Category: creativity and learning
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On Taste
When I think of what it means to “have taste,” my mind immediately conjures images of outward refinement: a shirking of excess, an elevated coolness, and a curtailing of expression, culminating in just the perfect amount of artistic and intellectual snobbery to satisfy one’s professional and social circles. I don’t particularly like that my mind […]
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On Choosing Your Mentors
Several years ago, when I was applying for graduate school admissions, I visited a former English professor asking for a letter of recommendation. We had a nice meeting, and during our chat, he made a remark about his students that was puzzling enough, to me, to have made an indelible impression: “All of the English […]
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For the Experimenter in All of Us
It is true that the majority of wisdom is gleaned from experience. It is also true that experience is the bitterest of all teachers. But, for those of us who can’t shake the urge to continually experiment with new ideas—to take them out into the world and “test them out” or “try them on for […]
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Finding the Challenge
I cherish those moments in which I have the final say over how I occupy my time. (Which of us, honestly, doesn’t?) I have been that way for as long as I can remember, and the biggest reason I have for wanting to control my time has to do with boredom—and my attempts to stave […]
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When You Have Too Much Life…
I don’t know that I believe there is such a thing as having too much life within you. I tend to think that some of us are simply more adept than others at using our energies and our intelligence harmoniously. When you are creative, or when you are a person of many interests who feels […]
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What Triathlon Taught Me about Creativity, Learning, & Achievement
With regard to athletics, swimming is my first love, although I never wanted to just be a swimmer. It was an affinity for cycling, which developed over the course of the last several years, that made me consider fusing my passion for swimming with other activities. That would create a whole separate challenge and a brand new way to test […]
The Used Life 