, to explore the world of Steampunk. Which has turned […]
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On Novelty
I published a poem last night, titled “Mannequin Planet,” which I then deleted early this morning. I’m sorry about that. I am not normally so fickle, but I didn’t like it. I just couldn’t bring myself to like it. And I decided it wasn’t of the quality I want to publish here. The truth is […]
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On Being a Novice
When I first started this blog in April 2017 I was not a poet. All of my activity on The Used Life was centered on posts like this one: those with a decidedly philosophical bent aimed at exploring the nuances of human creativity and the art of living. It wasn’t until later—sometime in early 2018—that […]
The Used Life 