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: 

Creativity Myth #5: You’re Too Old to Start a Creative Endeavor.

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 Kyleigh and Emily address the myth that you can be “too old” to start a creative endeavor.

Being Revived

by Kyleigh Magness and Emily Nina

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever said you can’t do something because you’re too old? Or that you can’t follow your dreams because it’s too late in your life to change it? Creativity and age don’t have much in common to me. If anything, I believe as you get older and see the world more, your creativity grows as you do. Age doesn’t define your passions or abilities.

Elizabeth Gilbert said in her book Big Magic that “if you’re alive, you’re a creative person.” If you’re nine or 49 your creativity is always a part of you. Your creativity doesn’t vanish just because your age does. I still find myself at age 20 drawing, coloring, and painting, just like I did when I was little. Keep the creativity in your soul alive, and find time to let it breathe. There is always time to do or think about art, and there is always time to start something new. Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you should stop creating. No matter what age you are, don’t stop. Don’t shut down your creative mind for a 9:00 to 5:00. That urge to be creative never wants to leave you, so don’t show it the door.

Poem by “Jane” from Family Friend Poem.com, November 2008.

Gilbert writes, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.” Let this idea serve as your mission: look for the passions you possess. Look for that thing that makes your heart skip a beat and your mind buzz with enchantment. Allow yourself to accept the fact that following your heart will not always mean you give up everything. You have a job, bills, a family, a whole life that requires time and attention. Allow yourself to work your passions into your schedule. Give yourself that time to paint, draw, photograph, make jewelry, sculpt, design, simply contemplate; whatever it may be, let it into your life, but recognize that it does not have to become your life. The thing that sparks your inner creator is living inside your soul, and it is not too late to draw it out and bring it to life.

 

We are all capable of accessing it, and weaving it into our lives. There is always a way to be creative, from painting to drawing, from dancing and writing. Right now, you can be creative. Pick up a brush and paint the night sky. Or write poetry. Gilbert brilliantly expressed to “do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” So start that revolution, and be revived, no matter your age. Your age doesn’t decide how creative you are. Always keep your mind open to creativity, and keep creating.