Yours Truly Students on Trust

Fall Quarter 2017 Magazine Publication students are once again reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, but this time they’ll be reporting on the “Big Magic” day they led in class. Students, divided into groups based on each chapter, will facilitate a discussion and lead activities that integrate the ideas from Gilbert’s book. Here, Cascadia students Keara and Skyler share their experience of exploring TRUST.

Trust
by Keara Capetti and Skyler Nelson

“Be careful of your dignity…it is not always your friend.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

When walking into a classroom on a cold December day the week before finals, you would expect to find most students stressed out, doing whatever they can last minute to get their best grade possible. Last week was “dead week” and for most of us, the work has been piling up and tensions getting high. The last thing you would expect to find is a group of college students trying to moo like a cow in unison, but that’s what we were doing on December 4th in HUMAN 210 class.

For the Big Magic chapter “Trust” we wanted to do something different. What caught our inspiration most in the chapter was Gilbert’s remarks on “embracing your inner trickster,” trusting your work to give back to you as you give to it, and we knew exactly what to do… improv. Instead of discussing how we trust ourselves, others, and our passions with the class, we wanted to demonstrate trust with action. Trust me when I say it’s no easy feat to go up in front of a group of non-theater people and pretend to be a cat, but the kind of open, welcoming, and trusting environment we have built in the classroom let us play and explore.

We had the idea to incorporate some beginner improvisational theatre games. The standard definition of improvisation is “the art or act of improvising, or of composing, uttering, executing, or arranging anything without previous preparation” (Dictionary.com). Not only is improv a form of theatre but it’s something that we do in our lives as a response to a certain situation. For example, if you’re in a stressful situation, you may find yourself making something up on the spot and improvising your way out of the debacle. Improvisational theatre has so many levels we thought starting small would be a great way to get people out of their shells and having SO much fun.

The games played in the class were “Bibbity Bibbity Bop,” “Rumors,” “Freeze,” and “Alien Tiger Cow.” In case anyone is looking to embrace their inner trickster, we will leave video links down below that will explain exactly how to play these games yourself. Get tricky with it!

Bibbity Bibbity Bop: https://youtu.be/SzJwxm38rjo
Rumors: https://youtu.be/uekqIDSn1CE
Alien, Tiger, Cow: https://youtu.be/UeUUHd4bQBQ
Freeze: https://youtu.be/QrZNTJpUJCs

Our call for submission closes on December 31st! Contribute to Yours Truly by submitting here: 

Yours Truly Students on Persistence

Fall Quarter 2017 Magazine Publication students are once again reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, but this time they’ll be reporting on the “Big Magic Day” they led in class. Students, divided into groups based on each chapter, will facilitate a discussion and lead activities that integrate the ideas from Gilbert’s book. Here, Cascadia students Andrew and Jovany share their experience of exploring PERSISTENCE.

Persistence Beyond Reasoning
by Andrew Kim and Jovany Ruiz-Navarrete

Photo credit: Andrew Kim

It is not uncommon to set an ambiguous goal and then encounter a series of obstacles that seem to be so intimidating that it would be easier to just give up.

As part of our HUMAN 210 course, we were chosen to lead a classroom discussion for Chapter 4 of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic, a chapter all about overcoming obstacles. Since we focused on a chapter titled “Persistence,” we needed to make sure that all points were covered, as well as bring fresh ideas to the class. We had to think of doing something original, considering the fact that we were the fourth group to present by the time it was our turn. Due to this, we decided to bring a mini plush toy of Darth Vader, a character known for creating many obstacles from the highly popular Star Wars films. Not only did we attempt to lighten up the mood, but it brought laughter and smiles as he was handed to each participant when they shared their experiences.

Photo credit: Andrew Kim

We believe that nearly all of us have been through an experience where persistence played a major factor of overcoming a struggle and achieving success. In order to have our class engage with persistence, we asked everyone to write on a note card a moment from their life where they have encountered obstacles and how they found persistence to help them overcome their struggle and move on. We all had a different range of struggles, from overcoming personal struggles to succeed in education to being able to move on from deep family issues. One thing we all learned from the activity is that we each encountered our own issues, weathered out the issues, and continued to move forward towards a more prospective vision. One specific quote that we were able to explore from Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic involved her saying, “Financial demands can put so much pressure on the delicacies and vagaries of inspiration” (153). This helped us with further understanding the whole idea of the chapter as well as being able to fully involve the class and teach Gilbert’s idea of persistence, which is for every one of us to basically not let any obstacle get in the way of our present or future dreams.

Photo credit: Andrew Kim

After our classroom discussion, we watched a TEDx Talk video of “The Power of Persistence” by Jeff Tao. From his video, he shared an experience that relates to Gilbert’s “Persistence” chapter. From the video, we were moved by his experience as he talked about how he left Malaysia to start a new life in Hong Kong. It wasn’t easy for him as he lived in a very small storage place and received very marginal amounts of money from helping his friend’s company, but he learned to survive that. In addition, when his mom nearly died from a heart attack, his perception changed and he realized that he had to work much harder in order to change his life for the better. He used persistence and hard work to have a better life for himself and his family, and he continued to be a high-profile entertainer in Hong Kong. After showing several of his magic tricks, Tao explained something very important near the end of his speech: “Our life and our time on this planet is very limited and very fragile so go out there, live your dream. Repeatedly do what you love. Persistence beyond reasons and you too can make magic happen.” We agreed that this quote is a very important part of the video because it ties in perfectly with Gilbert’s “Persistence” chapter. The most important thing to remember from this blog is make the best of what you wanted to do and never let the negative perspective get in control of your prospective goals.

Photo credit: Andrew Kim

Our call for submission is now open! Contribute to Yours Truly by submitting here: 

Yours Truly Students Blog About Courage

Fall Quarter 2017 Magazine Publication students are once again reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, but this time they’ll be reporting on the “Big Magic” day they led in class. Students, divided into groups based on each chapter, will facilitate a discussion and lead activities that integrate the ideas from Gilbert’s book. Here, Cascadia students Anthony, Mariah, and Zaynub share their experience of exploring COURAGE.

Living with our Fears

by Anthony Lee, Mariah Carpo, and Zaynub Khanam

Courage, a characteristic that effects and envelops most of our daily lives. It is the factor that could change the course of our day, for better or for worse. It could be as big as a resounding call to action, or as quiet and reserved as a small gesture. It is the outcome of each and every one of us working together to create a bigger impact, or it could be the outcome of a single person who fanned the flame that kindled in everyone’s hearts. It may be difficult to muster up the strength to produce such a characteristic due to one’s own fears and doubts, until one realizes that to speak the mind is a gift. This goes to show that courage, even the smallest influence, can change a person entirely. It is how and by whom courage is used that will ultimately determine whether or not we move towards a right path or a wrong one.

Photo credit: Anthony Lee

Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Courage” chapter in Big Magic is a nurturing subject that helps people develop a stronger sense of self and awareness. Our team felt passionate about advocating Gilbert’s idea that courage isn’t about beating your fear or getting rid of it. Bravery is being scared and acting on that fear anyway. Embracing this idea, our team of courage decided to create our own whiteboard that headlined “I Fear….” followed by empty lines. It was Oct. 9th and a beautiful day in the middle of fall. We were all a little nervous to show this board to the class since we weren’t entirely sure how our whiteboard would be received. Thankful for the great weather, we went outside for some fresh air and warm sun (and some light lo-fi music). We gave everyone a personal poster board, and told them to write as many fears as they wanted. This is where the vulnerable transition takes part in this story. We asked everyone in our HUM 210 class to have the courage to write one fear they had on their poster board on the whiteboard in front of the class and share a bit about that fear. In the beginning, we meant to capitalize on the idea of accepting our fears, having it right there in front of us, and accepting that fear for what it is.

Photo credit: Anthony Lee

We each shared a fear of ours on the board and talked about why we feared it, but then it was time for the class of HUM 210 to share. There was a hesitation at first, but then our first volunteer with all his bravery came and wrote, “I fear anxiety.” It was a beautiful story and moment to witness as he truly embraced the meaning of courage. Even though this individual had a fear of talking in front of people, he believed in the courage to go up there and do it anyways. The shift in energy after he shared his story was a beautiful opening to a sense of community in our class. One after the other, each and every classmate shared a fear and their story. Our empty lines were now full, outside in the open on a sunny day in the middle of fall. At the end of the activity session, we weren’t expecting to feel so connected to everyone’s stories, but in some small sense we could relate to a lot of everyone’s fears, and there was comfort in that. The final cherry on top was leaving this whiteboard of “I Fear…” in public breakout space in the CC1 building of Cascadia College. Here is a picture of the few but powerful responses we had from the community of Cascadia.

Photo credit: Mariah Parco

To have courage within your creative life, it is important to learn to accept and work with your fears. When we all spoke about our fears as a magazine publication class, I realized one thing most of us had in common was our way to combat our fear, and how we learned to make space for it, which was pushing ourselves to do things that made us uncomfortable or even seem scary because we’ll never know if we really like it or not otherwise. The very first step to learn how to live with your fear is accepting it, and I was so proud that every single person in our class got up and shared a fear of theirs. Allow yourself to be self-expressive without limitations. Don’t let what you fear hold you back, but at the same time, don’t try to get rid of it or ignore it. Know that fear will always be there, but let yourself become comfortable enough with it so that it doesn’t control you. As Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in Big Magic, “If you can’t learn to travel comfortably alongside your fear, then you’ll never be able to go anywhere or do anything interesting” (26).

Creativity Myth #1: You must be fearless to be creative.

This Fall Quarter, students enrolled in Courtney Putnam’s HUMAN 210 course (part one in the year-long series to produce Cascadia’s creative arts magazine Yours Truly) are reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear and debunking common myths about creativity, myths that Gilbert addresses in her book. In the following post, Cascadia students Laura, McKenna, and Kenzie address the myth that you must be fearless to be creative.

Fear: Make Amends

by Laura Dachenhausen, McKenna Lynch, & Kenzie Middaugh

Fear can be so easily consuming and crippling to a point of being unable to be productive in any matter. Fear is an inhibitor to a lot of our daily creativity, positivity, and life. Elizabeth Gilbert says in her book Big Magic how fear sings a song with “the same tedious lyric: “STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP!” But it doesn’t have to. Fear doesn’t have to stop you.

To be able to be live with your fear can be difficult, but that often comes from constantly fighting it. That fight can be exhausting beyond belief and that’s what inhibits you from creating everything you can and being everything you are. If you learn how to work with your fear and acknowledge its existence, you will no longer be exhausted by this fight.

It’s important to make a space for your fear. Your fear isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it’s part of our biology, it is a primal reaction and is trying to protect us. But sometimes we don’t need that protection. Sometimes we need to break out of our shell and our comfort zone and grow. That’s the only way we develop and learn. But instead of battling your fear, if you give it a space and let it live alongside you, you can break out of that comfort zone and experience anything you ever want to. But it’s not enough to emerge from your comfort zone. You have to be vulnerable with yourself and others as well. It’s one thing to push yourself to experience new things, but you have to be open and vulnerable to those experiences as well.

Making a space for your fear means not bottling it up and ignoring it, it means working with it. Have an open dialogue with your fear. Let it know that you’re taking control and that everything will be okay, reassure it. Acknowledge that it will never leave you and that it will travel with you on any adventure you go on, but let it take a backseat. Give it a comfortable pillow and some snacks and let it just join you, not sit in the front seat and drive.

We embrace the fear in vulnerability that lights our creative paths. Through the journey of this video our intent is for you to reach inside yourself to find your creative path—whether that’s letting fear overwhelm you and blow out your creative candles or overcoming it and blowing out the torture of your fears. Imagine yourself as the girl in the tub… Will you give into the fear and drown in it or will you let yourself submerge into your creative side of fear?

To hear more of Laura Dawn’s music, please visit her SOUNDCLOUD page.