Category Archives: creativity

Steamed Rice Recipe

creativity, Uncategorized

I like steamed jasmine rice. I acquired a taste for it when I was stationed in the far east. Everywhere I went, from Japan to the Philippines had rice unlike I ever had as a kid. If we had rice, which was not very often, it was the boiled kind.

I learned that the best way to cook rice is in a steamer. And if you want consistency and convenience, an electric steamer is the way to go.

The story of how I acquired my first electric steamer is kind of funny. My sister, 12 years my junior, received one as a wedding gift at her wedding. She didn’t want it, commenting we will never use that. I will take it! My wife gave me a funny look but we wound up with my sister’s steamer.

It took a little coaxing, and probably the fact that I brought home a 20 pound bag of Jasmine rice from the Asian market, but my wife grew to enjoy the steamer and it’s rice almost as much as I do.

One thing we did have when I was a kid was a television. And on that television we had commercials, one of which was about the deluxe bamboo steamer. We never purchased anything off of mail order television commercials so we never got a bamboo steamer. Until now. I ordered one on Amazon but I haven’t cooked anything in it yet. So now I’m doing research on cooking rice in it.

Here’s an article that looks promising. https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-steam-rice/

C.S. Lewis on Writers Like Flannery O’Connor

creativity, philosophy

I’ve been re-reading C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity this week. I was in my 20’s and missed most of its message last time. Here’s an excerpt relevant to what I’ve been wondering about the violent writings of Flannery O’Connor.

“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your whole life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself…

“That explains what always used to puzzle me about Christian writers; they seem to be so very strict at one moment and so very free and easy at another. They talk about mere sins of thought as if they were immensely important: and then they talk about the most frightful murders and treacheries as if you had only got to repent and all would be forgiven. But I have come to see that they are right. What they are always thinking of is the mark which the action leaves on that tiny central self which no one sees in this life but which each of us will have to endure — or enjoy — forever.

Nebraska Poet Ted Kooser

creativity, Video Assignments, Visual Assignments

I was watching this interview with singer/songwriter John Prine, which is wonderful in itself and I recommend watching it. But the host of the Prine interview was also so familiar. Who is that guy? I wondered. Then at the end of the interview, John Prine says, “Thank You, Ted Kooser.” Of course, I know who Ted Kooser is.

Years ago, I read a book by Ted Kooser about writing poetry. I even tried doing it for a while, but I didn’t keep it up. But this morning I wondered where is Ted Kooser now? In searching for the answer to that question, I found his homepage with this short documentary video about Kooser and his life and work.

Ted Kooser says a great deal about the creative process in this piece. Every day, he gets up at 4:30 am each day and works until seven. A part that really struck me is his statement,

Once or twice a month I come up with something that was worth my time—the rest of the time, I’m failing.

I was drawn to the video because I often give my students the assignment of making a mini-documentary about someone interesting. How can you introduce someone to the world through video? Do it like the video Passing Through from Straw Hat Visuals on Vimeo.

Google Doodle Rabbit Hole

cartooning, creativity

You never know where you will end up in your explorations of the World Wide Web.  This morning I happened upon this Google Doodle about Jackie Ormes.

I don’t usually see the Google Doodles since the Chrome browser itself acts as an interface to Google, but this morning I happened to catch a glimpse of this doodle and it caught my attention because of its comics theme. After scrolling through the illustrations, I clicked through to read more since I didn’t recognize the artist who was featured, Jackie Ormes.

After reading Google’s write-up, I decided to do some quick exploration on the web to see some more of Ormes’ work. It wasn’t long before I found The Ohio State University’s blog about cartooning. This Jackie Ormes was truly a groundbreaker.

But as it turns out, so is Liz Montague who drew the Google Doodle that captured my interest. She’s a young cartoonist from Philly who also happens to be the first African-American woman to have a cartoon published in The New Yorker. That’s really cool!

What I enjoyed most about watching Ms. Montague’s bio video above is how she uses various forms of digital media to do her creative work and how she was able to become a groundbreaker herself through persistence and practice.

Manhattan Arts Center Exhibit & Sale

cartooning, creativity, drawing

Tonight I did something I have wanted to do for a long time but never have. I finally submitted some artwork to an art show/exhibit. It has been over two decades since I have done anything like this. I once submitted a postcard design to the Kansas Artists Postcard competition back int 1999 and was accepted and I haven’t done anything since.

I submitted several works I’ve created over the last few months as I think about the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm. I really enjoy working with pen or brush and ink. These are some of the pictures I submitted. It will be interesting to hear what they think.