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debbie sterling, goldieblox + catapults

My daughter is the kind of girl who loves math and science. She loves building things with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, and anything she can find in the recycling bin. When I heard about GoldieBlox, the engineering toy for girls, I ordered one immediately. She asked to watch the Kickstarter video over and over, and when it finally arrived, she loved it.

My daughter is the kind of girl who gets things pretty quick. The downside is that when she has to work hard for something, she sometimes gives up too easily. When I found this TedX talk, I knew I wanted to show it to her. I thought maybe she’d be more receptive to the “don’t give up” message if she heard it from the woman who invented one of her favorite toys.

My daughter isn’t the kind of girl who will sit still for a 17 minute video. I was surprised that — except for one quick break to grab her GoldieBlox toy — she watched the whole thing. Watching her was amazing.

My daughter’s eyes lit up as soon as Sterling talked about engineers being creative and artistic. I could see the wheels turning in her head when Sterling talked about inventing and designing things. “Mama, what’s a catapult?”

When I tried to talk to her afterward about the “work hard” message, she was already tuning me out. I’m pretty sure she was wondering how to get her hands on a soda bottle, string, paperclips and foam core.

I hope Bright Lights has a summer camp for ME101.

GoldiBlox website. GoldiBlox Kickstarter.

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alice munro: busy mom and short story writer

‘I’m probably not going to write anymore.”

A few months ago I read an article about Alice Munro’s retirement and decided I should read more of her short stories. One of my favorite books of all time is Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and was given to me by a dear friend. As is usual with me, I got distracted by other books sitting on the shelf at the library.

Then another article popped into my news feed, this time about Munro winning the Nobel prize in literature. Did you know
-she is only the 13th woman to win the award?
-her first short story was published when she was 37?
-her writing was squeezed in during the time her children were napping?

“In twenty years I’ve never had a day when I didn’t have to think about someone else’s needs. And this means the writing has to be fitted around it.”

Munro the person is as interesting as her characters. This time I’ve pulled her book from my shelf to reread. I’ve also put a few books on hold at the library. I wonder if winning this prize will tempt her out of retirement?

Are you a Munro fan? Which of her stories are your favorite?

Three articles that may convince you to pick up one of her books, as well:
— Alice Munro Puts Down Her Pen to Let the World In
— Alice Munro, ‘Master’ Of The Short Story, Wins Literature Nobel
— Alice Munro, Cinderella Story

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pascal dangin: the man who makes everyone beautiful

I have a love-hate relationship with photo retouching. I think those who do it well are amazing artists, especially those who work on people. Skin and body proportions are so easy to screw up — and so terribly obvious when wrong. At the same time, I’m not comfortable with the retouched reality in which we live. It’s redefined our definition of beautiful and is used to sell us products that “help us” get closer to an ideal that doesn’t really exist.

Pascal Dangin is one of those artists who amazes me with his talent and frustrates me with his work. The New Yorker did a piece on him in 2008 that I happened to stumble upon while researching Dove’s Real Beauty ad.

I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

See, right there? Both sides of me are conflicted by just one sentence.

People in his industry describe him as “sort of photo whisperer, able to coax possibilities, palettes, and shadings out of pictures that even the [photographer] who shot them may not have imagined possible…he is a translator, an interpreter, a conductor, a ballet dancer articulating choreographed steps.”

I’ve done plenty of photo retouching in my career and know how hard it is to get right. I am definitely better with things than people, but no one has every compared my work to the grace of a dancer. Maybe that’s why I look at what Dangin does with such awe. He’s just that good. Maybe he’s too good.

The article is a fascinating read on Dangin’s life, work, and style. It describes his creative space and process, as well. Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.

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cool sandwich bag art

Graphic designer and illustrator David LaFerriere kick starts his creative juices in the morning by drawing on his kids’ lunch bags. This makes me wish we didn’t use bento boxes and fabric snack bags.

Full article here. LaFerriere’s flickr page is here. He’s drawn over five years worth of bags!

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stand and create

I’ve been reading a lot about people standing while they work. Treadmill desks are becoming popular. Susan Orlean writes at one. Standing desks are also a thing. Arshad Chowdury has been using one for the past two years.

This isn’t new. Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up. (Wolfe was 6'6" and used the top of a refrigerator as his desk.) Winston Churchill, Leonardo Da Vinci, Virginia Woolf, and Thomas Jefferson all stood, as well.

This got me thinking that maybe I should move my laptop over to the kitchen counter for awhile and see what it’s like to create standing up. Of course, I never seem to be in the same spot for too long these days. Right now I’m sitting at my daughter’s Tae Kwon Do class writing this on an iPad in my lap. In reality, I’m more like Agatha Christie, who didn’t even own a desk and worked wherever she could sit down.

The original article that got me thinking about this was 25 Productivity Secrets from History’s Greatest Thinkers.

Some interesting articles I stumbled upon afterward (the first two are long reads):
— The Odd Habits and Curious Customs of Famous Writers
— To Sit, to Stand, to Write
— 5 famous writers who stood while they worked.

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lisa frank’s office space is awesome.

Growing up I was into all things rainbows and unicorns, but I don’t remember any of these characters. Maybe they were a little bit after my time? Lisa Frank is making a comeback, though. Urban Outfitters is now selling a line of vintage items that have “been hiding away in Lisa’s own secret stash.”

Frank recently agreed to an on-camera interview with the store, and her headquarters in Arizona is quite something. My favorite part of this short film is getting a peek at her original artwork. She has saved it all — along with a sample of each product ever made. The details and colors of her pre-computer pieces are simply amazing.

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confession: this is not how my desk really looks

faux coffee bean bag sack wall bulletin board

I want to be a clean desk person.

What a Messy Desk Says About You assures me my cluttered workspace is good thing. Messy desks generate more creative ideas. They inspire you to break free from tradition. They produce fresh insights.

All that is good, but secretly I’d like to look like the kind of person who would choose the apple and gym over the candy bar.

Original post about my desk is here.

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caffeine and creativity

bridging to brownies

I love my coffee and green tea. I would drink them all day long if I could. I love the focus they give me while I work. However, it never occurred to me that caffeine could interfere with my creativity. (I know it interferes with my sleep!)

The New Yorker and the Atlantic have different takes on a recent review of caffeine studies. Matt Rodbard at the Food Republic does a good job summarizing the two stories:

…coffee provides creative types more confidence. It also allows them to focus on tasks for hours on end. On the flip side, prolonged concentration doesn’t allow the mind of wander and relax. Also, sleep helps recharge the creative batteries.

If you have the time, both original articles are worth a read. How Caffeine Can Cramp The Creative Mind and Caffeine: For the More Creative Mind.

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10 years

I’ve been writing on the Internet for a decade. Wow.

The first time I realized people were writing online was in 1999. Back then, there were two styles: weblogs and online journals. I loved them both. I had a full list of bookmarks (remember those? before RSS?).

I moved to Nebraska in September 2003 and created a little hand-coded site to keep friends and family updated on our move. It definitely started out as more of a weblog: bits of information, links, commentary, and a few pics. After awhile I started writing more. I journaled about my experiences in Nebraska, becoming a mom, and exploring the creative art of hand crafts.

Then life got busy. My daughter stopped taking naps. My journal entries got shorter and I hit publish less often. When my daughter started school, I thought that would change, but my mind began to wander off topic. I squirreled away things that interested me in pocket lists, twitter favorites, tumblr hearts, secret pinterest boards and facebook likes. I stopped sharing things that didn’t fit the narrative I had created here.

10 years marks a perfect milestone for reflection: What am I doing here? Why am I not doing anything here? How do I start doing more here?

I think for now the best thing for me is to return to more of a weblog style of writing. I miss being here. I want to be here. I just don’t have as much time to be here.

I’ve made a few changes. Don’t worry. Nothing is going away. In fact, I’ve created a table of contents that will hopefully make it easier to sort through 10 years of writing. That kind of rendered the navigation menus and sidebar widgets unnecessary, so I got rid of them. It takes some getting used to, I know, but I really like how the posts are front and center now.

I’m also going to push myself outside the boundaries of my current narrative. I want to explore all types of creativity, not just hand crafts. I want to talk about all kinds of sustainability, not just recycling and reusing. I want to write about smart women and how they can be role models for myself and my daughter.

Seems a little weird doesn’t it? More things to write about and less writing about them.

Change isn’t always easy, but change is good.