Creativity in an Age of Strife

Was struggling a bit with the creativity over the holidays, which spilled over into the new year and the seemingly unending flood of bad news. As you can tell by the existence of this post, I’ve managed to get things moving a bit. The first step was turning off the firehose, and you can follow that link to read about some constructive actions to take towards your media health.

The second step is to keep creating. I mentioned my struggle in passing and was pointed toward this interview with Heather Cox Richardson via The National Press Club. The relevant bit is at the 57-minute mark (spoilers) which this clip below should link directly to:

(Link here as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDX0hxyYcJw ).

The gist of her advice is to “behave with joy”, as a means of resistance against an authoritarian government. “Do the things that matter to you, and that you can bring to the people around you.” “We can meet the moment, and as scholars, be honest”, and that by doing the best (scholarly) work we can, we contribute back to humanity.

Which seems like a lot to ask from a blog and media channels that mostly focus on the intersection of sci-fi and technology, but it’s what we’re doing. Maybe our project is a little bit wider in scope than we initially thought.

But the big takeaway, at least for me, is that moment of reflection that I like what we’re doing here, and I enjoy doing the podcast, the blog, the newsletter, the videos (about which I hope to show you more soon!) and the various other bits we have going on here.

So, after a brief period of stasis, we’ll get back to the things that bring us joy, and find the joy in sharing them with you as well. See ya soon!

Factory Re-set

Whoof! That took a lot out of my system.

Was hit with a bout of food poisoning on Tuesday evening. It’s now Sunday morning, and I’m feeling almost back to normal, though still taking it very gently on the diet. After losing everything in the system between 9pm Tuesday and 2am Wednesday, I finally had a bit of oatmeal on Thursday, followed by potatoes, and finally a bit of chicken on Friday night.

Since then, portion sizes have been very small (and bland; a visit to Flavortown is not in my near future), there’s been no caffeine, low salt, and almost no processed food. (The salt crackers count as processed, technically.) Nor dairy, fruits, or veggies.

I’ll add those last three back in, but I’m taking the reset as an opportunity to make some diet changes. More on the journey, in little bits and pieces as we go.

Bubblegum

Calgary, looking westward from Centre Street N, at dawn.

I’ve heard rumours that Calgary is an ugly city, but I’ve never known that to be the case. There’s an incredible amount of natural beauty here, sometimes just around the corner. I’ve lived here for quite a while, and I’m still discovering sights I’ve never seen. Like the clouds at sunrise, pictured above.

Given the cloud cover, only a few of the rocky mountains are visible in the image above (have a look at the horizon line, you’ll see them), but even so the bubblegum colours of the sunrise are magnificent. The (nearly) full moon is still there too, right in the centre of the shot.

Just a beautiful sky. Thought I’d share. Enjoy!

Improving

One thing I’ve been noticing with the commitment to regular classes, in this case Photography, is that my skill is rapidly improving. I can see the different every week, and my eye is getting more trained and critical of the images I’ve taken.

The assignment this week is on composition, on how to build the photograph, through the particular choices that the photographer makes on what to include or exclude from the frame.

And this idea of composition with respect to photos is new to me.

I mean, I guess I kinda knew, that the cinematographer decides what to frame, and that each one could be a painting, but I hadn’t spent a lot of time putting it into practice.

Now, I know a little bit about what to do, but my skills are somewhat lacking. I find I’m a little shaky on the camera, and can find seeing through the viewfinder challenging too. I know of someone who takes amazing photos, and they’re almost as new to it as me.

But the practice is helping me get better. And the assignments are forcing some consistency as well.

The pic above was my favorite from the class this last week.

Emergency plumbing

Discovered a leak under the kitchen sink during the pre-dinner prep that required rather immediate attention.

Tools were available, plus replacement parts bought maybe 10 years ago by accident. Maria Kondo might tell you to rid your house of the stuff that doesn’t bring you joy, but lemme tell you having the replacement part on hand during a -20 winter night is most joyous.

Anyhoo, problem averted. Late dinner. No pics, evening mostly derailed. Ciao.