Challenge #5: Summer Love. Summer gives us a unique time to be bold, to feel open, and to experiment. In this interpretive challenge, think about your own summer loves—romantic and/or experimental (such as a new idea, endeavor, or hobby.) How did you feel when they were happening? How did you feel after the summer ended? If you were to bring more romance or creative expression to your summer, how would you do so? If you were to create your own Summer of Love in the remaining weeks of summer, what would you do? How would it affect your daily life or routine?
With this as your touchpoint, this week meditate on summer love. You may be inspired by the core concepts of experimentation, openness and freedom of expression OR you may remember a relationship that made your summer memorable. Summer love, especially romance lends itself to many mediums for storytelling—visual, literary, or musical. You may also be inspired to experiment with integrating some Summer of Love creative expression into your weekly routine. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to record in your sketchbook any inspiration, ideas, illustrations, or thoughts—then share here on The Paper Compass.
From Sandy and Danny to Sammi and Ronnie, summer has always been a season of love. Whether it is the seductive call of a warm night, the baring of skin, or the inevitable end date, summer romances are well documented in literature, movies, and what seems like an almost endless repertoire of songs. The dictionary defines romance as something that is fanciful, impractical, idealized and sentimental. Add in summer and you get the classic definition of summer romance: two (sometimes unlikely) people being open to taking a risk on their attraction, with no idea where it will go after the summer ends. In the case of Sandy and Danny in the musical Grease, we get to see the challenges of the romance when school returns. In the case of Sammi and Ronnie on the Jersey Shore, we get to watch multiple episodes of bad behavior. Love is never easy.
Summer heightens emotions. Like attracts like. People (especially youth) gather.
In the summer of 1967, roughly 100,000 people gathered in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, creating a hub for the hippie counterculture movement that spread across the US during what was known as The Summer of Love. It was a pivotal summer in history, when the 60’s counterculture gained awareness in the US as a cultural revolution and the movement spread through similar gatherings in many other cities in the US, Canada and Europe. Synonymous with creative expression, communal living, free love, psychedelic drugs and music, The Summer of Love was also seen as a social experiment. “It was about exploration, finding new ways of expression, being aware of one’s existence” Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir said of Haight-Ashbury and The Summer of Love.
Just like any summer relationship (think Sammi and Ronnie more than Sandy and Danny) The Summer of Love, had consequences both good and bad that have shaped who we are today. Beat poet Michael McClure says of the summer of 1967, "If these young people hadn't declared the possibility of a new culture, a new family, a new tribe, believing in peace, nature, sexuality, the positive use of psychedelic drugs -- if they hadn't been there to broaden and deepen the hundreds of thousands and then millions of people who were broadened and deepened by this -- we would be in an even bigger [global environmental and economic] stew."
Whether it is a summer love or The Summer of Love, both of these experiences—one personal and one cultural—at their heart are about being open and taking creative risks. Summer love is about the freedom of exploring new ideas and new relationships without the restraints of the analytical mind of fall and winter. Most importantly, summer love is about the very important creative principle of experimenting.*
All this is the inspiration for the fifth summer challenge: Summer Love. Summer gives us a unique time to be bold, to feel open, and to experiment. In this interpretive challenge, think about your own summer loves—romantic and/or experimental (such as a new idea, endeavor, or hobby.) How did you feel when they were happening? How did you feel after the summer ended? If you were to bring more romance or creative expression to your summer, how would you do so? If you were to create your own Summer of Love in the remaining weeks of summer, what would you do? How would it affect your daily life or routine?
With this as your touchpoint, this week meditate on summer love. You may be inspired by the core concepts of experimentation, openness and freedom of expression OR you may remember a relationship that made your summer memorable. Summer love, especially romance lends itself to many mediums for storytelling—visual, literary, or musical. You may also be inspired to experiment with integrating some Summer of Love creative expression into your weekly routine. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to record in your sketchbook any inspiration, ideas, illustrations, or thoughts—then share here on The Paper Compass.
*The terms “risk” and “experimenting” are to be used within the context of creative thinking. Please be safe!
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