Hey Reader, I'm a bit of a collector of card decks, and my latest acquisition gave me a thought I can't shake. More on that in this week's letter. From the Excuses to Celebrate card deck by People I’ve Loved Dear Creativity, By now, you know my love for card decks. This week, a new one from Carissa Potter of People I’ve Loved absolutely delighted me. One card in particular reminded me "to revel in the small things we take for granted." It read: "Celebrate someone else's accomplishment. Let...
11 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, This week, NASA's "Moon Joy June" art challenge gave the prompt "LAUNCH." My response wasn't a rocket, but this little illustration. It got me thinking about a distant memory and what that word truly means to me. More in this week's letter. Dear Creativity, When NASA gives you a prompt like "LAUNCH," it’s easy to think of grand finales. But my hand didn't draw a rocket. It drew this, a quiet launch. This little watercolor and ink drawing is my commitment to sitting down with you,...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I've been thinking about the 'idea swirl' that so many of us live in. I'm starting to see it differently. More on that in this week's letter. A visual prescription for the 'idea swirl.' Dear Creativity, Let's talk about the 'idea swirl.' I’ve always seen it as this vortex of ideas that leads to overwhelm and analysis paralysis. A quiet storm inside the mind of a multipassionate. But every time I update my work, I find myself revisiting old thoughts. Each time I return, I add a new...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I bought a shiny squirrel for my bookshelf as an inside joke. But it turns out, it's the key to everything. More on that in this week's letter. The shiny squirre sitting on the bookshelf in my home office/creative studio. Dear Creativity, Let's talk about shiny objects. Or more specifically, this shiny squirrel on my bookshelf. When people see us multipassionates chasing squirrels, they often put us in a box, labeling us as misfits who can't focus. But they're missing the point....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I hosted The Creative Amp workshop this week, and I'm still buzzing from it. This image I captured says it all: messy, playful, and surprisingly profound. More on that in this week's letter. Non-dominant-hand sketching, a six-word story, and a visual representation of a person are activities enjoyed during The Creative Amp experience. Dear Creativity, We did it. The Creative Amp workshop felt like building a bridge between all the parts of me, the 'lab' of systems and learning,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, This might look messy, but it's actually the picture of me falling back in love with an old passion. It's bringing me alive. You'll see what I mean in this week's letter. Micro-Cast Video Editing in Canva Dear Creativity, It’s funny how we can forget. I was thinking about us, twenty years ago. I was just starting out as an educator, and the thing that truly lit me up was digital storytelling. It felt like I’d found a secret language. With a few simple techniques in iMovie, I could...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Creativity, We often talk about the blank page.The dead air.The unknown. Those are the moments we say stop us from reaching for you. But lately, I’ve been noticing something different. It’s not the absence of ideas that’s making it hard to connect with you. It’s the opposite. The noise. The constant movement. The steady stream of information, experiences, and ways to be that fill the space before I even realize I’ve lost it. I tell myself I need quiet. That I need to slow down long...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Creativity, I thought this letter would be about spring. About the ducks and geese that have returned to the neighborhood. The Canadian geese are moving together with their goslings in tow, the mallards lingering nearby. I love this time of year for that reason. It's the quiet reminder that growth is already underway, that what is small today will soon stretch, change, and move on. But something else is asking for my attention. It will be a while before it escapes my mind. The TEDx talk....
2 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Creativity, Returning to you never feels complicated, but sometimes I forget how simple it can be. This weekend, I attended a Student Leadership Diversity Gathering, and you were present in ways both quiet and expansive. In the rooms where middle school students were stretching their thinking, imagining how their voices could shape change in my design workshop, Find Your Voice. In the words of professors and poet laureates, inviting courage and connection into the work. In the...
2 months ago • 1 min read