I am in one of those stages where I think it is the height of arrogance to be always thinking through myself and blogging about things I think or the way I think I think things. Yet I’m still doing it because maybe perhaps I will actually figure out something new. Coming in to work today as I passed the steel mill, it’s heat bleed stack was afire and the sky was the color of a fresh bruise, disturbingly pretty.
I think it is foolish of me to think of myself as a writer, poet or artist of any sort because I produce relatively nothing. Even something like thinker is inappropriate. I already don’t like labels because they limit more than specify but mapping my way through the morass of myself requires at least some sort of directional guide.
I don’t think I am a creator or creative. At least not in the sense of most people who make or create things, be it poetry, painting, photography. I don’t think I have the spark for producing new and wonderful things. I think that I am more of a discoverer than a creator. A finder. So when I write something or take a picture of something, for me it is an act of discovery more than creation. I suppose this blog is a path to discovery. This encompasses both self-discovery and regular worldly discovery. I have said that I am interested in all the things that people are interested in. But I am also interested in how I resolve my self in reference to interests and people and myself. This is quite convoluted.
What I am saying is that I do my best at discovery and not creation. I need a task to complete and I enjoy the process of completion, but not the closure of completion. I’m not good at giving myself creative tasks, but I am good at tasks of discovery. By good I mean I have the requisite desire and ability to complete a task that will teach me something, but not the requisite imagination to come up with something to teach myself. What seems creative is how I go about discovering things. It is sort of a creativity by proxy. Something I do might appear creative merely as a byproduct of a discovering process. A poem about masculinity was the last thing I wrote, and it was assigned to me. I had to discover both what I thought of the term, how I think others think of the term, the difference between the two and how to say that in muscular poetic form. Sounds complicated, but that is how I go about discovery. And it is a better example of finding seams than I think I have tried to say before.
These discoveries are not specifically meant for others. Above all they are to assist me in understanding me and my place within this place.
It sounds as though this Florida guy is broadening the application of creative. I’m more intent on making a distinction between the way I do things [discovery] and creativity. The broad use of his term probably suits his purposes admirably, but to me it is hammer when I want a scalpel.
I don’t know that I would include a scientist, doctor or stock broker in a ‘creative class’ although they certainly use their brain for a living. In fact, why does wanting to use your brain need a purpose [i.e. to make a living]? I get the most use-value from my brain when I rev it up for shits and giggles.
Of course, I’ve not read any Florida, and haven’t been there in ten years, so my speculation is useless.
Rise of the Creative Class is one of the best non-fiction books of the past 5 years, if you’re interested in progress, public policy, economics, urban planning, etc. You can borrow my copy if you want.
Richard Florida would say you are creative. Basically anyone who uses their brain for a living (or would like to, for those not employed in their chosen career) are the creative class. Artists, writers, musicians, etc are the “super-creative core”.