Lastweek I was at the doctor’s office and a Newsweek magazine with this cover line caught my eye: Creativity in America — the science of innovation and how to reignite our imaginations. The story was written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, who also authored the book NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children. Inside the magazine, the title for Bronson and Merryman’s story is more dire: The Creativity Crisis. We quickly learn that for the first time research shows that American creativity is on the decline. In the age of standardized curriculum, nationalized testing and route memorization, our kids are becoming noticeably less creative. In addition to what’s happening in schools, increased television viewing and video games were also noted as possible contributors. The kicker is that as we go toward less creativity as a nation, all other countries are becoming more creative. In their schools they’re ditching the curriculums we’re adapting!

Besides being a wakeup call for parents or anyone who cares about innovation and invention, the article also tells us a whole lot about creativity that’s misunderstood.  For example:

* Creativity in not just art. In fact, the authors say this is one of the biggest misunderstandings contributing to our problems. Kids don’t necessarily need more art classes to be creative. Scientists, engineers and administrators can be and are every bit as creative as artists, poets and musicians. A science or math lesson can exercise creativity as much as a painting class. Project-based learning where kids are asked to come up with solutions and test if those solutions are feasible is one of the best exercises for creativity. That’s because true creativity requires two kinds of thinking: divergent (generating many unique ideas) and convergent (combining those ideas into the best results)

* It’s not JUST right brain! I’ve largely bought into the pop psychology notion that creativity is a right brain task. Though, because of my experience with writing and story telling, I’ve also suspected that the left brain must come into play somewhere. And it’s true. Bronson and Merryman say that the newest research sets the record straight: if you tried to be creative using only the right side of your brain, it’d be like living with ideas perpetually on the tip of your tongue.  Highly creative people are actually pros at marshaling their brains into bilateral mode, and the more creative they are the more they dual-activate.

* Creativity is somewhat learned. Some people are more prone to creativity. In fact, people who grow up with parents who encourage uniqueness but provide stability, seem to have an edge. A bit of adversity also seems to be good for creativity. However,  anyone can learn to become more creative. The trick is to become better at problem solving — dreaming up innovative solutions and, again, discovering which solution is most feasible and implementing the solution. Whether you’re planting a garden, writing a book or curing cancer, it’s all essentially the same exercise. And it just takes practice.

* Group brainstorming sessions aren’t creative meccas. It turns out that groups generate group think, not new ideas. It’s best to have everyone brainstorm on his or her own and then eventually share ideas.

I find this subject fascinating, and I hope the authors are working on a complete book about it. For now, be sure to check out the article, though (here’s a link). I’d love to know what you think. Is creativity at crisis mode? What’s happening in our schools and homes? Do you think we should all take copies of the article to our teachers and principals? As for me, I gotta go because my son is bothering me to let him use my computer. And, yes, I know I’m doing nothing for his creativity. But after I take a shower, I promise I’m going to give him a BIG problem and see how many solutions he can come up with!

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The subject will not die, at least with me. Last time I posted, I talked about why I was reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (and the post before that I also mentioned it). Later it dawned on me that I hadn’t said anything about the actual book, though. So here’s just a little post on that…

While Anna Karenina is famous for the story of, well, Anna, that’s the part that I find least interesting these days. I guess I’m cynical. I instantly think, Well, of course she’s leaving a loveless (on her part) marriage and following her heart! That’s what always happens. Back when it was written, though, of course that wasn’t what always happened. In fact, it rarely did. Fast forward 150 years, though, and that violin has been played and played and played. I did like Tolstoy’s dialogue for Anna, though. I liked specifically the line she delivers about how respect is the thing that was invented to go where love should be. The week I was reading the book I had engaged in a couple of discussions with other parents about kids and respect. I love this about reading: it feels serendipitous. The phrase was just what the parenting doctor ordered!

Also what I found extremely interesting in Anna Karenina was the Levins story. Their coming together was much more fraught and their relationship more complex. If you read the book — you don’t get this in the movie– you see Levin, who has always longed for Kitty and a family, finally getting what he wanted and then experiencing despondency. You get to see him working that out, grappling with the meaning of life, spirituality and parenthood. That right there is worth the read.

So that’s what I have to say about Anna Karenina. Promise I won’t post about it again!

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Because I have nothing else to do….hahhahha…it’s time to write about why I would read Anna Karenina. My friend S came over and spied my library copy of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy on the couch. “Why are you reading this!??” she demanded. She may not have meant it so harshly, but she said it in such a way that took me by surprise. Of course, I had never really thought of the why…more specifically, I guess I thought why wouldn’t anyone read this? It’s not like she walked in and found me pouring over Adultery for Beginners or even The Little Red Book (though, of course, I hold nothing against anyone for reading those…they may have their research reasons or whatever).

S (love ya) has a way of stirring the pot, the psyche, whatever…she has a real talent with questioning one’s motivations and choices. So, of course, I started thinking about this…Her view was that there’s so much current stuff out there and so little time why would I choose an 800+ page book written in the 1800s by some Russian dude (well, not just any Russian dude, but you get the point)?? Of course, she knew it was a classic. blah blah blah. She’d seen the movie and described that as a “beautiful story.”

The whole question of why…

To answer this question I have to back up more than a decade to the last days of my 20s, living in an apartment in Santa Monica. Even before that: growing up  let’s just say rather extremely working class in the midwest. As a kid I was always a reader..the kind who hit the book mobile every friday night. And then came high school where I did well in my English and writing classes, but often got sidetracked by working, parties, boys, the ’80s. In college at Iowa State, I majored in journalism. This was a logical choice given my background…the mere thought of saying, back then, that I wanted to be a novelist or study literature actually makes me laugh even now.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that anyone would have told me not to do it (unlike many parents would). It’s that I knew I had student loans, a car payment, rent to pay and food to buy. I was a truly working class kid aiming for a J-O-B. I saw journalism (laugh if you will) as a doable career path. More specifically, a route out. And it was. I moved to Los Angeles to intern for a health magazine called Shape. In retrospect, NYC would’ve been more logical because there are FAR more publishing jobs there. Nonetheless, I was enchanted with L.A. (again, laugh if you must). I developed contacts here and doggedly tried for the few editorial jobs that were available. Never mind that most people vying for the positions had master’s (not bachelor’s) from schools such as Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern, etc.

Somehow I gained employment mostly as an editor/writer and got by. Eventually I started freelancing for magazines based in New York anyhow. What does this have to do with reading Anna Karenina? Well, a lot. During all those years most of my waking time was spent reading and writing stuff associated with work…studies, medical journals, reports, magazines, books written by the doctors and other sources I interviewed or material that would provide me with story ideas I would then pitch to my editors.

Around 30, I was a little burned out. I was in an airport and on a whim picked up a Margaret Atwood book for pure enjoyment. I opened the pages, started reading and a long forgotten world re-opened for me. A world not of word count, AP Style, accurate research and quotes (the stuff often called truth). Instead, language, story, character and a different kind of truth unfolded before me. From there, I had the natural inclination to hit the classics shelves of bookstores. I would just pick things randomly. D.H. Lawrence, Jane Austen, Flaubert. If someone mentioned a title or author that perhaps I’d read in high school or college but didn’t quite remember or, probably more likely, never read, I’d get it. The Great Gatsby, Catcher In The Rye, Eudora Welty. A few years later I started studying fiction writing and, of course, met a whole other world of writers who would mention and recommend books.

This is how I still do it. I look at the New York Times or Los Angeles Times bestseller lists, but I don’t let them dictate what I read. It’s not that I intentionally avoid popular fiction (well, maybe I do a little these days), it’s just that there are so many great classics I didn’t get before. There are also so many great contemporary writers that sometimes don’t make it to the bestseller list (but sometimes do!). I’m thinking now of people such as my friend Janet Fitch (White Oleander), Rick Moody (Demonology, etc.), Russell Banks (The Sweet Hereafter), Marilynne Robinson (Gilead), Jim Harrison (The English Major, Returning to Earth)…well, I could go on and on with this list.

So, anyhow, yes, I’m reading Anna Karenina but I have not read the Twilight series nor have I read Eat, Pray, Love. People say these books are very good. I’m sure they are. I might see the Eat, Pray, Love movie. I hear it’s a beautiful story.

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I was going to write about why I’m re-reading Anna Karenina and how I believe all of life’s biggest spiritual and moral questions can be answered by the classics, especially those written by Russian novelists in the 1800s. I was talking about this to a friend, however, and she said, “Yes, and my sister says all of life’s answers are in the bible.” So I think I’ll get back to you later about Tolstoy. Today, I’ll post about something nearly as worthy…Martha Beck’s column in this month’s O magazine.

For my money, I’ll take this advice from Beck rather than Suze Orman any day (I don’t know why, but the fake tan and other issues cause me to only go so far with Orman). Beck’s article details how she decides to spend money on certain items or how she decides to be a cheapskate. Much of what she writes about is what many of us do naturally with our money. We make spending choices based on what satisfies our psychological needs rather than an item’s or service’s real value (i.e. some people will go to Cost Cutters for their hair and others spend $300 on a cut…but the same person who goes to Cost Cutters might only stay in 5-star hotels while the other person never stays anywhere better than a Holiday Inn). I like this article, though, because it lays it out in black and white. To me, explaining us to ourselves is one of the true values of the written word.

Beck’s article asks you to categorize your expenditures, dividing them up into these categories: top-dollar items (something you’ll pay dearly for because you really need and really love it); bottom-dollar items (something in which you might bargain shop because while you really need it, you don’t really love it…can you say health insurance?); remaining-dollar items (items you’ll spend your “extra” money on because while don’t really need them, you love them) and no-dollar items (Freecycle time! You don’t really need and probably don’t love them). As you see, the categories ask you to put your money where your heart and, to a large extent, your brain are. It seems to me a great antidote for mindless spending and a way to understand our sometimes schizo spending habits. It’s also something we can teach our kids, and it’s easy to keep in mind while we’re out and about. Obviously, in today’s economy we’re all concerned about finances. Anything that gives us a foothold on how we spend is valuable reading to me!

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As you know, we are switching posts this week and I am going to review the book I read this weekend, Promise Me by Harlan Coben. I thought about reviewing something more substantial that I read a while back to impress Victoria, but decided to be real about it. So as I was putting together my thoughts, my review turned into an eco-style article! I just can’t help it, it must be in my DNA. So back to the book, if you are looking for a light, summer, quick book, Harlan is your man. The best part is that you can finish it in a day or two AND you will want to. It is a thriller, who dun it, my favorite genre. “Harlan Coben is the modern master of the hook-and-twist–luring you in on the first page, only to shock you on the last.”  This is his eighth book so there are lots to choose from.

So now I’m going to explain how I found this book. My daughter’s boyfriend told me about this little book store next to the Westlake Library.  It is called the Friends’ Book Nook. They were having a $3.00 sale. You fill up a paper bag with as many books as you want for $3.00! Crazy! I not only found old design books, but I picked up a few books to decorate my living room shelf and even some foreign language books to wrap gifts with! When they are not having a sale, their prices are very affordable as well. $1.00 for hardcovers, 50 cents for paperback and magazines are free. It’s worth a look before you go to Barnes and Noble. I read today in the news that a book is one of the 25 things you should not buy new.

1. Promise Me by Harlan Coben
2. Friends’ Book Nook located next door to the Westlake Library
3. Westlake Library
4. Books used as decor in Restoration Hardware
5. My book shelf

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