Back to School: Creativity and the Brown Bag Lunch

A few weeks ago, inspired by the Summer Challenges and Back to School, my mom suggested doing a post on favorite school lunches. I thought this was a great idea, but I wanted to connect it back to the main themes of The Paper Compass: creativity and paper. So while my mom, a gourmet, was thinking about what was in the lunch, I became intrigued about what the lunch was in.

Paper and lunches have long been connected by a happy history of “the brown bag.” The concept of the brown bag lunch is so prevalent that it has now become a popular corporate title for casual seminars that occupy the lunch hour. There was a time though before brown bags, and there is even a time (which we are entering now in our environmental consciousness) after brown bags and this history of the evolution of the brown bag, both personal and social, began to interest me.

During my first class of Creative Thinking we discuss the challenges that block, stunt or thwart our creative growth. One of the natural challenges happens around adolescence. Not only do we emerge from childhood to an awareness of what other people think, but we also become aware of our ideas as they exist in a social sphere. This can lead to a filtering of ideas and sometimes a suppression of creativity or creative expression.

This is interesting to me, as by the time I reached middle school, if not a grade or two earlier, there was a strict no lunchbox policy. Lunchboxes were viewed as “baby-ish” while brown paper bags were “cool.” In fact, the more unobtrusive and bland the vehicle for the lunch, the better.

The irony, and eloquent example of the stunting of creative expression, is that lunchboxes were very much an expression of our individuality. Yes, they (more often than not) were the marketing vehicles for pop culture and Saturday morning cartoons, but in choosing your lunchbox you got to showcase something that you liked, that you felt passionate about. I still have fond memories of my pre-school lunchbox. It was a Muppet lunchbox in goldenrod yellow with an image of the backroom of the Muppet Show on the front. (It was also the cause of The Great Lunchbox Switch that resulted in my first taste of Oreos, but that is a story for another time.)

This is not to say that individuality is lost with the onset of brown bag lunches. In fact, they become interesting for being so similar only to reveal individuality through not only what is in them, but sometimes what is on them. One of my students from my summer session of Creative Thinking was inspired for the final project based on the memory that his mother would draw superheroes on his lunch bags because his family could not afford lunchboxes when he was young. One of my coworkers, a talented photographer, helped a friend turn a brown bag lunch into a memorable interview tool, with each of the objects in the brown bag lunch becoming storytelling elements that represented unique facts about her.

Often, when we have transitioned to something that is “socially the norm”, like lunchboxes to brown bags, or backpacks to briefcases, it provides us with a uniform template with which to examine that which makes us unique.

I would like to thank my mom for the inspiration for this post. While I was blessed with a childhood and adolescence of wonderful school lunches, for the record: nothing stands out more than my elementary school lunch memories of peanut butter and honey or cream cheese and jelly sandwiches.

If you are feeling inspired to think about your own lunchbox or brown bag history here are a few exercises to get you started:

• If you had a lunchbox when you were young, what did it look like? What was on it? Why did you choose it (if you got to choose)? Write down your memories or create a picture of it in your sketchbook.
• If you had a favorite lunchbox, now lost to time, think about purchasing the same version online. Vintage lunchboxes make great keepsake boxes.
• When did you start bringing a brown bag lunch? Do you remember why? Did you or whoever packed your lunch do anything to make the bag unique? Use your sketchbook to capture your memories.
• What was your favorite school lunch? Think about what the contents reveal about you at that time or that time in history. Indulge your inner creative by making your favorite school lunch for you or a loved one. Eat it at work or take it on a picnic.
• If you bring your lunch to work, what do you carry it in? What does it say about you? With all the reusable, eco-friendly containers there are designs to fit every personality and desire for self expression. Think about treating yourself to a stylized adult version of a lunchbox.

Any inspiration from the above, pictures of childhood lunchboxes or memories of school lunch are welcome as comments!

A Month of Transitions: Celebrating "Back to School"

“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms.” –Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) in an email to Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) in You’ve Got Mail

Here in New England, summer made a memorable exit with a relentless five day heat wave followed by a small hurricane. After which, Labor Day weekend dawned with unmarred cerulean skies, the morning air holding a crispness that promised that the transition of the season is near.

September, as it falls in natural time, is a calendar month rich in transitions. It heralds the end of summer and the official beginning of fall with the Autumn Equinox.

In many faiths it marks a new year or a new way of thinking, such as Alban Elfed (Light in Autumn), a Celtic celebration of the Autumn Equinox, when the perfect balance of day and night is a chance to reflect on what has been learned (harvested) throughout the year and how it will be used or applied. In Judaism, the first of the high holy days begins with Rosh Hashanah, the “Jewish New Year,” the beginning of the civil year for people, animals and legal contracts.

More commonly known to all of us though, this time of year is marked in both the Academic and Retail Calendars as Back to School.

With a new fall semester of Creative Thinking officially beginning tomorrow, my thoughts have been increasingly of the “back to school” variety. Time is planned, syllabi are written, texts are read and re-read, lectures reinvigorated. And yet, this is all still the beginning. As the beautiful late summer weather beckons, I sit with my laptop amid a half-built fortress of books and notes that consumes the dining room table, and remind myself (not half-jokingly) of Aesop’s fable,The Ant and the Grasshopper.

As someone who loves learning and paper, and who also has the retail calendar deeply ingrained in their psyche, I will (unsurprisingly) confess that I have many positive associations with the fall. From new school supplies, to sweaters and boots, to the arrival of candy corn and Halloween merchandise, and even the hint of Christmas merchandise to follow, the fall always feels like a new start, a time to focus my attention and achieve new things.

On the other hand it means relinquishing the carefree, daylight-filled hours of summer which hold so much inspiration. But for me, that means it is time to take those ideas (many inspired by the Summer Challenges) and return to the page with a deeper motivation and care for my craft.

Even if you are no longer on the academic calendar, the workplace environment still harbors evidence of the semesters, with people returning from vacations, desks filling up, and the preparations in place to meet the goals of the final quarter of the fiscal year.

Just like the religious and seasonal traditions above, I believe that Back to School should be a chance for mindful celebration to mark the shift in our intensity of focus. As with all things Paper Compass, “celebration” is interpretive and provides a great chance to tap your memory, inspire your creative side, or just have a moment to play.

Take time this month to indulge in one (or all) of the following:

• Rekindle a love of pen (or pencil) on paper: Rediscover, fix up, or purchase a new writing instrument. It can be whatever strikes your fancy from a No. 2 pencil to a fountain pen with turquoise ink refills.
• Treat yourself to an after school snack: Martha Beck in The Joy Diet writes about reclaiming part of her childhood by indulging in milk and cookies in the afternoon along with some down time. I highly recommend this, especially as a great time for jump starting your creative thinking.
• Add an element of organization: Take time to look through the back to school supply aisle, pick up something that will help unclutter your work area.
• Buy a new Back to School item or outfit: (Even if you are not going anywhere near an academic institution) Fashion is an outward expression of creativity, make sure to let yours out.
• Meditation on learning: Think about something new that you want to learn or refocus on.

No matter what about celebrating Back to School inspires you, set goals for yourself this month and make sure to "do your homework”—you’ll be surprised at how much progress you’ve made by the time the "calendar" New Year rolls around.

Summer Challenge Week Eight: Alfresco

Challenge #8: Alfresco. This week (and the remaining weeks of summer) take the time to be outside. Picnic, read, work, eat, daydream, lay in the sun, do something productive in a new place, or unproductive in a favorite haunt. Most importantly, savor it. Summer goes by all too quickly. For this alfresco adventure, bring your sketchbook along, or document your time outside with photos, a story, or a memento and share here on The Paper Compass

When you are someone who loves language, you know that sometimes there are words that just make your whole being perk up. For me, the word alfresco is one of them. Not only does it roll off the tongue in lovely, velveteen Italian, but when added to another word, it makes the occasion infinitely more exciting, such as, “We are dining alfresco this evening.” Not just dining, but how lovely! dining alfresco. (It is also a word that is just plain fun to say out loud.)

Alfresco, quite simply, means outside or out-of-doors. In a more literal translation, dating back to the mid-1700s, it means: a cool place. It is the perfect summertime word. And while most commonly used to refer to dining outside, for me it is a summertime mindset.

Unlike any other season, the summer is about living alfresco. The world beckons lush and humid, the days are long, the evenings soft. In the summer, my back porch becomes my office, my breakfast nook, my reading area, and general all purpose place that I can be found. I appreciate being surrounded by my potted herbs and flowers, the breeze, the light, the birdsong. With that enjoyment also come the sublime knowledge that only too soon I will be inside listening to the radiators hiss. Wearing sweaters. Drinking my coffee hot. So I know that every moment on the porch, outside in the summer, is to be savored.

More than any other time of year, in the remaining weeks of summer we should take the time to step outside. To take ourselves off to that place in the shade to read, to dine, to nap. This week, for the final summer challenge, I encourage you to be inspired by the word alfresco. Take the time this week (and in the remaining weeks of summer) to take your activities outside, whether it is reading the paper and having your coffee or even as elaborate as borrowing the office data projector and using a sheet across a laundry line to have an outdoor movie night. Be creative with your alfresco adventure, or just take the time to savor your time in the sun.

This brings us to the Eighth (and final) Summer Challenge: Alfresco. This week (and the remaining weeks of summer) take the time to be outside. Picnic, read, work, eat, daydream, lay in the sun, do something productive in a new place, or unproductive in a favorite haunt. Most importantly, savor it. Summer goes by all too quickly. For this alfresco adventure, bring your sketchbook along, or document your time outside with photos, a story, or a memento and share here on The Paper Compass.

Summer Challenge Week Seven: Adventures

Challenge #7: Last week we explored how summer is often a time for journeys. This week we will take on the (often more accessible) Summer Adventure in all its interpretations. Key to this challenge is considering: What does adventuring mean to you? When was the last time you went on something that felt like an adventure? Adventures are a key ingredient to creative thinking. They should feel new, fresh, exciting, unknown, exploratory, and playful—which means that adventures can often be a frame of mind. With that as your touchpoint, think about all the new adventures you can have in a day—whether it means going to a new coffee shop or taking a different route to work, or planning a day trip to a different part of the state. This week, plan an adventure, big or small. Go adventuring and record in your sketchbook any inspiration, ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

I am seated Indian style on the familiar floor of my local yoga studio, while a petite Korean woman works her way down the uneven row of people seated around me. I am watching her methodically remove a small patch of rubbing alcohol from the crown of the heads of the people before me, and then insert a long thin acupuncture needle with a quick tap, tap into the Sahasrara, also known as Heaven’s Gate, or, more simply, the Seventh Chakra.

It is Saturday afternoon and I have paid a small entrance fee for this special open-to-the-public workshop. While I had been initially curious by the posters at the yoga center, it was the open schedule of my afternoon that was the tipping point. I didn’t have a reason to not go, plus yoga events almost always make me feel joyous afterwards.

I reminded myself of this as the line of people sitting to my right, with what looked like small antennae sticking out of their heads, progressed closer to me. I tried to focus on my breathing, but I kept worrying if it was going to hurt, or if my over-active imagination, kept under extremely tight rein in my Clark Kent-like guise, was going to come bursting out of the top of my head, unleashed with the prick of the needle and fill the room with a dark, rotating cloud-like substance that would sweep out over the suburbs like a level 5 hurricane.

“Are you alright?” the Spiritual Acupuncturist casually, and not unkindly, asks me. She then distracts me by handing me the wrapper for the four inch needle that she then tap, taps into my head.

It barely even pinches.

And then there is a slow sensation of warmth trickling down from the top of my head, down my neck, and slowly making its way to the tips of my fingers. The sensation reminds me of a game my mom used to play with my brother, sister and I where she would break an imaginary egg on the crown of our heads, her hands spreading out from the top of our skulls, her fingers trailing slowly through our hair and down the sides of our faces like imaginary ribbons of egg whites, causing a sensation both hypnotic and full of creepy-crawlies. We would inevitably squirm away, only to come back and ask her to do it again.

This is the peculiar and wonderful moment where I realize that I am very glad that I came to the yoga seminar, as I am having an Official Adventure—even if it is in the unexpected form of sitting on the floor with a large needle sticking out of my head.

And this is the inspiration for the Seventh Summer Challenge: Adventures. Last week we explored how summer is often a time for journeys. This week we will take on the (sometimes more accessible) Summer Adventure in all its interpretations. Key to this challenge is considering: What does adventuring mean to you? When was the last time you went on something that felt like an adventure?

Adventures are a key ingredient to creative thinking. They should feel new, fresh, exciting, unknown, exploratory, and playful, which means that adventures can often be a frame of mind. With that as your touchpoint, think about all the new adventures you can have in a day—whether it means going to a new coffee shop or taking a different route to work, or planning a day trip to a different part of the state. This week, plan an adventure (big or small). Go adventuring and record in your sketchbook any inspiration, ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

Summer Challenge Week Six: Wanderlust

Challenge #6: Summer is traditionally a time for “trips” or vacation travel. What travel memories does your summer hold? Indulge this week in remembering a trip or journey that you have taken. Do you have mementos of the trip to spark memories? Consider how your travels have influenced you and/or what new travel memories you are currently creating or planning? Celebrate by indulging this week in a related foreign film, book or food, for a trip (past or future). If you write or paint of it, use all of your senses to capture the experience. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

I awake in my bed in suburban Boston, surrounded by memories of South Africa. They follow me throughout my morning routine like the wispy tendrils of remembered dreams. In the shower, I can see again in my mind’s eye the golden colors of the sun setting on the mountains behind the guest house in Swellendam. With this image comes the memory of the day at De Hoop (picture above), returning, the scent of Rooibos tea in a rose-patterned tea cup, and the sounds of sheep in the yard next door as twilight falls. Brushing my teeth, I recall the dusky light and oaky scent of the cave on our wine tasting in Stellenbosch. And at breakfast, I remember the feeling of planning our sight-seeing route, and the essence of grand adventure and newness that came with the start each day in Cape Town.

I look at the July calendar and understand—it is exactly three summers ago to the day that my brother and I joined my sister in South Africa after she had finished her study abroad program there. We traveled for ten days from Cape Town to Swellendam and back, days filled with bright vibrant memories and amazing things to see, taste, experience. Every year at this time, memories of the trip float to the surface of my mind and follow me throughout the day.

These pockets of memories that emerge every year on and around the exact travel date, are not just exclusive to my trip to South Africa. In June, I have memories of Segovia, cava, the squares of Madrid, and the site of my sister kneeling on the marble floors of the palace taking pictures of the painted and gilded ceilings. In mid-August, I think of the Seine, the flowers in Monet’s garden brilliant under a light rain, and cafes in Paris. There are other trips, large and small, local and foreign, forming a veritable travel guide of memories throughout the year but the most cherished and most exotic ones seem to be gathered in the traditional time of summer wanderlust.

These memories come from a place deeper than my active conscious. I am in awe of the map of memories that is held in our bodies, and its way of saying, Hello, I know this heat, this light, this time before. Remember the taste of the freshly baked chocolate éclair on that hot and dusty street in Paris? You are a Student of the World, there is much more to you than worrying about work emails and dirty dishes. Remember that.

I like to think that these embedded memories are similar to what author Sarah Ban Breathnach calls, in her book Simple Abundance, “anniversaries of the heart.” While that term embraces, respectively, much more intimate and emotional experiences than just times of travel, I like to think that, for me, the spirit of adventure that emerges on the anniversaries of these travel dates are small times of celebration—a time to enjoy a well of exotic memories and passionate experiences, beyond the pattern of my day-to-day life.

All this is inspiration for the Sixth Summer Challenge: Wanderlust. Summer is traditionally a time for “trips” or vacation travel. What travel memories or “anniversaries of the heart” does your summer hold?

Indulge this week in remembering a trip or journey that you have taken. Do you have mementos of the trip to spark memories? Consider how your travels have influenced you and /or what new travel memories are you currently creating or planning? Celebrate by indulging this week in a related foreign film, book or food, for either a trip past or future. If you write or paint of it, use all of your senses to capture the experience. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

Summer Challenge Week Five: Spontaneous Summer Play

Challenge #5: Summer invites play. What was the last act of spontaneous play that you indulged in? Who are the people that inspire you to spontaneous play? While it is a little less permissible for adults to indulge in spontaneous play, it is highly rewarding. Take a risk (a safe risk, please) this week and do something spontaneous or that is reminiscent of childhood play, whether it is a forgotten sport, time playing tether ball, or running through the neighbor’s sprinkler after a jog. Indulge this week in a playful activity or game with all your senses. Consider how it makes you feel and the memories that it inspires. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

A few weeks ago, from the safe vantage point of the back porch where I was working, I was privy to one of the most ruthless and brilliant water gun battles of all time that took place at the neighbor’s house. Having apparently soaked the grass of the backyard to a sponge-like consistency while playing on the Slip-n-Slide, the neighbor children and their friends moved on to stalking each other with Super Soakers and using plastic winter sleds, unearthed from the garage, as shields. The moment of decisive victory came when an empty trash barrel was filled with water and up-ended on the Dennis-the-Menace-type middle child who unwittingly came to meet it as he ran around the front corner of the house.

Even though this act resulted in the wrath of the supervising parent, emerging from the back door to reiterate that the instructions were that everyone was to stay in the backyard, the enthusiasm of the gaggle of skinny wet-bathing suit clad children didn’t seem diminished, just refocused, as they jettisoned off to their next adventure.

It was remarkable to watch that kind of 100% energy and spontaneity for play, which I feel that adults are rarely given permission to indulge in unless it is a competitive structured sport. While there is nothing wrong with that, it’s my opinion, that it is the unstructured, spontaneous kind of play that is the most memorable.

Unstructured play leads to great creativity and great moments of humor. When my siblings and I were younger, we never were satisfied with a game or toy as is. This lead to the creation of such hybrid games as Medicine Ball Soccer (which was more like rugby and amazingly I can attest to no broken feet), Moving Target Bad Mitten (self-explanatory, no net needed), and doing things like emptying out a piñata full of candy and then filling it with fireworks. The tricky part then of being how to light it. (See image above for final result. I do not recommend trying this.)

Amazingly (and thankfully) we are all still uninjured and better yet, still doing these things when we get together.

All of this is the inspiration for the fifth Summer Challenge: Spontaneous Summer Play. What was the last act of spontaneous play that you indulged in? Who are the people that inspire you to spontaneous play? While it is a little less permissible for adults to indulge in spontaneous play, it is highly rewarding. Take a risk (a safe risk, please) to do something spontaneous or that is reminiscent of childhood play, whether it is a forgotten sport, time playing tether ball, or running through the neighbor’s sprinkler after a jog.

Take the time to indulge this week in a playful activity or game. As always, indulge in the activity with all your senses. Consider how it makes you feel and the memories that it inspires. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts and share here on The Paper Compass.

Summer Challenge Week Four: Sunrise, Sunset and High Noon

Challenge #4: In this interpretive challenge, think about the segmented times of the summer day from sunrise to afternoon to sunset (or after). Do you have a favorite? Pick a time to observe a certain point in the day, whether it is familiar to you, such as a summer afternoon or unfamiliar, such as getting up extra early one morning to see the sunrise. This is also a great challenge to think about time as a setting in movies, books, or even your own routine. This opens the challenge up to include watching a movie this week, such as High Noon, or taking the time to listen to music such as Chopin’s Nocturnes. This week, take in your time-exploring experience with all your senses. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts that it inspires and share here on The Paper Compass.

“The days are fruits and our job is to eat them.” -Jean Giono, Fullness of Days

Unlike other seasons, the summer is characterized as having an abundance of hours. This comes both from the extended amount of daylight and from the often playful or relaxing activities of summer, such as going to the beach or vacation time.

Currently we are in the heart of what has been known since ancient times as the Dog Days of Summer. The Greeks and Romans believed that the sultry heat and limited rainfall was a result of the rage of Sirius, associated with the Dog Star, which is one of the brightest stars, burning in the constellation Canis Major. The Dog Days were originally believed to be an evil time of hysterics, frenzies, mad dogs, fevered men, and languid creatures.

Modern conveniences such as air conditioning, refrigerators, Slurpees, and movie theaters have helped alleviate some of the corpulent evilness of the Dog Days, but I believe that there are some oppressive and slow summer moments where you can still feel the thin veil between the productive march of modern everyday-progress and the sinister, lazy nature of the Dog Days.

While much has been written about the pleasantness of a summer afternoon, there are not many odes to Dog Day afternoons. These are the almost unbearable high hours of the day that feel like the Sargasso Sea of summer, weighted and ponderous, with time hanging as thick as the air.

It is these afternoons that are actually one of my favorite things about summertime. They are full of stillness and invite you to be aware of the things that are absent: birdsong, the breeze, shadows. For me it embodies the nature of waiting and is a time pregnant with possibilities. Walking home from the T or to the library on a Dog Day afternoon, I often do some of my best plot line and character development thinking. Often in stories (or the weather) stillness forebodes the coming of the storm, and it is a great time to think about your character when they are not engaged in action but in solitude.

Also, the Dog Days of summer sometimes evoke in me a rare feeling of restlessness and boredom. This is a great combination for tinkering or for picking up a new book. Sometimes it is also just a good time to pour a cold glass of sun tea and sit as still as the air.

All of this is the inspiration for the fourth Summer Challenge: Sunrise, Sunset and High Noon. This is an interpretive challenge, so feel free to go where you feel inspired to. Think about the segmented times of the summer day from sunrise to a summer afternoon to sunset (or after). Do you have a favorite? This week, pick a time to observe a certain point in the day, whether it is familiar to you, such as a summer afternoon or unfamiliar, such as getting up extra early one morning to see the sunrise. Explore that time as a full sensory experience. How does it feel? What do you observe about it? What memories or emotions are connected to it?

This is also a great challenge to think about time as a setting in movies, books, or even your own routine. This opens the challenge up to include watching a movie this week, such as High Noon, or taking the time to listen to music such as Chopin’s Nocturnes. Take in your time-exploring experience with all your senses. Record in your sketchbook any ideas, illustrations, or thoughts that it inspires and share here on The Paper Compass.

If this post sparked your thinking on time, I highly recommend Slow Time by Waverly Fitzgerald as a further exploration of your relationship with the hours. You can also visit her blog: Living in Season for quarterly inspiration.