A Room With a View
What if creativity isn’t a gift reserved for artists or musicians, but woven into the very fabric of our humanity? This reflection explores the many ways creativity finds expression in seemingly ordinary lives, including your own.
The blog article follows this announcement!
Join Us
Over the last several weeks, I’ve been studying the music and life of singer/songwriter Javier Mendoza (aka Hobo Cane). As you may know, he’ll be our guest at the next Sunday Morning Café event on the afternoon of November 8. We’ll gather at 3:00 pm in the gorgeous Schroer Commons dining hall and patio for drinks and food (compliments of chef Ryan Modde). At 4:00 pm, Javi will take the stage, telling his story through his music and a conversation with a psychotherapist turned interviewer (aka Dr. Tom…me!). Through the lens of Javier Mendoza, we’ll explore creativity and the creative process. Audience members are encouraged to jump in with their questions. Our evening will come to a close at 6:00 pm. That will leave plenty of time for guests to round out their Sunday night. Within walking distance of our venue, you’ll find sports bars, ice cream parlors, coffee shops, sidewalk cafés, a pizzeria, or any one of a dozen restaurants. Against all odds, we still have tickets left. I don’t expect those to last long. Join us! Discounts are available with the promotional code provided in the event description. A deeper discount, based on need, can be obtained with an email to Sunday Morning Café. See you there!
A Room With a View
As I said up top, our SMC event will explore the terrain of creativity and the creative process “through the lens of Javier Mendoza.” That methodology apparently works. Over the course of two sit-down interviews with him, I keep thinking about the other Creatives I’ve known.
For some reason, Javier’s story keeps bringing up the face of my friend, Kevin Tennant. Like Javier, he’s an artist. Unlike Javier, he carries the instruments of his craft in a tool belt and truck. Like Javier, Kevin makes lasting beauty that changes lives for the better. Let me explain.
A Back Porch with an Attached House
Once we learned that a third child was on her way, Lisa and I figured it was high time to upgrade from our tiny, one-bathroom, two-bedroom bungalow. Besides more space, our main criterion was to find a house that backed up to a park. We wanted to raise free-range kids with access to at least some of the rural benefits we both enjoyed as kids: creeks, creek critters, woods, and a little room to run. Secretly, I was looking for acreage I could enjoy, but never have to mow.
Helen, our realtor, struck gold for us. Not only does our backyard resolve into a park with all of the above-mentioned amenities, but the back of our house boasts a large screened-in porch for watching the sun rise over said park. For twenty-three years, Lisa and I have been telling people that we bought a screened-in porch that just so happens to have a house attached to it.
But here’s the thing. The reason Walt Disney never built a theme park in Saint Louis is the same reason why we can’t use our screened-in porch for any more than a collection of days that adds up to about six months out of a year. It’s too hot for a good chunk of the summer, too cold for the majority of the winter, as well as for many days in the spring and fall. That means the best room in our house has been off limits to us for more than half of the time…until Kevin came along.
A Full-Time Retreat
Kevin is part artist, part contractor, part salesman, and 100% friend. He saw what that underutilized room meant to us. More importantly, he saw what it could mean to us. He sold us on his vision. Any old contractor could install a heater/air conditioner, insulation, and windows. An artist does all that, but adds touches like the construction of faux ceiling beams to hide the seams of the new overhead beadboard. He looks for, and finds treasures at discount warehouses, like cedar siding in place of the vinyl siding that we didn’t even know was ugly. When caulking is required to seal a seam, he mixes the solution on a palette with colored tint until it blends into the color scheme around the gap.
Now, thanks to Kevin, soft lighting lends a glow to our porch gatherings. Compliments of Kevin, we now have a built-in Chautauqua site in our own home. For example, last Sunday, I held my very first regular mini-SMC retreat on our heated porch. I’m hoping that will be the first in a long line of events. In this day and age of teleconferencing and podcasts, maybe I’ll figure out a way to invite you to my back porch retreat? Look how one creative act has a way of setting loose more creativity. This reminds me of the way that virtuous cycles work: grace giving way to more grace.
The vinyl siding on our back porch before Kevin worked his magic. The new cedar siding with which he replaced it. Use the arrow to swipe right for more images of the finished product, or click to expand.
A Partial List of the Creatives I Have Known
In my reflections on Javier and Kevin, what’s coming into view for this old resilience researcher is that creativity is a constitutive dimension of the human soul. From the perspective of my religious tradition, that makes perfect sense. Made in the image and likeness of God, we are co-creators with a built-in need to midwife a unique form of Beauty into the world.
When I stop and reflect for a minute, the list of Creatives I have known over the years spools out and stretches beyond the horizon. Here are a few examples I’m thinking of today.
Mary (A pseudonym)
Mary is a Creative. She is also a mother of three humans under the age of three. She really dislikes folding laundry. A hack that makes it more bearable has to do with bringing her husband on board for it, once the kids are down at night. While folding, they record messages to each of their three tiny children describing experiences and qualities that they’ve noticed this week. Someday, an audio-file gift from past versions of their parents will narrate their development with a decidedly delighted tone. Wouldn’t you love to be raised by Mary? Her audio project, no doubt, gives her better vision to notice what is delightful about each one of her kids. In seeing it, she creates more of it. After all, what you appreciate, appreciates.
Ed (A pseudonym)
I’m thinking of an oncologist I know who regularly plows through a mountain of bureaucratic obstacles to practice the art of medicine. His passion in medicine? His patients and their families. The greater the eccentricity in the patient, the greater his delight. Over the years, he’s learned how to heal with his attentive presence, especially when his patient is dying. He has a way of companioning someone on their last journey with dignity and reverence. Ed is an artist. He teaches me that attentiveness may be the greatest gift one human being can offer another.
Lisa (My Wife)
Lisa is a physician/leader and mentor. She has a way of forming community with the people she leads and mentors. Last night she hosted twelve medical school students and their significant others. Those baby doctors are the ages of my kids. So what’s Lisa do? She builds a fire in the backyard and places marshmallow sticks in their hands to make s'mores. Voila! Instant community. Last week, she did the same thing with full-fledged doctors and their kids in the park behind our house. Docs, their spouses, and their kids visited while their offspring played in their Halloween costumes. Lisa leads with artistic skill that forms disparate colleagues into teams that appreciate one another. Wouldn’t you love to work for a boss like that?
You (Fill in Your Name_________ __________)
Where is an area where your creativity shows itself? Culinary? Physical intelligence? Gamesmanship? Gift-giving? Crafts? Music? Bringing People Together? Listening? Humor?
Tell the story of an experience where your creativity showed itself, and it made a difference.
Clare of Assisi said that you become what you contemplate. Who is a creative person whom you admire? Describe their creativity with a story.
Is there an area in your life that is calling out for your creativity? What would it take for you to respond with a “Yes!”?
Please share with the SMC community your thoughts and/or reflections in the comments below.
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