Albert Einstein expresses the essence of creativity when he says, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” When we’re able to use our imagination to ignite a path toward actualization, we create a story that has the power to influence others.
We’re living in the decade of the 1960’s, where discussion over man landing on the moon is flourishing. While the move is political, the move is also radical. As average citizens, we can’t fathom landing on the moon because it hasn’t been done before and the mystery of space scares us. We live for our comfort on planet Earth. We debate conspiracies such as aliens helping build the Great Pyramids of Giza, because we can’t fathom humans building it themselves—rather, we can’t fathom building it ourselves. I will admit—the idea of extra-terrestrials helping build ancient Egyptian structures is a complex and creative theory to contemplate. However, I believe this conspiracy may be rooted in one’s own desire of a mental safety net. People might not want to believe massive structures could be built by human labor because it wouldn’t justify the magnitude of their own abilities. The mental and physical stamina of lower-class ancient Egyptians doesn’t justify the daily routines of today’s Westerners. Whether true or not, I don’t want to believe aliens helped ancient Egyptians build their intricate structures. I want to believe that it was the advanced, more-than-capable human mind that was forced to work with the technology and manual labor it had access to in order to worship their gods and leaders.
The creativity of conspiracy theories allows us to escape the banality of our daily lives and routines. However, creativity gets taken to the next level, with the opportunity to reach its full potential, when it is put into action. Fast forward to 2020—humans have walked on the moon, spacecrafts have landed on other planets, orbited other planets, flown past Pluto, and Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into space. What’s next in space exploration? Is it appropriate to stop here? What would Elon Musk be up to if space exploration hadn’t reached the extent it has? Without the initial idea and belief of landing on the moon, we wouldn’t have landed on the moon. Contemplating the idea of a civilization on Mars would also be further from grasp than it is in 2020.
Every event, action, experience is a result of a single idea. The larger our ideas are, the more room there is for creativity in its actualization. The importance of storytelling and creativity lies in the uniqueness of each creative’s individual identity and perspective. Discussing creativity and the humanities is important in the way conversation can inspire people’s drive and jumpstart their journey toward their creative dreams. I believe that storytelling can be an incredibly selfless act because of how it spares people their own doubt and comfort, by providing evidence of the plethora of opportunities at their fingertips. Storytelling brings us to acknowledge the tiny moments we may not recognize as transformative. Storytelling brings us an external perspective to our own reality, planting seeds in our minds we otherwise wouldn’t have sowed. Without creativity, evolution remains stagnant, and new ideas struggle to reach their full potential. Creativity is what makes the radical possible. Storytellers make sure to remind us.
Through my collaboration with The Creative Process, I am exploring ways to celebrate the invisible arts, as some of the most influential people in my life were my high school teachers. I hope to have a fulfilling experience that allows me to collaborate with fellow students and creatives in rich discussion. In addition, I’m extremely interested in how The Creative Process is an international education initiative. I hope to be part of a learning process that offers insight into how creativity and the humanities are treated and viewed across the globe. I look forward to meeting and collaborating with passionate, openminded, and thoughtful individuals who share similar values and passions. I hope to find inspiration for my own creative work through the discussions I have and listen to. I believe that collaborating with The Creative Process will offer an incomparable petri-dish of perspectives that is priceless to explore.
If I had one wish for the future, it would be an accentuated importance put toward building cultural competency and accountability from a young age. Initially, when contemplating the concept of cultural competency, in the forefront of my mind was international communication, and how we can better understand and coexist with different cultures across regions and continents. However, in recent months this term has taken up a completely different role in my mind—the role of internal cultural competency. How can we learn to coexist internationally, when we still aren’t coexisting justly within our own country? While I learned United States history in school, and the horrific injustice and oppression that people in power have created and instilled, what I failed to learn was how it is still taking place today in different forms. I failed to learn about housing discrimination, redlining, privilege, intersectionality, and the continuous oppression of black and indigenous people. I was taught to praise Christopher Columbus for his “discovery” of the land of the free. I was completely ignorant of the genocide of Native Americans that took place to do so until I entered high school. I was completely ignorant of the simple fact that I lived on stolen, exploited land until I became an adolescent. There is a great hole in the US history curriculum that must be filled with accountability. As an adult, this demands a conscious deconditioning and unlearning of prior beliefs, which requires confrontation with the psyche and unconscious sentiments. While I acknowledge the privilege I have to learn about racial injustice instead of experiencing it myself, I believe this is work that our school systems, textbook writers, leaders, and general citizens all must conduct and hold accountability for within themselves.
If I had one wish for the future, it would be for accountability to be taken seriously by people in power. This can start in our education systems from the local level; I believe it’s especially important to educate vulnerable minds with a more honest curriculum, rather than hiding the truth to spare our youth from emotion or guilt. If I had one wish for the future of the United States, it would be for the U.S. to take ownership for its past and acknowledge its faults loudly. For too long, issues of inequality have been left on the backburner to ignite at a later date, only to be once again mended with a band-aid solution. Once U.S. leaders open their doors to take an active stand against systemic racism, we could look forward to a more just, inclusive, equal, and authentic future.
My recent projects have involved gathering and editing my creative writing works, specifically those that I wish to incorporate on my own website. The mission is to create content that promotes curiosity, empathy, and discussion toward outside perspectives on the world. I’ve found extraordinary peace in travel journaling, whether this be traveling across borders, within my own mind, or through listening to the experiences of others. My most recent final project incorporated film photographs I took in Egypt in the summer of 2019. In addition to the academic vision of the project, which was to discuss how photographs haunt and emit trauma, my personal vision was to create a sense of reflection in the mind of the reader, to accentuate the importance of compassionate awareness in circumstances of cultural difference. I believe it’s extremely important to acknowledge our own identity and perspective in any conversation or situation, because it affects the way we observe, react, and behave toward the situations we exist in every day. It’s important to question ourselves and our actions, which I believe is especially prominent in the current conversation around racial injustice and systemic racism. My future projects will lead with accountability and imperfection, as I grow with those around me in a fight towards justice, self-awareness, and cultural competency.
As for my plans for the future, once I graduate from DePaul, I look forward to continuing my journey toward cultural competency by completing a TEFL, TESOL, or CELTA certificate to teach English abroad. After a few years of traveling and gaining experience abroad, I’d like to return to school for a master’s degree in Political Science or International Affairs. I feel determined to bring my international insight, experience, and education to a position in the U.S. Department of State.
Examples of my Creative Work
“Painting Moments Permanent”
Published by THE SOJOURNAL, operated by DePaul University’s study abroad office.
https://sojournaldepaul.wordpress.com/2020/02/07/painting-moments-permanent/
“Defining Home: A Reflection of Spring Break in Ireland”
Published by THE SOJOURNAL, operated by DePaul University’s study abroad office.
