Monday Musings on the Creator in Me

Cookie-Cutter Creativity . . . and Christianity


A few weeks ago, I participated in a discussion on Erica the Art Project Girl's blog entitled Go on an Art DIET with Me. In that post, she challenged her followers to help her stop comparing her students' work to all the cute, cookie-cutter type art out there, where every student has a similar outcome in their art projects, and refrain from using assignments that produced such results. Now, I happened to disagree with some of what Erica was saying because I don't see anything inherently wrong with step-by-step projects and using tracers sometimes.  But I see her point, and that discussion has really got me thinking about "imitation" -- in art, and in other areas of life.

I touched on this topic a while ago in my Copy Cat Art post, but I've had time to reflect (I'm a thinker -- and it always takes me a l-o-n-g time!) on Erica's post a bit, too, and I've come to the conclusion that usually the important issue around imitation in art, or any other form of creativity, is motivation. Erica talked about the temptation to strive for cutesy, homogeneous art projects because of "the pressure of the looming hallway" -- the pressure to have an impressive bulletin board display with which to wow colleagues and parents. The temptation is to forgo individual creativity for the sake of pleasing someone else. If we think about it even a little bit, objection to such cookie-cutter "creativity" only makes sense because it stifles personal expression and is motivated by pride.

There is, however, value in imitating. I know in the arts (be it visual, literary, musical . . .), there is a school of thought that advocates "imitation of the masters." The principle is that you learn to do something by copying someone who does that thing well. (We do this naturally from infancy when we learn to talk.) We may copy using our own observations, or by following a step-by-step procedure or formula with the intention of producing something that looks as much as possible like the original model. But this imitation is an instrument of instruction, not a means of expression or pleasing someone else in order to get their approval (which is what we force children to do if all their art work needs to match an example).The difference is in the motivation. Would you agree?

Because I want to use my own creativity as a means of connecting with my Creator, I can't help carrying this discussion of cookie-cutter creativity to an exploration of how it applies to faith. When we talk of "imitating the masters," I also think of the apostle Paul encouraging us to imitate him: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV). We have something to learn from "the masters" -- or the great men and women of faith throughout history.

Of course, we are also advised to imitate THE Master. Various translations of Ephesians 5:1 say, "Be imitators of God." These are just a few verses that give direction about some specific ways to do so:

Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (More about that one later.)
Luke 6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
(The above verses are from the New International Version ©1984 )

Yet, just as we run the risk of creating cookie cutter art by establishing and conforming to stringent guidelines with the goal of impressing others, we also run the risk of becoming cookie cutter Christians. Somehow, we move from striving to imitate the character of Jesus and true Christ followers to setting up rigid rules about how a "Christian" behaves or looks. Initially, we might set these standards for ourselves. But just as an art teacher (or parent, or other student) might judge the value of a piece of art based on its conformation to a particular set of criteria that exactly matches an example, we might feel justified in judging the faith of fellow followers of Christ. We might say, "Christians don't drink" or "Christians don't smoke" or "Christians don't . . . whatever."  And we might add, "Christians go to church every Sunday -- dressed in their Sunday best," or "Christians always pray before their meals," or "Christians do . . . such-and-such." By pre-established criteria that we make up, we determine the value -- not only of our own -- but of other people's walks with God.  But Matthew 7:1 admonishes, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (KJV).

And like the art student that feels like a failure because his work doesn't resemble the example or the products of his peers, sometimes it works the other way -- we judge our own faith by how it compares to those around us. We feel inferior when we hear that Mrs. Smith gets up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to spend an hour in prayer before she starts her day. We feel inadequate when we can't rhyme off verses for every situation like Mr. Jones can. We feel like failures when we yell at our two children (again) because we know that Mrs. White is the picture of perfect patience with her brood of eight. We become defeated because we have set idealized, cookie-cutter Christians as our models, and we can never measure up.

Our motives for imitation in our walk with God should also be questioned. Do we really do the things that other "spiritually mature" people do because we seek similar strength and depth of Christian character? Or is it because we seek the approval of fellow Christians -- because we want to be admired, as they are? Do we really want to "be like Jesus" to become Godly -- or for our own pride?

I know that the WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) movement was well intentioned in its effort to encourage people to imitate Christ. However, I would argue that it actually robs believers of the power of Christ in us. Strive as we might, we will never "be perfect" (Matthew 5:48 above) by trying to figure out what Jesus would do if He were us in our situation. As believers, we have Christ IN us, so the better question is, WWJHMD -- What Would Jesus Have Me Do?  Right here. Right now.

We need to let the power of Christ flow through us, moment by moment. Only then will we really escape from the grip of cookie-cutter Christianity -- and creativity.

What are your thoughts on imitation? Have you experienced its value? Have you fallen into any of its traps? I love reading your comments (and it lets me know people are actually reading!) -- so please do tell me what you think.

Digital Frog Field Trip Series - Product Review

 I received this product free of charge in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received. 

Being Canadian, I was excited to have the opportunity to review a Canadian product made in my home province. According to their website, Digital Frog International "has been creating great educational natural science software [sic][since 1995] that is in use in classrooms around the world. It started with a simple virtual frog dissection program, and grew to create award-winning programs covering all aspects of natural science, from ecosystems to the inner workings of cells, all with an interface unique to Digital Frog International."

My family and I have had the opportunity to play with "The Digital Field Trip Series"  Home License Edition. I'll tell you right off the bat that our exploration of the product has been somewhat limited by the fact that the computer on which the software was installed fried its motherboard -- for the 4th time since February -- and the only other computer to which I have access is incapable of running the software, even though it CAN be run from the disk itself. But DD13, DS11, and I all spent some time exploring The Wetlands, The Rainforest, and The Desert and were able to formulate some opinions about it. Bear in mind that not one of us is a real science buff, though we enjoy it and recognize the tremendous value of learning about the world in which we live. (Well, OK *I* do. Them -- not so much. I had to "require" them to spend the time they did exploring the program.)

Once I got past the toxic smell of the open case (I only mention that because EVERY time I open it, the odour gives me a sharp headache!), I was impressed by the ease with which I was able to install and begin to navigate the software. All three field trips are housed on a single CD, compatible with both Windows and Macintosh using QuickTime technology. I was also impressed by the organizational structure of the program, including a very detailed web-map that enables the user to get a visual of all the places that can be explored on the program. (My intent was to show you a screen shot of what I'm talking about. But, alas, I cannot without my fried computer. I feel like I'm missing a limb. Seriously!)

The Wetlands:

The Wetlands section of the software is broken down into the following categories:

* The Field Trip enables you to explore nine posts at the Cloud Lake bog in Algonquin Park (So cool! I used to live near there!), Ontario, Canada.
* Wetland Types teaches you how to tell the difference between a swamp or a marsh or a bog.
* The Study of a Bog allows you to time-travel and see how bogs form. It also offers an examination of the roles of plants and animals in a wetland habitat.
* Mechanisms of a Wetland allows you to study how a wetland works.
* Our Endangered Wetlands addresses conservation, habitat, and pollution of wetlands around the world.


The Rainforest:


The Rainforest section of the CD includes the following:

* The Field Trip takes you to the Blue Creek Rainforest Reserve in Belize, Central America.
* Rainforest Study looks at the characteristics and interdependence of plants and animals in the rainforest.
* Rainforest Types looks at the classifications of different rainforests.
* Mechanisms of a Rainforest examines the things that keep rainforests alive.
* Our Endangered Rainforests offers information about biodiversity and the importance of rainforests to our environment. It also looks at threats and protection plans.


The Desert:



The Desert Field Trip has the following features:

Field Trips lets you explore five North American deserts.
Desert Types offers information about the various types of deserts around the world.
Desert Study addresses organisms, adaptations, and homeostasis. It also enables you to build your own ecosystem in a desert setting.
Mechanisms of a Desert discusses issues surrounding climate, landscape, and water.
Human Impact examines the influence of people on desert environments, and explores the significance of our interactions with the desert landscape.

Each easy-to-navigate Field Trip is RICH with information and visual stimulation. My children and I were disappointed that there was no audio to accompany the abundance of text, but according to the Digital Frog International website, the program features "built-in text-to-speech [which] supports blind and visually-impaired as well as slow readers and auditory learners" -- so I'm thinking that we must have somehow missed a significant component of the software. DD13 did discover that when you click on words in the text they are defined for you, which she thought was a cool feature. It was also neat to see things move when your mouse hovered over them, and to have 360 degree panoramic views of different landscapes. All three of us  noted a lack of video clips in our exploration of the field trips, which was disappointing -- and yet materials provided by the company make reference to projector icons and "many movies," so I'm guessing again that we just didn't dig deep enough. My daughter indicated in her notes that the field trips were "not very intriguing," but I wonder if that has more to do with the fact that she would have preferred to be doing something else at the time rather than a fault of the program. Sadly, none of us has a particularly keen interest in deserts, rainforests, or wetlands, so I suppose it is to be expected that we might be a bit ho-hum about using a computer program about them.

Having said that, if we were doing an intensive study of these areas as part of our curriculum, The Digital Field Trip Series would be a tremendous tool for our studies. The virtual reality technology takes the study to a level that cannot be achieved with books, and is likely the next best thing to a live, hands-on experience of these regions. I feel blessed to have received the product because it is something that will very likely enrich our learning at various times in the future, especially given that I have two other children coming up the ranks that might have a greater passion for science than the older ones have.

If you have any interest in the subject area, I would encourage you to visit the Digital Frog International website and take advantage of the free demo versions of the software to see it for yourself.

Pricing Info:
All three Digital Field Trips (The Rainforest, The Wetlands and The Desert) on one DVD
Home License $125.00 4DV2
Family Use Home License (3 computers) $135.00 4DV2F
Home Co-op Lab Pack (5 discs)
(call 1-800-621-3764 for custom Lab Pack pricing) $298.50 4DV2-5

Thank you TOS and Digital Frog for the opportunity to use this product!

Visit here if you'd like to read other TOS Crew reviews.

Monday Musings on the Creator in Me

Frugal Family Fun at the Fair

I think for most people, finances are always an issue of consideration when contemplating family activities, and certainly we are advised to be wise stewards of our resources. So, sometimes it's necessary to get a little creative in finding ways to spend fun family time without blowing the budget. In this post, I thought we might explore some ways to do that at a seasonal event . . .

Fall fairs are fun -- but they can get pricey by the time you add together admission fees, food, games, and rides for even a small family. A few years ago, a friend of mine encouraged me to join a committee for our local fair. The return? Free admission for myself and my children ANY time during the 4-day fair, two admission passes to share with family (getting my DH AND Mom in for free, too), an invitation for me and a guest to attend a banquet, and BEST of all -- an evening of free fair rides!

DS3 playing along with the guy running the ride, who threw his hat in DS's car and pretended that DS was driving so fast that his hat flew off.



Daddy rides are still the best!

It means having to devote a few hours here and there throughout the fair season (in my case, it involves such things as group planning of project ideas, cleaning display cases, accepting projects from submitters, setting up and tearing down, making and supervising displays) -- but, at least with our fair, I can sign up according to my availability and family circumstances. The work I have to do is not hard, and is actually fun when accompanied by fair friends, with whom I have the opportunity to build a bit of a "fair history" as the years go by. This year, DD13 was able to join me as an official committee member, so it has become something that she and I can turn into a tradition as well. We have fun serving our community together, and she learns valuable lessons about committment, responsibility, and doing a good job -- even if it's something yucky like cleaning up mouse poo in cabinets that have been stored in a barn!

If this sounds like too much of a time committment, another option is simply to make entries at your local fair, which usually yields some financial benefit. At two of our local fairs, entrants receive at least one free admission pass when they submit an entry to one of the fair judging categories. Besides being a fun way to spend time preparing the project(s), there is the added bonus of potentially winning a ribbon and some prize money. If all family member submit an entry, then it's possible that everyone could at least gain free entry to the fair.


First-place entries in the Youth Class division a few years ago, when the theme was "Harvest Time".

Alternatively, and even more simply, some fairs allow children in for free if they simply complete a fair colouring page. How easy can you get? It's worth investigating what options are available!

While it might seem like it based on this post, we don't actually live "in the country" -- so I would encourage even you city folk to look for local fairs in which your family might become involved. Within a half hour of our home, we can participate in a wide variety of spring, summer, and fall fairs, so I suspect that might be the case for many others. In addition to being lots of fun, they are wonderful learning opportunities! (That could be a whole other post:)
Now tell me -- have you found some other creative ways to have some frugal family fun at local fairs? I would LOVE to hear about them! Please share your ideas in a comment.

Thanksgiving Prep Part 1

Next weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, so we're in full preparation mode. We hit our favourite local farm last week and picked pumpkins and mums for pies and the porch. (OK, so the mums don't go in pies -- just on the porch.)

Isn't this a pretty site? (OK, I know some people think it's gross!)

We've been studying The Pumpkin Runner, a real pumpkin farmer who sustained himself for long distance running by eating pumpkin in all imaginable forms, so we tried some raw. DD8 and I quite liked it!

Since the plan was to make pumpkin pies from scratch, we set about doing so by scooping out the insides and baking them face-down for about an hour. 

Then we scooped the flesh out of the skins and made our puree . . . I hope you don't mind the mundane pix -- I just love the colours and textures!

We also roasted the seeds with some garlic oil left over from our last Blessing Meal, afterwhich DD8 made them into a face for our photo shoot:

Apparently I'm the only one that enjoys eating them!

Of course, she couldn't hold the camera without sneaking a self-portrait in there, too:

When it was time to make the crusts, I had to think creatively in order to find my favourite rolling pin. It wasn't where it belonged, nor was it in ANY of the drawers that someone might have THOUGHT it belonged if they were using any remnant of their logic skills. Before I got too frustrated, it did occur to me to look here, amidst the play-dough tools:

I shoulda known!

Anyway, once the crusts were made, it was time to start mixing the filling. DS3 wanted to help, so I decided to make it a bit of a directed learning experience. I told him I needed a teaspoon, and it was not the largest spoon, but the second largest spoon on the ring.

He got it right the first time! (I didn't know he understood ordinal numbers!)

Thinking it might just have been a lucky guess, I tried him with a 1/2 teaspoon, telling him that it was the third largest spoon. Again, he got it right away! The clever little duck! (Don't you love that he's dressed like a little pumpkin?!?!? I didn't plan that!)





 Speaking of ducks -- or rather chickens and turkeys -- we also did some decorating on the front porch this week, mostly with garage sale finds:

I love the fall mats DH picked up on sale in the spring:

In case you missed it in a previous post, this is the wreath DH made:

Anyway -- here are the pies all ready to go into the oven. I had more than enough filling, so I greased a casserole dish and just baked the filling in it along with the pies. We had it with ice cream tonight -- and it was delish! I just love the colour of the unbaked pies!

And fresh from the oven . . . they just need a couple of decorations, I think:

Finally, it was on to the pecan pies. (I was going to only make one, but DH reminded me that my pecan pies are always the favourite, so I should really make two!) DD8, photo-poser that she is, wanted in on the action and really did most of the work.

Mmmmmmmmm . . . are you drooling yet????

In addition to all this creativity in the kitchen, I got three blog posts composed today (two of which are scheduled for next week, this one being the third) -- so I'd say I had a pretty productive, creative day! I really am missing doing ART, though, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to find some time for that this upcoming week. I suspect that DD8 will be game to join me, and I wouldn't be surprised if others are, too. It has been a while!

Do you ever get caught up doing legitimately creative things, but wish you could be doing OTHER creative things? What would you be creating right now if you had the absolute freedom to do so?