From Florence (Italy) to Florence (Alabama)

Three things I did in Italy

1. I learned advanced busking techniques. For instance, street performers who put cute puppies in their tip hats are more likely to make money.
2. I hung out with my friends Dave and Daniel who happen to be in the Rome, Italy area with a seperate group.
3. We busked in the streets of Rome and made 10 cents in euros. So… like 12.6 cents, which is pretty impressive if you factor in we’re part-time buskers and we had no puppies.

From Florence (Italy) to Florence (Alabama)

I went to Italy for a week with the family and we did a lot more than three things. We saw The Colosseum, The Pantheon, The Sistine Chapel, The Trevi Fountain, The Ruins of Pompeii, Michelangelo’s David in Florence… And the food. Oh the food.

We drank a full glass of awesome, then we were ready to go.

After I followed the plane-trail back to Nashville, I got in my car and headed to Florence, Alabama. Each year my friends host a fireworks viewing on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee River. Fellow-buskers Dave and Daniel made it this year too!

The drive down was unique, as being away from home made me acutely aware of what I had missed. Oh I will miss the tiramisu, but something you can’t get in Italy is the bottle of Sun Drop I held in my hand.

Scene: Windows down. Old country classics on the radio. Americans being reckless with fireworks from their back porches as I cut my path.

The girl in the gas station who sold me my Sun Drop had an accent as exotic as the Italian tap-dancing girl with the puppy.

I missed the charm of Tennessee. In Rome I always felt underdressed, even after I bought Italian leather shoes of high quality.

Pulling out of the gas station, I pressed down on the gas with my Italian leather shoes of high quality. I noticed they didn’t quite go with my plaid shorts, but in Tennessee I didn’t feel underdressed or ashamed.

That morning I was dressed as an Italian tourist. But as the day wore on, my fashion became a reflection of the paradox that is America, that is The South. I felt right at home.

Some photos I took in Italy

Ideascape: Where you see what hasn’t been done

A specific section of Warren Ellis’ “Do Anything. Thoughts on Comics and Things” struck me.

He explains the idea of ideascape, the place of our individual and collective creativity. He attributes the term to Alan Moore and then fleshes it out using primarily ‘jungle’ as a metaphor. Here’s the part I loved. Ideascape is…

A place where everything connects to the same central ocean. Where we all share the same strange air. Where unthinkable complexity becomes visible, speakable, drawable. Where we can see the paths through the jungle that others have trod, and can see where they’ve crossed, and can see what foliage has not yet been trailbroken.

The implication at the end there is that the more clearly we see the ideascape, the easier it is to see what hasn’t been explored. See also: innovations that haven’t been made.

The lesson is this: As creatives we don’t learn other people’s work to learn what’s trendy. We learn from other creatives so we can see the ideascape more clearly, and therefore more clearly see where innovation is needed.

I thought this was a beautiful thought, especially for writers, musicians, entrepreneurs—anyone who studies a field.

When you are immersing yourself in your craft are you noticing the negative space when you’ve collected all the positive? Or as Warren Ellis puts it in his work, “do you know where you are?”

Creativity is a Discipline

If we were to make charts and graphs comparing me to my immediate family members, I would rank high on creativity and low on discipline.

(Yes, I’ve actually done this.)

Unfortunately for me, creativity is a discipline, so capitalizing on a strength means coming to terms with a weakness.

Here’s one perception of the source of creativity: Lightning bolts strike certain lucky people. This makes their hair fuzzy and activates an inner muse which euphorically hammers out something awesome.

The problem with this perception is that all the creative people I respect have painted me a different picture.

Twyla Tharp dispels this myth in The Creative Habit.

Even Mozart, with all his innate gifts, his passion for music, and his father’s devoted tutelage, needed to get twenty-four youthful symphonies under his belt before he composed something enduring with number twenty-five.

She includes Mozart’s words found in a letter to a friend.

People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I.

Yes of course people are born with different innate strengths and weaknesses. That’s something we don’t have control over, but we have control over other things that can build up our creativity.

Let me stop here before I get too cheerleader on you. There are too many idiots waving pom poms around on the Internet who are using words to incite emotion without offering paths for that emotion to grow into action.

Hope is most powerful when wrapped in warning. Stephen King in On Writing demonstrates:

While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.

I’m not sure I agree with all his premises here, but I do agree with the core of his message: It’s possible to get better. You get better by immersing yourself in your craft via hard work.

This is a universal rule: Getting better at creativity takes hard work.

Read all the good books on writing and the offered ways for getting better are to (1) read as much as you can and (2) write as much as you can.

This is true in any creative field. Ask a musician how to become a better musician and they’ll tell you to (1) listen to as much music as you can and (2) make as much music as you can.

Sure networking, branding, and all that can help you become a musician, writer or other creative professional, but the act of getting better always comes down to doing and seeing how others do.

All this getting better takes time and concentration. If you’re looking for ways to get better at a creative act, for heaven sakes don’t get tied up in all the advice if it’s keeping you from doing.

I love how creative and productivity-thinker Merlin Mann advocates action. In one podcast episode (iTunes link 3:47) he basically tells people to walk away. Don’t get hung up on the process if it’s keeping you from doing.

The universal rule of how to get better is in front of us. We likely need to hear it seven times for it to sink it; But once it sinks in, reminders become noise we can ignore, which gives us more time to invest in our craft.

Meaning, if I comment on a post saying “thanks for the reminder!” referring to the same concept over and over, I’m not learning; I’m wasting my time.

Personally, I want to become a better writer. I currently write fiction 2-3 hours a week. My goal is to write every weekday morning before work for at least an hour. Over the last month I’ve made it three days in a row so far, but not more.

I’ll know I’ve reached my writing goal when my barista knows my order, my name, and when I’ve had a haircut with 24 hours.

I’m writing this blog post at night. If I fall asleep now, I’ll have less than 5 hours before I need to wake up and go write. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but I’m sure going to try.

It’s a comfort knowing people I admire struggle with some of the same things. Kurt Busiek begins his brilliant Astro City comic series with the story of a superhero who races the clock all day. During the day he flies without pleasure. Only in his dreams does he feel he’s actually flying.

Creativity is a discipline. Let’s not forget. Now, may our dreams break into our days.

I ♥ Legos in Space

A Word On Creative Collaboration: Ugly Prom is a community house party my friends put on each year. I wanted to setup a website in a night to help with promotions.

—Hey listen, if you live in Nashville come kick it with us at Ugly Prom on June 5.

So nothing had been designed at this point, and I didn’t have time to design from scratch, so I turned to flickr for inspiration.

I searched flickr for “retro space” images I could adopt or modify using the advanced search tool.

First I came across this sexy, trippy space scene from Drew Herron of Oregon. That I could use.

Then I came across a fella in Germany who had been taking pictures of lego space ships and astronauts. Thank you sir.

I wouldn’t have any way of knowing this before, but I wanted to see lego men fly to a trippy, magical planet claimed on behalf of Ugly Prom.

Sarah Mitchell created the sweet logo inside the flag.

The result.

I live for this random, high octane collaboration. I’m in love with the work of Creative Commons, which makes it easy for creatives to license works others can share, remix, or reuse.

Yes, I want protections in order to make money from my creative endeavors, but in some cases I’d rather give the world greater creative freedom to imagine what’s next.

I regularly publish poems and random things with a creative commons license, and each time I do, I’m thrilled that it may be a small spark of something bigger.

Eventually all the words and images we create will slip from our grasp. Our individual works will become history and the building blocks for the next wave of creatives giving it a go. You can pull the next wave closer if you’d like.

To the extent it doesn’t harm my livelihood, I want to support a spirit of creative collaboration. It’s a reminder my imagination and creativity isn’t limited to the sparks inside my brain alone.

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Ugly Prom logo by Sarah Mitchell; Creative Commons Images: lanuiop’s “visitors from space” and pasukaru76’s “Lego MOCs” set; “I ♥ Legos in Space” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Secondhand Smoke

We finally escaped the madness for a time, at a restaurant that taught you Italian words in the bathroom.

Over bread we resolved to keep each other strong; We wouldn’t turn to smoking like those few months in college.

Over pasta we realized how foolish it was to think we could stand by our neighbors in need, without taking care of each other.

We walked out the side door where the servers smoked. Holding hands we took a deep breath—a drag really—of the secondhand smoke.

We stood by our neighbors then too, introducing ourselves just to make sure they were getting by okay.

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“Secondhand Smoke” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Room in The Inn after Flooding in Nashville

I teach a class on Fridays at Room In the Inn. Today no one showed up for class.

After major flooding in Nashville, things aren’t back to normal for Nashville’s homeless—whatever that means.

I was hoping to ask folks to share stories about how the flood has impacted them so their viewpoints aren’t lost in the shuffle. We may have to wait on that.

All I have is one: According to someone I spoke with, a resident of Tent City shared that during the storms, the individual woke up inside of their sleeping bag, which was floating in water.

Thankfully there’s a homeless newspaper in Nashville. I’m sure their April issue will fill in some gaps for us and tell the stories that may otherwise be lost.

By the way, when you see one, buy a Contributor. A vendor told me since the flooding, there are less pedestrians and less sales.

During the time I usually spend teaching, I’m going to give an update on the state of homelessness in Nashville, at least from the angle of Room in The Inn, where I stopped by today.

Now about the empty classroom: This will happen from time to time, especially if the weather is extra nice or if something else of interest is going on at the same time.

The great room seemed a little more sparse than your average “It’s sunny and more people are outside” kind of days though.

After talking with some staff members, here may be some the largest contributing factors to my empty classroom.

1. Folks are volunteering with the relief efforts or are taking advantage of the influx in temporary work. (Someone passed out flyers at or near Room in The Inn. The flyers gave information for immediate temporary work.)
2. Folks are at different shelters. For instance, some residents from Tent City will stop by Room in The Inn for classes or to collect mail. Since the flooding, less Tent City residents have picked up mail. Staff believe it may be because bus routes have not been consistent. I’m told many Tent City residents are staying at the Lipscomb University temporary shelter.
3. It’s sunny. Why would you want to be inside?

A few updates on Room in The Inn:

1. Overall the Campus for Human Development building looks good. There was flooding upstairs and they lost some things. I don’t know the details.
2. Construction on the expanded building is largely unaffected. Construction crews were at work today. It’s great to see rebuilding continue in the literal sense.

Hopefully the students I teach are safe. I look forward to a full classroom again. Maybe next week. Maybe later.

Here are ways you can help residents of Tent City. Be sure to support Room in The Inn in this time as well. They are rooted and they are doing great work.

Nashville, breathe

Nashville is hurting from flooding. It’s time to act, but remember it’s going to take weeks and months of work for things to get back to normal.

Pace yourself.

Remember to Breathe.

We need to act quickly. But don’t forget the calm word. We need to calmly act quickly. We need calming influences to stay sane. Breathe deeply and others will follow; This is our long-term strategy.

Join Team Green Vest.

Remember to sleep.

We will change the world. We will rebuild Nashville. But we’ll do it by going to bed at a decent hour so we have the strength the next day. We’ll do it by staying hydrated and calm.

Call out your neighbor.

Some of us are not showering to conserve water in this crisis. Good. Some of us are going through car washes. Bad. Call people out, but then don’t let it get to you. If we need to, we’ll organize a steady flow of water into this city by driving our trucks out each weekend.

We have the ability to pull off our backup plan. We have enough people thinking clearly to get us through this. Believe this.

Nashville will rebuild itself even if the national media is slow to cover the situation.

Nashville will rebuild itself even if some people are taking naps in car washes.

Nashville will rebuild itself because people are acting quickly and calmly to do everything they can.

Cry.

Feel like you need to cry? Do it. Cry and soak in what has happened. You’ll need the shock to move you to action. You’ll need to respond and mourn in a way that is healthy to getting you calm. Let any crying you do lead you to a calmer state. Violent crying is ok.

Don’t feel guilty.

Blogging to get the word out is just as important as lifting wet couches out of homes. Working at your normal job to keep our economy afloat is just as important as lifting wet couches out of homes. Join the crew on the weekend.

Pace yourself.

Breathe. That’s the first step.

We will rebuild Nashville—not by acting, but by calmly acting.

Photo credit: Just Us 3

UPDATE: Thanks to The Tennessean for asking to republish this. I feel honored! My friend Jenni took a snapshot of the clip, which appeared in the life section on May 10, 2010.

The Water Tower

Bringing visitors was a sacred act.

He led her to where the first fence ended by a young sampling tree.

On the path he held two things: her hand, and a swiss army knife tucked in his pocket.

Rolling it, he was always conscious of when the blade touched his fingers or thumb.

The tree hanging funny had a face. Its branches creaked like a door.

They could smell the river. It turned through the woods like a snake stretching its scales.

At the end of the path they crawled under a fence, which left their backs wet from the water on the concrete.

A metal cage at the base of the tower protected the ladder to the top.

They got through after she shifted her breasts like a puzzle and after he stripped past his Levi’s.

Looking up, steel rings circled smaller and smaller, higher and higher.

At half mast she smiled. Just climb.

They leaned over the railing at the top and watched the water rise from parking deck hollows and riverbeds.

The faint smell of tar and smoke filled the sky.

Plumes of black began to nibble at the lower stars like disease.

Then came that feeling like you’re falling forward. They looked out at the line of great trees past the city—like the treetops were the red line that showed the horizon in a plane’s cockpit—to make sure it wasn’t moving.

It may have moved a bit.

They passed a cigarette and looked pass the river with their chests pointed north. They became a pack of wolves acutely aware they were wild and free. At any moment one of them would howl into the night.

Tragedy and Jokes: A Nashville flooding roundup

May 1, 2010 was an emotional day in Nashville. In some moments I cried—not from allergies this time, but from hearing a firsthand account of loss. In other moments I laughed after someone perfectly captured the ridiculousness of it all.

In an attempt to process all this, I put the tragedy and jokes juxtaposed in two columns. Their proximity is cruel, but somehow healing.

Tragedy “A portable classroom from a nearby high school floats down a flooded Interstate 24 before breaking apart.” -Zack youtubes WTVF “Video on WKRN of a man being swept away in the flood waters. Seriously, folks- Stay put if you can.” -Nashvillest “Mayor Dean just confirmed that one person has drowned at I-24 and Bell Road.” -Nashvillest The death toll rises to 5. -CNN “Mom calmed me down and told me I needed to regain my composure to avoid an asthma attack. […] Our house is completely gone. Everything […] None of this feels real. I feel like I’m in a poorly scripted movie. […] We drove the three cars down to Hohenwald where we are staying with my parents, probably indefinitely. […] I’ve spent the better part of the evening crying. So now I’m going to settle in, watch a movie, and eat junk food to settle my soul. Tomorrow is when Mike and I can start talking serious things.” -Kaelah Beauregarde gives a recap of her day.

Jokes “my favorite part of abnormal weather in nashville is the hashtags it brings… #thesaturation2010 #splashville #othersituation2010” -Ben Morton “Your oxen died while fording the Interstate.” -Codey Holland makes an Oregon Trail reference. Poor cows… -Jason Haggard Someone posted a $10,000 arch for sale on craigslist “in case it rains even another drop in Nashlantis.” -Nashvillest “Gotta love news weather ‘unintentional’ bloopers. This one from #Nashville Channel 5.” -Ben Copeland “Great.. the national news coverage of Nashville will consist of a mobile home vid & local weathermen drawing a penis on live TV.” -Thomas “Before we get too embarrassed, Memphis got the shaft as well: http://bit.ly/b3DE1b (via @theogeo)” -Nashvillest “Confirming what we’ve always suspected: Memphis only has 1 ball” -Thomas “Nashville WeatherPenis” has 300 fans on Facebook and counting… UPDATE The joke on youtube.

The closest I got to danger was when I drove over a median to get around a flooding road (in the afternoon before things got rough). That and I helped mom dab up some wet carpet.

I’m not ready for May 2. I’m still looking back and forth between these columns with a bit of shock. Unfortunately the weather reports indicate there could be more of the same.

How you can help

Donate.

1. Community Foundation Metro Disaster Relief Fund
2. Middle Tennessee Red Cross

Act.

• UPDATE Sign-up for Nashville flooding volunteer opportunities via Hands on Nashville.
• Antioch United Methodist Church is mobilizing to help clean-up flooded areas near I-24. Contact Pastor Jay at (615) 832-6248 to jump in or check their website for logistics updates.
• These shelters have been activated. If you’re registered to volunteer with the Red Cross, jump in.
• Otter Creek Church has a furniture ministry. Call (615) 373-1782 to donate furniture or call in a need. (Church website)
• Share with others how they can help. Speaking of which, know of more ways people can jump in? Post them on Nashvillest’s open thread as a comment for others.

Pray.

Need help?

Persons with disaster-caused needs are encouraged to call the Red Cross at (615) 250-4300 to find an emergency shelter and talk about assistance that might be available.

For further local resources and updates, see Nashvillest or The Tennessean. We’re thankful for all the hard work folks.

UPDATE The next days were just as emotional.