Litmus Test for Monkey Cartoon

The litmus test for this cartoon posted in the N.Y. Post on February 18, 2009 being racist is this: As a stand alone document what are the connotations of this picture? Historically, primates have been used to depict and degrade Black people. However, a spokesman for the news organization says that this is a parody of the chimp that was shot by police a couple days prior to the cartoon being published. The problem with this statement is that if no one knew about the shooting of the chimp days before they would not understand the "joke." Therefore, as a stand alone document this cartoon appears racist to many Whites and Blacks. Since the President of the United States is an African-American and did not write the Stimulus Bill it points to a different message than what the cartoonist is asserting. African-American leaders like Al Sharpton are appalled by this apparent setback for our nation and is leading the growing support to boycott of the N.Y. Post and other legal action.

Rihanna and Chris Brown Domestic Violence

This is a Pisces (Rihanna born February 20, 1988) and Taurus (Chris Brown born May 5, 1989) relationship. True to their sign these astrological characteristics bless Rihanna with a shapely figure and Chris Brown with a sultry voice. When a composite is done using both their birth charts they become an Aries energy. Aries is ruled by Mars (the planet of war).

Sun Opposition Mars
This is the most competitive, argumentative, and pugnacious of all Sun-Mars combinations.
It indicates particularly that the two of you have very different energy levels, which can cause all kinds of conflict. The negative and disruptive effects of this aspect can be mitigated if you both are very secure in yourselves. In that case, instead of regarding this competitive energy as a threat, you will take it as a challenge. This energy would be most difficult to harness creatively in a love relationship. In a business relationship or a friendship it would be easier to deal with.

Moon Conjunct Venus
The conjunction of composite Moon and composite Venus is a most positive aspect for any personal relationship. It indicates a strong feeling of love between you that you will express openly. The relationship may even have something of a dreamy quality, as if it were too beautiful to be true. The basic inner strength of this relationship should be great enough to overcome all but the worst problems. In general, this is one of the most positive and useful aspects that a composite chart can have for a successful personal relationship.

Since Chris Brown admits coming from a home where he witnessed abuse it would be beneficial for him to seek therapy to resolve these issues within himself. At the same time Rihanna should attend a class on domestic violence to learn what must be done in these instances and to prevent herself from being a victim again. The two are very young so there is a lot of room for growth, maturity and help with their individual and collective relationship problems.

May God bless them both.

What is creativity?

To be creative is to use ones gifts in the material world as in painting, style in wearing clothes or the way one decorates their home. Creativity is expressed in music with instruments, voice, mixing, scratching, notes, rhythms, etc. Creativity is a gift from above. It can show ones perspective on life and death. How one views life, how one views problems, how one views opportunities; all these things are creative events or not.

To be individually creative is show flair and sometimes genius, in your end product or statement (e.g. flash of brilliance). A creative professional might be a fashion designer, producer, journalist, novelist, director, singer, painter, event planner, or teacher . . . you can find professionally creative people everywhere. They show their strength by getting results, making things beautiful and/or making mischief.

Creativity can be used for bad as in bank robberies, fraud, and disguise. Have you heard about Bernie Madoff who made off with billions of other people’s money with a pyramid scheme that appeared like an exclusive respectable investment company (Forbes, 2008)? Things that can keep one from being creative are negativity, stress, noise, and lack of sleep, lack of food, ignorance, and fear. Or one can get arrested : )

The creative process is like strategic planning. Ideas move from the mind to paper or into words then collaborate and marinate until fruition.

Reference
Lenzner, Robert Dec 12, 2008. “Brazen fraud ensnares well-known investors and
nonprofits and gives hedge funds another black eye”. 2009 Forbes.com LLC Retreived
on 1/7/2009
www.forbes.com/2008/12/12/madoff-ponzi-hedge-pf-ii-in_rl_1212croesus_inl.html - 33k -

The Role of Family in a Child's Creativity

“When a creative child is born into such a family, the family will change “in terms of what the family wants and has been doing” (Dacey and Lennon, 1998)

Chapter 3 of the text offers many ways the family contributes to the creative child in the form of theories, empirical studies and research studies. One thing is true is that no one thing brings about the circumstances of developing a creative child. For example, simply going to a special school would not guarantee a particular outcome. What is interesting is that “creative children suffer a larger number of traumatic incidents than ordinary children do” (Dacey and Lennon, 1998). The text also points out various activities that illustrate achievements of highly creative youth such as choreographing, producing a radio show, and playing the lead in a play on multiple occasions). This chapter also identifies types and examples of creativity in terms of figural sculpture, symbolic mathematics, semantic journalism, and social psychology terms. These would be children with an aptitude for architecture, music, playwriting, and teaching.

Another concept on creativity that was presented in this chapter was “nature versus nurture” which supports the position that “environmental factors such as parenting style and home atmosphere play a greater role than genetics in determining creativity” (Darcey and Lennon, 1998). The environmental factors can from abuse, poverty, and handicap.

Thomas Edison said that creativity is “one part inspiration and ninety-nine parts perspiration” (Dacey and Lennon, 1998). I tend to agree. In layman’s terms, creative people are hard workers and do not just rely on their talent or hope for the best in a final outcome. Creative youth put a lot into their entire presentation from the groundwork to footwork.

Reference:
Dacey, J. and Lennon, K. (1998). Understanding creativity: The interplay of biological,
psychological, and social factors. Jossey-Bass. (pp. 16, 18-19)

The Four P's Creativity

C ombining
R elativity
E xcellence
A bstractness
T alent
I ntuition
V aluable
E xperiences

The four P’s of Creativity is a variety of approaches to creativity that have come about from more than a century of creative research

Creativity an attribute of:
Product-some ideas, solutions, and designs are more creative than others;
Person-some individuals are more creative than others;
Press-some physical and social environments produce more creativity than others;
Process-some thinking techniques produce more creativity than others
(Santanen & Vreede, 2004)

Summary of the best applications and techniques using the Four P’s of creativity:

Product - The product perspective of the Four P’s frames creativity as a property of the outcomes produced by a creative endeavor. The definition of creative product includes a physical object, a theoretical system, an equation; something both novel and appropriate to an open-ended task; has the power to transform the constraints and boundaries of a situation (Santanen & Vreede, 2004).

Measuring the creativity of a Product
- Uniqueness
- Beauty/Novelty
- Helpfulness
- User-Friendly

Person - The person perspective of the Four P’s frames creativity as a property of people and studies the causes of differences in creativity among populations. One device for identifying creative persons is the use of an adjective checklist which contains 300 adjectives that describe personal traits (e.g., sexy, capable, clever, snobbish, original, reflective).

Measuring Creativity in a Person
- Positive self image
- Needs personal independence
- Wide Interests
- Tendency to become over-involved
- Reacts positively to challenges

Press - The press perspective of the Four P’s frames creativity as an interaction between people and their environments. Some environmental elements found to lead to creativity include: social interaction; intrinsic (e.g., belonging to a thing by its very nature 1) and; extrinsic (e.g., not essential or inherent; not a basic part or quality; extraneous 2) motivation; the presence of sufficient challenge; freedom; autonomy; access to required resources and; organizational support.

Evaluating t he Creativity of Press
- Encourages goal setting
- Encourages risk taking
- Sufficient challenge
- Freedom
- Resources

Process - The process perspective of the Four P’s frames creativity as a way of thinking and studies the stages of the creative process. Osborn originally predicted that a verbally interacting group could produce at least twice as many unique ideas (Santanen & Vreede, 2004). Production blocking results occur because only one person at a time may use an oral communication channel. Early research with Group Support Systems (GSS) demonstrated that anonymous brainstorming teams produced substantially more unique ideas than did identified teams unlike group think which is “thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas” (Wikipedia, 2009).

Evaluating creativity in Process
- Verbally interacting groups
- Anonymous brainstorming
- Anonymous group collaboration software
- Building on a logical model
- Sustained and complex mental effort over time


References:
extrinsic. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved January 16, 2009,
from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/extrinsic

Groupthink. Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia. Retrieved on 1/16/2009:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

Intrinsic. 9n.d Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved January 16, 2009,
from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intrinsic
Santanen, E., Briggs, R., & De Vreede, G. (2004, Spring). Causal Relationships
in Creative Problem Solving: Comparing Facilitation Interventions for Ideation. Journal of Management Information Systems, 20(4), 167-197. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from Business Source Complete database.