The Rabbit Room

As a mom with a child who struggles with the entire academic scene and thrives in dance and other physical expressions of emotion, creativity, and intelligence, this encourages me greatly. I’m sure it will encourage my daughter as well. Often times we don’t see how we unknowingly submit to putting our children (or anyone) into nicely wrapped boxes, be it a label of some sort or even a good track toward a good thing. What freedom can be found in knowing that there is, indeed, nothing wrong with us and that we are, indeed, simply a dancer or a writer or a moving thinker or a valuable expression of a wildly imaginative Creator, God the Father. “And our task is to educate their whole being so they can face this future… we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.”

This was wonderful. Super funny and well said. I loved it when he said, “My son is four everywhere.”

I appreciated his point that creativity happens most at the intersection of disparate thought disciplines.

My love for stories and music sometimes makes me resent the time I must spend learning about business, or minor home repair, or financial planning, or even (Lord forgive me) parenting. Yet the clearest glimpses into His character, and the best creative work, comes, as Sir Ken said, from osmosis between the compartments of life.

I’m all for the economics of specialization, but it seems God designed us to be well-rounded.

you’re most likely going to hate me for not having invited you, but he was our inservice speaker in february.

UN. REAL.

sorry for not having the retrospective forethought. wha?..

The whole point about the education system being designed to produce university professors was fascinating–since I myself got nearly there (stopped before the PhD). I teach as an adjunct professor, but my heart ultimately is much more interested in my poetry and music, so maybe I’m filling out the rest of my education.

Also, the part of about the conference disco–hilarious.

As a Math Professor, this truth hurts.

What a joy to hear someone who is respected in society to be touching the hearts of so many people and making a difference.

Thank you so very much to Sir Ken.

Ah, a breath of fresh air. Thanks for sending along this reminder about letting me children be who God created them to be!

“She isn’t sick, she’s a dancer.”

Picture AE, sitting in her office, trying to get a million things written/edited/facebooked/tweeted/and press released to clamoring reporters. She’s got this video on in the background. She chuckles at the funny and listens well. Then Sir Ken Robinson goes and knocks her off her perch and into tears.

I’m an ADHD adult who takes meds several times a day. It’s the only way I can keep all the thoughts and assignments and email requests in my head. The trade off of meds to creativity is mighty. When I’m “normal” (as normal as can be!), I don’t think I write well. But on non-speechwriting days, I’ve got to function at 100% and I can’t do that without sitting in the office without sitting on my hands.

Never before this moment had I thought of it like Sir Ken mentioned some 6 years ago- it’s not a sickness, she’s just a speechwriter! How marvelous to know my calling isn’t conditional upon my physical condition.

Thank you Rabbit Room for upending my mind and settling my soul. Again.

Excellent. I’m already brainstorming ways to encourage my kids’ creativity over the summer, and hopefully even during the school year.

And I had to laugh–I now know why I tend to avoid exercise: I tend to see my body as a way to transport my head around. Ouch! The latent professor emerges .

Just emailed this to a bunch of friends. Thanks for sharing, Rabbit Room.

(P.S. I hope I’m not the only one who, around the 4:30 mark, pictured Emma Thompson listening to a little red-haired girl say “We’ve been given our parts in the nativity play…and I’m the lobster.” Am I??)

@ Jonathan the Math Professor: we need you, too! I am NOT a mathematician by any means, but am so thankful for those who are (like my husband). Without you, our buildings would crumble, our highways would falter, our economies would collapse, and our technological ideas would still be in our heads. It is Mathematicians who transcribe so many ideas into functional reality. As a teacher of mine used to say “All truth is God’s truth.” The problem is, our educational system upholds some of God’s truth as more important than other components.

Wow! Thank you for sharing this incredible video.

A couple of my favorite ideas from the speech
*If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original
* Creativity is a process of having original ideas that have value

@ Laura Peterson–This is awful. I thought I knew most of Emma Thompson’s movies, but I don’t remember the lobster quote. Which movie is it in?

Thank you for posting this! Enlightening, to say the least.

I hope you’ve also seen this RSA talk by Sir Ken Robinson: http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U