Take Back Your Life!

Hey folks breaking out of your moldy molds,

I just responded to a tweet on twitter with the above sentence. And it hit me like a giant idea log, “good blog post title.”

Way too much of life is backwards. It makes no sense.

Are you carving time out of your must do life to actually do something you’d like? Seriously, who made up this script we’re all following? If it were a movie, no one would venture into the theaters to see it, the screenwriter would be out of work and there wouldn’t be any sequels. (more…)

Hey Rebellious Ones,

I want to introduce you to some courageous girl rebels at Girl Effect. It’s “normal” in developing countries to marry or sell young girls by the tender age of 12, who often die during childbirth. Unfortunately, girls are often seen as a financial liability to their families. (The underlying cultural problem.) We can get all mad about it and stomp our designer shoes over here, but it would be more effective to step up on our bare tippy toes to start the wave of change here we want to see over there.  (more…)

Hey wild ones,

Nothing like a provocative title to capture someone’s attention. I scribbled this title idea on a scrap of paper 4 months ago and tucked it in my idea folder. Thumbing through the folder, “Strip!” jumped into my brain’s arms and said, “take me.” Not sure where I’m going, but I’ll find out. Want to join me? (more…)

Hey “get off the beaten path” folks,

Just returned from strolling through my old junior high. Actually, it’s not a junior high any more, it’s my hometown’s town offices. Much of that building had been reconfigured so I had a hard time figuring out where I was at first — lockers gone, classrooms gone. Then I decided to look for the “staircase” of fond young love memories. The staircases back then were one way for a reason I never understood then and still don’t know now. All I knew was that I slipped out of science class the second the bell rang and ran up the down staircase hoping to “bump” into the object of my desire – John Donovan. It often worked. On those glorious days, he’d nuzzle up to me a bit, look down at me and swagger hello. God, I almost died of lust and longing right there on the top of the landing. Yes, even at the tender age of 12, I risked getting in trouble for the boy that evoked the most delicious kind of lust in me. (more…)

Dear critical thinking ones,

A few months back, a friend of mine said, “Land is an endangered species.” Her words stopped me in my suburban tracks. I’d always thought of animals and plants as being endangered (and maybe critical thinking) but land? It only took a moment for me to agree and recall what Mark Twain said, “Buy land, they’re not making it any more.” Here are some stats on land loss in the US.

6,000 acres a day
4 acres per minute
land the size of Seattle every nine days

And so few notice or care. (more…)

Hey friends,

I wasn’t popular in high school. Just kinda did my own neurotic thing. Yet I remained keenly aware of the popular kids. Usually, they were cheerleaders or athletes, rarely theater folks or geeks or the dead languages-speaking crowd. They all looked good and inter-dated. Once one of the good looking athletes broke up with his cheerleader girlfriend to go out with a brainy girl. Man, did he and his new girl take a lot of abuse for dating outside the flock!

That’s one of the main problems with being popular —  to keep the label you have to conform to what the group wants you to do. So much so that I believe it may have driven some popular kids off the deep end a bit later in life. (more…)

Hey wild things,

I’m curious how it came to be seen as normal for adult humans to be held captive in itty bitty work cubicles for eight+ hours a day. Do such bizarre conditions really promote workscapes conducive to thoughtful or innovative work?

Hardly. (more…)

Hey rebellious folks,

On the way out of my painting class, one of my classmates said, “Stay out of trouble.”

I responded, “Actually, I look for trouble.”

Trouble to me means challenging the status quo. Curious what it meant to others so I looked it up in the dictionary. All negative definitions such as “the quality or state of being troubled esp. mentally” and “a negative feature: drawback.”

But is flirting with “trouble” really negative? Or is staying out of trouble — being obedient — negative as well?

Do we pay an emotional price for staying out of trouble? For doing what we’re told? For being good little boys and girls even when we are adults?

Beginning in elementary school, I seemed to butt heads with some of the teachers — mainly the ones that wanted complete control. I spent quite a bit of time standing in corners or being sent outside the room. Did I harm anyone or myself? No.

I simply didn’t agree with what the teacher either said or did not do what s/he asked me to do — like stop laughing (yes, if you can believe it.).

If we’re all being raised to be obedient and ultra polite, how can we ever change the world? Won’t we be too scared to stand up to folks or systems that aren’t good for us? (more…)

Hey creative thinkers,

I want to start off this post by thanking all of my fabulous commenters. Your insightful comments take what I’ve written and stretch it one rebel step further!

According to this Newsweek article, American creativity has been declining since 1990. Possible culprits? Increased television watching, less life hardships, standardized school curriculum and nationalized testing. Teachers say there’s little time for creativity due to curriculum and testing requirements.

The best part of the article?  The demand for MUSES will be way up! Gave me some great ideas for my biz. I’m gushing creative excitement here! (more…)

Contrarians Hey,

I’ve been enamored with Leonardo da Vinci since I found him in the encylopedia set my parents bought from the saleswoman who came knocking on our front door back in the 70’s. So much so that I named one of my cats after him. Furry Leonardo has long since gone to puddy heaven, but my love for da Vinci remains. Take this quote of his, “Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”

Do you go through life with your eyes open? (more…)