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. 

 

bra latch

Most bras have their latch on back. This makes it so that females have to latch the bra behind their backs without being able to see what they are doing. A very creative invention was to make a bra in which the latch is on the front. This allows females to see what they are doing while latching their bra making the process a little bit easier. Not only can the females now see what they are doing but also use their hands in front of them which is easier than using your hands behind your back. It is creative because not only is it different, new, and innovative, but it is also useful in that its relvent to the functionality of bra.

murderous intent

Sometimes the more negative aspects of society can bring about inspiration for creativity. An example of this is merderous intent sparking creativity. I was watching an episode of the television show Monk in which a murderer plans his alibi in a very creative way. The murderer  is a school teacher, who asks a fellow teacher which he is having an affair with to meet him at the clock tower. When she meets him at the clock tower he bludgeones her. Next, he places her body on the minute hand which is horizontal at 8:15am. Then the teacher runs across campus where he is proctoring the SAT's. His car is placed underneath the bell tower with the alarm on. When the clock reaches 8:25am her body falls and hits the car setting off the alarm. The alarm allows everyone to know exactly what time her body fell. At this time he is across campus proctoring the SAT's giving him an alibi for the murder. This form of creativity involved the willingness to take risks. He left the body out in plain sight for 10 minutes. The bell tower faces the atheltic field which luckily for the murderer, was empty on the morning of the murder. 

liking vs creativity

People tend to label things as creative just because they like them. Usually this means staying within their own parameters and thus anything that is different than what they are used to is not liked and consequently not seen as creative. An example of this is a compliment I got for a piece of my engraving art. Someone told me they thought it was very creative and still thought it was creative even when I informed them that the engraving just consisted of tracing pre-drawn lines. It seemed that this person was confusing creativity with how much they liked the piece. Creativity is something new and innovative. Engraving art requires tracing what someone else outlined and is also in stores for many other people to create the same piece. These aspects show that my engraving art is neither new or innovative and thus not creative.

Ponzi scheme

Creativity is commonly associated with being a positive trait that would be a good thing to acquire. However, creativity can be used for what society would deem immoral means. An example of this would be using creativity as a tool within a Ponzi scheme. Bernard Madoff was responsible for one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history that had a fraud of $64.8 billion. Madoff's creativity allowed him to get away with this large amount of fraud for decades without being detected.

battleshots

Majority of creative ideas do not come out of thin air. People get the ideas from the various stimuli in their environment. This stimuli can include something a person sees, hears, or touches.This game of battleshots is a creative way to turn the game battleship into a drinking game. The easily accessible pizza box, shot glasses, and sharpie made a fun creative new game.

oreos

When I got my Oreo's out and opened them it occurred to me that the person who came up with the Life tab is very creative.  It functions to make opening easier for the consumer and is resealable making the cookies stay fresh longer. It is a simple idea, however, no one else came up with the idea of putting a lift tab on the top. This invention is brilliant in its simplicity. Many simple inventions like this make life just a little bit easier.

addiction

My addictions counseling professor told us how many chemically dependent people are very intelligent and creative. To enhance his point the professor told the class a story about how high school students were able to sneak alcohol into the school. The students would soak tampons in alcohol and then "stick them where the sun don't shine". This would lead to the students slowly get intoxicated throughout the day. Furthermore, no one would take a close look at feminine hygiene products. In my opinion this is a very creative way to use and be undetected.