More To It Than Arts And Crafts
The trees burned to fragile, black skeletons two years ago in the fire near Seven Mile. They stand now in a ghost forest. In this desolation, Jeff Moorhead sensed the health of wood within the burn and he uncovered that wood.
Elisha Mitchell sang louder than every other child. The kids would stare and she’d say, “But this is how it’s coming out. I can’t help it.” She is now a grown woman and she sings still. She plays piano and directs choirs, most notably the popular Angels with Attitude.
You’ll meet Elisha Mitchell today and Jeff Moorhead on Monday as we launch Creative ‘98, a project designed to uncover and profile exceptional women, men and children of the Inland Northwest.
We’ll run most of the profiles in the Monday paper, a day when the newspaper is so thin some readers feel sorry for it. This was our creative solution to the Monday problem.
We asked readers for nominations of creative people and found that most people recommended those who pour heart and soul into the making of crafts. Several of them will be profiled in this yearlong project, but we are still digging deeper for other kinds of creative expression.
Margo Long, director of The Center for Gifted Education at Whitworth College and a well-known public speaker, says “creativity” is a tricky word. Creative people tend to polarize others, their energy is so strong. So, nominating artists and crafts folks is safe. Long offered some tips on how to identify other creative people among us.
“The truly creative person is never truly satisfied,” Long says. “They say, ‘I could have, I should have.”’ Long also says the truly creative love what they are doing. They go beyond what is comfortable. They have passion. The urge to create is so strong, they can’t stop themselves.
Creative people also put their unconventional thoughts into action. They work to express their natural gifts. They start something and then carry it through.
“They are innovators, not promoters,” Long says.
Why is creativity so important? Because creative people energize others and move communities into imagination, into the future. They are the ones who ask why not, instead of why.
Creative people are ones who see their own body paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair, and then they figure out how to hunt, fish and play in spite of that. They see downtown streets and envision thousands of young people hoopfesting it on them. They see a hill and envision runners pounding up it the first weekend in May. They see ugly rail yards and imagine an international exposition.
They reach into the future with their imagination and they fashion new ways of being, seeing and believing.
Do you know someone who fits the description? Tell us about it. We’re still looking - and hoping.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board