street art

This pedestrian crossing sign has an added design from a street artist. I believe that this piece of street art is creative in that it is new, different, and relevant. The person dressed in Egyptian attire is relevant because the shape behind the individual is shaped like a pyramid which the Egyptians are famous for. Also, it shows a willingness to take risks on the part of the artist (street art is illegal) and a sensitivity to aesthetic characteristics. All of these characteristics are consistent with creativity.

social creativity

Creativity can be a useful tool in navigating different social situations. I was on a mission to change some of residence life's policies and talked to two different staff members about it. Residence Life has a policy in which all students, except the freshman, are allowed to move rooms anytime during the semester and can even move the same day they talk to residence life about switching rooms. An individual with a double room does not have the right to tell Residence Life that they do not want a specific person to have the other half of their room. My goal was to have Residence Life change the policy to say that they will make a judgement call on not having someone move into the room if they deem the situation extreme enough to warrant this. The first one was direct with me and explicitly stated that the policy was not going to change because it was effective in 99% of cases and has only had a small handful of people ever come in and immediately complain that they cannot live with the specific person who has moved in with them. Being told directly that nothing was going to change did not sit well with me and I kept trying to argue my case further to the point that I was repeating myself and she eventually told me that she was not going to continue having that argument with me and basically kicked me out of her office. Next, I made an appointment with the person a step higher on the ladder in Residence Life to talk about the same issue. When I talked to him he let me completely get out my entire argument and said that I made some good points and that although it was too late to change anything for this semester it would be considered for the policies for next year. Furthermore, he complimented me on taking the initiative to help other students even though I am a senior and that the issue would no longer affect me. I believe that the strategy of the second higher up staff member to be a lot more creative. He made me feel listened to by hearing out everything I had to say before his input. Next, he seemed to realise that I was looking for my suggestion for change to at least be under consideration before I would leave the meeting. I think he was trying to tell me what I wanted to hear without go so far as to make a promise he could not keep. He very strategically toed that line with me. In the end I did not end up staying with him very long or really arguing with him. This was creative in that it was useful for him to reach his goal of getting me out without so much of a fuss by having me feel heard and respected.

collage

During class when we saw the Power of 10 experiment in which ten collage artists received all the same materials and were asked to make a collage. In the end the experimenter looked at how different each collage was although the same materials were used. It was amazing how you wouldn't even notice that the 10 collages were made from the same materials. This got me wondering if every collage is creative because it is new and different from every other existing collage. Or does it require something more such as aesthetic characteristics to make it a creative collage?

coffee maker

While I was setting my coffee maker to go off when in the morning by using the delay brew button, it occured to me how creative this invention is. It is new in that previously people did not have the option to delay brew and useful in that it can automatically go off when it is convient for you. I like to use it in the morning sometimes to wake me up. It works great because the smell of the coffee gets me out of bed. The fact that this invention is new, differernt, useful, and relevant makes the delay brew button a creative product.

modding

Video game players can create their own version of video or computer games which is called modding. This allows people to take the structure of a pre-existing game and put their own brand of creativity on it. They can design their own custom story, maps, architecture, music, looks of characters, and whatever else they can come up with. Modding is creative because it allows people to create something new and useful. It is useful in that it is a playable game that also differs from what already exists.  This is an example of little c creativity.

deception

I watched the movie "Easy A" which starts with Olive lying to her best friend Rhiannon to get out of camping with Rhiannon and her hippy family. Olive did not want to go camping with Rhiannon and her family but also did not want to hurt her best friends feelings by telling her that she did not want to go. So instead she decides to come up with a lie that will provide a reason why she cannot go camping and will also not hurt her best friends feelings. The lie that Olive comes up with is that she has a date with a college guy named George. After the weekend is over Rhiannon asks Olive about her date. This causes Olive to have to build more lies on top of the one lie she already told. She ends up saying she lost her virginity to the college guy she went out with. This is overheard and spread throughout the entire school. Olive then decides to use the school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing. She lets guys pay her to pretend to have had done some sort of sexual act with them. This is creative because first she finds a lie that serves the purpose of being getting out of camping and not hurting her best friends feelings along with being innovative. Next, when the lies take on larger scale she uses them to advance her status and to make some extra cash. This takes her innovation and usefulness of lying to a much larger scale.

9/11

Most of us remember that on September 11th, 2001 the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes with the interntion of flying them in suicide attacks on target buildings. They hit the World Trade Center and caused mass terror, destruction, and death. What most of us do not consider is how creative this act was. This plan was carefully planned and put into operation. It took a lot of thought and work which was a different way to send a message relevent to their cause. Al-Qaeda had objections with American foreign policy in regards to Israel, as well as the American's continued presence in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War. However misguided we believe the actions of al-Qauda to be, there is no denying the creativity of their terrorist attack.