Simple Rediscovery

The best changes in history are made by the best people.  As much as we might want to think ... and imagine ... that today we are far more advanced, artistically and creatively, than any of our predecessors … I’m sorry to clue you in, but we are wrong. Creativity and artistic expression, and pushing back against the norm, are the things that have positively made changes within the world for thousands of years. So to truly learn how to make changes in the world that not only help now but help for hundreds and thousands of years, it is the realm of art and creativity. Because if we speak of science that makes a difference, it’s important to know that the world’s greatest scientists are also the most open and creative people, because without creativity even science, math, and engineering cannot move forward.  Rediscover and learn from Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Auguste Rodin, Russian Revolution, Modernists, Modernism, wars, financial disasters, turmoil, pollution, unemployment, travel, communication,  

In just around three minutes, a good pop story song gives us an abbreviated account of a love affair, or the details of an adventure (or misadventure), or the particulars of a personal tragedy that wasn’t our own, but was something that touched our soul.  The first twenty or so years of the Rock and Roll Era (from the mid-1950s to the mid-70s) were, what could be, the heyday of the story song. Singers and songwriters of the 1950s to the 1970s made sure that as soon as you got one story song out of your head, another one took its place—forming a compendium of musical experiences that allowed you to see the world a bit differently.  Listen to Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Loretta Lynn, Ray Peterson, Mark Dinning, Leslie Gore, Shangri-Las, Jeannie C. Riley, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Geddes, Andrew Gold, Michael Jackson, Tracy Chapman, Carrie underwood, Paramore, Panic at the Disco, and lots of other singers and musicians who help you discover another side of life.   

Rediscover the frightening tales from our collective past. We’ll come to see that things really haven’t changed that much since the Brothers Grimm collected their tales. How we teach our children to learn about life, culture, society, history … is an important part of making people healthy, accepting, understanding, and welcomingly coherent about how it is we all live. Without creating this kind of intelligent and emotional balance among ourselves and children … we might rediscover that such historical and current extremes in life are mighty grim!   

It’s true that vain people can be slothful ... and slothful people can be vain but most of these double-duty offenders exist only on the fringes of polite society. For those of us in the middle—particularly those of us in the middle financially—there is limited means to fund the expense of immense vanity or the time-wasting nature of ultimate sloth. However, many would argue that, in America, the middle is becoming a little too vanity deficient and slothfully inclined, especially when it comes to our fashion wardrobes. Therefore, it’s time to up our game a bit and rediscover dressing well!

Rediscover the pop-up book — which isn’t only a book — it is art. Explore the modern masters of pop-up books: Matthew Reinhart, Robert Sabuda, David Carter, and Marion Bataille. And the early creators of paper engineering: Matthew Paris, Ernest Nister, Lothar Meggendorfer.  You probably recall at least one title you treasured beyond all others. For the oldest among us, that might have been a book in the Doctor Dolittle series by Hugh Lofting, or perhaps a more obscure title like The Magical Land of Noom by Johnny Gruelle. Baby Boomers may reminisce fondly about Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, or something—or anything—by Dr. Seuss: Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in The Hat, Green Eggs and Ham. And younger people might think back to the good old days of the 1980s and 90s, when titles like A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silberstein, or Matilda, by Roald Dahl, captured our attention. But, regardless of your current age and the title of that book you fell in love with so long ago, it’s possible that, before you could speak or even before you knew what a book was, someone showed you another book that truly fascinated you—because it was different than all the others. In this book, the illustrations literally sprang to life; they moved, they shifted, and they even popped-up! Lest we forget the great joy they brought us, it’s time to rediscover pop-up books.    

A night of theater—be it a high-end, professional production in a major city; or a touring company performance in a mid-sized regional hub; or a Little Theater, community theater, or school drama department show in a suburb or small town—the “night of theater” is considered a luxury. However, in a time when many Americans have become inordinately discouraged and increasingly disconnected from their fellow citizens, regular patronage of live theater may just be the key to our survival as a creative, enlightened, and unified audience.  Consider busting open your piggy bank, buying a ticket or two, and spending an afternoon or evening rediscovering local theater. After the show, you’ll walk out feeling a bit more connected to everyone! Actors, entertainers, singers, dancers, musicians, writers, playwrights, directors, producers -- that's entertainment!  

Even if you haven’t heard of Mary Blair (1911–1978), you’re probably very familiar with some of her classic illustrations and designs. Just close your eyes and imagine the colorful, iconic faces of the children depicted in the “It’s a Small World” attraction at any Walt Disney Park, or visualize the well-loved images in theGolden Book of Little Verses that most of us read as children. All of that—and much more—sprang from the sharp mind and nimble paintbrush of Mary Blair.

In 1989, when Allan Gurganus published his debut novel, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, he did something amazing: Through a work of fiction, he managed to bring to life what was, to date, the most divisive period in American history, the Civil War years—a time in which as many as 620,000 of our fellow citizens (2% of the population) died. Perhaps even more astounding, Gurganus made it clear that although the war ended in 1865, the fallout it produced has lingered in the national atmosphere ever since, burning through consecutive generations of “Yankees” and “Rebels” much the way General Sherman’s Army blazed its way across Georgia toward the sea.  Nearly 25 years after the book’s initial publication and 150 years since the launch of the four-year conflict that killed more Americans than all other U.S. wars combined (from the Revolution to Vietnam), it’s time to take a fresh look at Allan Gurganus’s brilliant first novel and remind ourselves of something we may have forgotten: When two parts of the same whole turn on each other, no one truly wins. 

One could argue that the introduction of the modern typewriter just a tad over 110 years ago did more to change the way that humans communicate than any other single mechanical device before or since.  Although Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press began churning out manuscripts around 1440, most written communication was still done by hand until the mid-1800s. This meant that all personal and business correspondence, contracts, and communiqués had to be composed in legible, hand-written script—a process that was not only tedious and time-consuming but also extremely messy (just imagine all those overturned inkwells and broken pen nibs).  Today, typewriters (even the “streamlined” electric models on which many of us learned our keyboarding skills) are considered to be prehistoric gadgets—remnants of a bygone era when secretarial pools filled whole office floors and people (particularly women) could base an entire career on being able to type at least forty words per minute. However, this machine of the masses is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Writers, lovers of old-school technology, and those just plain fed up with being tethered to their smartphone keypads and computer keyboards are rediscovering the pleasure of using this twentieth-century marvel to tap out their words one loud click at a time. Perhaps it’s time for you, too, to rediscover the typewriter!

You might be surprised to learn that most public museums didn’t appear until the eighteenth century; even then, it was often difficult for many middle- and upper-class patrons to gain access to their collections. And if you were working class or poor, you had little chance of getting beyond the front gate, ever. From the beginning, most museums made a point of being exclusive to the point of ridiculousness. Although American museums long ago adopted an egalitarian philosophy in which all members of the public are welcome, some could still be chasing off potential visitors and new donors through certain unrecognized, dyed-in-the-wool behaviors learned back when the moneyed classes and social rigidity ruled the industry. So what can today’s museum directors and curators do to improve their lot?