A Creative Person... by https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy ...sounds like a fulfilled person. en-us 2019-02-07 18:40:37 UTC 2019-02-07 23:34:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png About the concept arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328915494 Starko (p.110) describes a state of “tension” between mindfulness and mind-wandering such that creative persons need to let their minds wander, but also be aware of the branches their mind is burrowing into. Perhaps the same idea is echoed by Shekerjian when she describes creativity as the “conscious application of raw talent” (Shekerjian, p. 1, italics mine). 

This kind of alertness and keenness to notice things while also keeping an eye on one's own sensations seems to have attained a perfect pitch in Ryan's creative process. She knows herself -- what gets her going and what can be a hindrance, and she uses this awareness strategically in her work.]]> 2019-02-07 18:53:33 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328915494 Quote arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328984130 "I would say that I'm -- essentially an opportunist... I use deer, I use creeks, I use anything, in order to manipulate some feeling or idea that I'm trying to pursue."

(Kay Ryan in an interview with Neshama Franklin, at 5:08.)]]> 2019-02-07 20:57:17 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328984130 Quotes arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328988018 "Yes, I have witnessed [the thing in the poem] and I do love that -- for itself. But I'm also interested in -- um, using it for my own ends."

(Kay Ryan in an interview with Neshama Franklin, at 6:06.

"I've always found it was very important to think about things before I knew much about them... uh, I mean I can't write about anything if I know much about it... at least for me, it's necessary to write before I reach the point where I know too much or feel too much."
(Kay Ryan in an interview with Neshama Franklin, at 15:58)
]]> 2019-02-07 21:08:02 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328988018 From a Poem arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328994250 "Winter, like a set opinion, 
is routed. What gets it out?
The imposition of some external season
or some internal doubt?
..."

Link to complete poem

Most people may not be able to forge such a delicate relation between a change in season and a change of mind.

]]> 2019-02-07 21:26:23 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/328994250 Quotes arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329003197 "We have to walk so we can stumble. I don't think we can find out anything, without tripping... in that tripping, you are so alert, and you are using... elements that you have in you in new ways."

(Kay Ryan in an interview with Neshama Franklin, at 22:10)

"You have to do it about 100 pounds of wool gathering for an ounce of really good language."

(Kay Ryan in an interview with Andrea Seabrook for npr)]]> 2019-02-07 21:59:26 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329003197 About the concept arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329009324 Creative people are especially good at making sound connections between two previously unrelated ideas (Shekerjian, p. 6).

This readiness to make connections and carry them through is a striking characteristic of Ryan's poetry. Whether it is comparing isotopes to hope (in Hope) or subverting our ideas fragility (in Spiderweb), Ryan excels at making surprising connections.]]> 2019-02-07 22:25:04 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329009324 About the assertion arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329016570 The notion of productivity is multifaceted but organized around the core idea that creative persons are not content to rest on their laurels. The next milestone, the next challenge, has already appeared on their horizon before the current one is not quite past(Shekerjian p.15, see also p.25).

Shekerjian describes the amount of work generated by this productivity as “creative wealth” (p.10),  reminiscent of the idea of intrinsic motivation. Work can only be wealth if you love the work for itself, and not only for the fruit it brings you.

Productivity, I believe, consists of habitual engagement in work driven through intrinsic motivation, and tempered by a feel for something larger than oneself which enables one to always look ahead.

Going by this definition, Ryan's productivity is extraordinary. She answered the call of the muse after a cycling trip when she was 31, and for eight years afterwards "wrote multitudes of poems" before publishing her first collection of poems. Although recognition was slow to come, she kept writing, not least because there are things about words and language itself that she is completely in love with.

Ryan was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship when she was sixty five. In her  video on the MacArthur Foundation website, Ryan made it clear that she was "always just beginning", always looking forward to write more. She also interpreted the MacArthur Fellowship as an "investment" rather than an award. Ryan is clearly not one to rest on her laurels. ]]> 2019-02-07 22:56:00 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329016570 arb6kg https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329023570 2019-02-07 23:31:48 UTC https://padlet.com/arb6kg/hss42doyx2xy/wish/329023570