First, let me present the latest
version. (Of note, I haven’t made an
upgrade in the last 3-4 days. The
previous week I was up each night, during the middle of the night, furiously
making changes.) Next is an essay on why
a creative product seemingly takes on a life of its own, and how an honest
author or designer must go with the flow.
A Generational-Digital Diatribe:
Still, Don’t Be Afraid to Pet the Dinosaur (aka “Dinos & Digits”)
Why does the digital world spin so fast?
Why can't I simply hold on to the past?
Facebook, tweeting, smart apps...oh what's next?
It’s no longer “Safe Stress” ™…now it’s “Practice Safe Text”!!
Why can't I simply hold on to the past?
Facebook, tweeting, smart apps...oh what's next?
It’s no longer “Safe Stress” ™…now it’s “Practice Safe Text”!!
I am the turtle; the Gens are the hare
They’re always racing, but why…and to where?
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock
My poor English teach…in anaphylactic shock!
And do you use email to settle a score
With that mortal colleague residing next door?
The “e” in email – your Face-to-Face “escape”
Go blast that e-rocket fueled by sour grapes.
Okay, three hundred messages that for you await
May have something to do with a volatile state.
Does always being wired
make you real tired?
Or are you real tired of
always being so wired?
Don’t blame the company; they’re just doing
their best
In getting the troops to “Do More with Less.”
It’s not PTSD but PTDS –
Post-Technological
Deluge Stress!
Digits and Dinos, they sure can be whinos!
Smoldering anger, the anonymous stranger
Why not live large on the edge of danger:
Talk “thumb trash” and bully; “be happy, don’t
worry”…
Having an avatar means
never being sorry.
Hey, it’s just a multi-tasking age
Where ADHD is all of the rage.
When instant gratification seems a delay…
BOREDOM! ASAP: Start texting away.
Alas, still tied to that e-umbilical cord?
Oh, no…can't use your phone or get online...
Blood pressure PANIC surges most every time.
It’s “Privacy vs. Piracy”: we’re under viral attack.
And now identity theft from the neighborhood hack.
Even big Uncle Sam cannot safely “hold em”
Playing NSA Poker with one Mr. Snowden!
Why do these young guns keep talking so fast?
And spelling, of course, now a thing of the
past.
Or when presenting – a web session or on a Skype
phone
Please, an occasional pause…don’t just drone on
an on.
Digits and Dinos, like spoiled bambinos.
Younger folks say “inclusion,” a trophy for all
Forming an identity that’s off the Facebook Wall.
When grizzled gens want winners not mere
pretenders
One must divide Alphas from “those bleeding
heart losers.”
Of course, many leaders don’t have a clue
For an e-conference, just what do you do?
Without live eyes and warm bodies keeping safe
solid ground
“Little Napoleons” start throwing their own head-weight
around.
And for those folks who both drive and talk
As if life is but one stroll in the park.
Or sleepwalk and text…and what do they expect?
Either I clear a path or I’m the pain in the
neck.
Believe me; it wouldn’t take much of a dare
To shove that damn phone right up their…hot air!
Man, I’m sounding more and more like a grouch
Maybe what’s needed is another approach.
Dinos and Digits, there’s got to be limits
Digits and Dinos…the fate of White Rhinos?
A crusade: “Save the Analog Whales” ™…Is it asking too much?
But first, lure digital hare-brains from their wired world hutch.
Pull heads out of smart phones; break FOMO ** media habits.
(Though “Get a Life” Coaching is for “Dinos,” not just “Digits.”)
Of course, do not go cold turkey with a cyber-addiction…
Play “Past Life Regression” ®; the “calmer shooter” or Kama Sutra *** position.
Find a virtual guru, one who’s no techno slouch…now
Plug-and-play (if not hug-and-pay) on that 3-D “smart couch.”
Well, let me reach closure, before I “break bad”
On those always bragging about their iPad.
Consider my words, they are pretty rad:
I truly don’t mean to sound unkind…
Keep your iPad; I prefer
an I-Mind!
** FOMO: Fear
of Missing Out
*** (a sexual position illustrated by the
ancient Indian text; personal preference)
© Mark Gorkin 2013
Shrink Rap Productions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Actually, the ongoing transformation
is most revealing of vital aspects of creative problem-solving. Both for self-reflection purposes and perhaps
for reader education and enlightenment, I will outline, “Ten Characteristics of an Evolving Creative Process and Product”:
1. Engaging the Forest and Trees.
Making novel or creative connection often demands going back and forth
between a “Forest and Trees” perspective.
And fully engaging both vantage points – parts and whole – with their
different demands and needs, can be perplexing and time consuming. (And
most people have preferences in their thinking style: analytical types often initially deduce or
build one stump at a time the whole from parts; others use inductive reasoning,
inducing if not intuiting parts from the whole.
And the creator is constantly ebbing and flowing, and occasionally
floundering, between the two.) A forest
perspective provides the border pieces of those 1,000 word puzzles; what seems
in and out of bounds. You have a better (or
at least initial) grasp of the big picture that you are tackling. Ironically, you can get a sense of this
larger picture – both boundaries and possibilities – by quickly jotting down
bullet points-parts. I then assess
similarities and differences, seeing if any:
a) are out of bounds and b) can be combined to form a broader concept or
image, that is, a subset if not a “whole.”
At the risk of intermingling metaphors, these points become a hodgepodge
of ingredients that will be mixed and matched, if not blended, to comprise the
first sampling of a poetic gumbo.
The trees provide individual details; trees help sharpen the reader’s
or viewer’s focus by distinguishing evergreens from leaves with seasonal
color. As a vital part, trees make a
work more specific in focus and vivid in tone.
However, individual trees may serve a greater purpose, sometimes by
disrupting a context or pattern. When a
tree becomes sufficiently different in structure or character, or some trees
project a new and compelling meaning or story, then you may have to go back to
the drawing- or keyboard: you either cut
down or replant the tree or, and this often propels creative upgrade or
evolutionary adaptation, you begin to reconfigure the “big picture” forest.
For example, I came up with a phrase that captured the endpoints of the “Generational-Digital Spectrum” – “Dinos & Digits.” After some gnawing inside, I knew that the “D & D” tree just had to be featured in a recurring refrain, e.g., Dinos and Digits, both give me the fidgets…Digits and Dinos, they sure can be whinos.” The whole was being impacted by a part. This structural shift also provided a visual break on the screen and page, helped introduce the theme of a new segment, and generated an aural change of poetic rhythm. Finally, the “hook” helped broaden the larger lyric’s meaning and message: the verse was more clearly poking fun at the digital-adversarial extremes.
For example, I came up with a phrase that captured the endpoints of the “Generational-Digital Spectrum” – “Dinos & Digits.” After some gnawing inside, I knew that the “D & D” tree just had to be featured in a recurring refrain, e.g., Dinos and Digits, both give me the fidgets…Digits and Dinos, they sure can be whinos.” The whole was being impacted by a part. This structural shift also provided a visual break on the screen and page, helped introduce the theme of a new segment, and generated an aural change of poetic rhythm. Finally, the “hook” helped broaden the larger lyric’s meaning and message: the verse was more clearly poking fun at the digital-adversarial extremes.
2. Challenging and Clarifying, Unifying and
Tightening the Message. The forest perspective is like a stage light,
more soft and diffuse in nature. A trees
mindset is like an intense spotlight focused on a narrower issue or image. The analytic trees perspective may be needed not
simply to spruce up or trim specific trees but, more importantly, to puncture
some holes in the global forest template.
Some deviant trees cannot be disguised or hidden by the forest
canopy. Naturally, there may be a struggle: should one or two trees be allowed to disrupt
my “holistic and harmonious” representation, one that seemed set? This may slow the process, yet it also may
strengthen the product. Such rethinking
often yields a new eco-contextual and psycho-logical synthesis of forest and
trees.
My objective is to make “Resiliency
Poetry” accessible and user-friendly for large numbers of readers. Ideally, clarity is facilitated not obscured
by concrete imagery. Consider this
updated third line of the following stanza:
And do you use email to settle a score
With that mortal colleague residing next door?
The “e” in email is your best means of
“escape”
is changed to
The “e” in email – your Face-to-Face “escape.”
Go blast that e-rocket fueled by sour
grapes.
First, I believe “F-2-F” tightens the
verbiage, eliminating non-essential words.
Next, the edit sharpens the idea that when dealing with interpersonal
conflict many use email and texting to avoid personal engagement and responsibility.
Of course, another means of enhancing
accessibility and memorability is through the use of humor. As I once penned: People
are less defensive and more open to a serious message gift-wrapped with humor. So the challenge is to add a touch of humor,
especially of a surprising or unexpected nature (e.g., email as an “e-missile”)
to each stanza, especially in the closing punch line. It’s a test:
four lines to send a mirthful message or two.
I am the turtle; the
Gens are the hare
They’re always racing,
but why…and to where?
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock
My poor English teach…in
anaphylactic shock!
Two masters of the art encourage taking
up the challenge:
Shakespeare: Brevity
is the soul of wit.
Twain:
Wit is the sudden marriage of
ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation!
3. Eyeballing and Ear-calling.
Alas, sometimes there is no shortcut to realizing you need to make
cuts. One must eyeball and re-read over
days if not weeks, and sometimes longer, to detach from the familiar or comfortable;
to discover a new idea or image or to question the authenticity of your
pearls. Simultaneously, you are enabling
the subconscious to percolate alternate images and ways of expression. And sleeping on a problem is a great way to
obtain a fresh pair of eyes…and even ears.
This is why I’m skeptical when people flat out say that they do their
best work at the 11th hour.
Unless a person has been cogitating on material for a good while, you
can’t be at your most imaginative or original only fueled by a deadline-induced
adrenaline rush.
In addition, certainly with poetry, it’s
important not just to reread the material, but to recite it aloud over time. Aural repetition is especially helpful in
determining the most efficient and effective rhythms and rhymes. So utilize and combine your senses to
maximize your process and product. Try
taking an “incubation vacation” to hatch a new and enriched perspective!
Finally, “ear-calling” through repeated recitation and rhythmic meditation may stimulate recalling; for me, "e-c" evokes the notion of a multi-sensorial “memory echo.” This process, akin to incubation, provides access to a psychic wellspring of shadow ideas and images that may refresh or animate, may help broaden and deepen both trees and forest.
Finally, “ear-calling” through repeated recitation and rhythmic meditation may stimulate recalling; for me, "e-c" evokes the notion of a multi-sensorial “memory echo.” This process, akin to incubation, provides access to a psychic wellspring of shadow ideas and images that may refresh or animate, may help broaden and deepen both trees and forest.
4. Trusting My Creative Discontent.
Oftentimes eyeballing
and ear-calling comes into play because a writer is willing to trust his or her
gut. A word,
phrasing, rhyme, or image is not quite right or can glow or grow even brighter
or brasher. So as many great minds have
stated: An ability to formulate the right problem – with sufficient complexity
and elegance – is often more difficult and important than achieving a correct,
sufficient, or acceptable answer.
Surely this is so when aspiring to be unconventional, satirical, and/or
original.
5. “Going from Good to Great.” Constructive discontent – wanting to elevate the product or perspective – is a necessary yet not sufficient characteristic of going from good to great. Such a metamorphosis requires persistent examination and questioning: looking at and listening to particular trees and assessing both the individual and overall goodness of fit. In addition, there must be some curiosity if not some frustration with the existing tree-forest examples, patterns, and/or boundaries.
The search for perfection does not equate
With an intent to go from “good to
great”
When you can’t get out of that
starting gate.
Unless being stuck in that mental muck
Should prove more pluck than mere dumb
luck
Then one will grapple, dream, and
incubate
So that neurons spin, combine, and
gyrate
What’s next…Aha!...that creative state???
And Part II will highlight five hands
on “how to”s (process) for maximizing creative evolution (product):
- Striving
for Visual Metaphors
- Sharing and
Soliciting
- Letting Go
with the Rhyme Scheme
- Resisting
the Urge to “Just Be Finished.”
- Recognizing “You Can Go Home Again.”
Until then, just remember…Practice Safe Stress!
Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The
Stress Doc" ™, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker,
is a national keynote and webinar speaker and "Motivational Humorist &
Team Communication Catalyst" known for his interactive, inspiring and FUN
programs for both government agencies and major corporations. A training and Critical Incident/Grief Intervention
Consultant for the National EAP/Wellness Company, Business Health Services in
Baltimore, MD, the Doc has also led “Stress, Team Building and Humor”
programs for various branches of the Armed Services. Mark, a former
Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, is
the author of Practice Safe Stress and of The Four Faces of Anger.
See his award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" -- www.stressdoc.com -- called a
"workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR). For more
info on the Doc's programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email stressdoc@aol.com.
