When I was in high school, I decorated most of my papers and folders with doodles and homemade collages, creating the perfect visual theme for each subject. In particular, my English binder was adorned in The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf, while every chapter outline I handed in to my history teacher was colorful bulleted in Rose Art markers. My decorative habit was an attempt to make working a little more fun, because let’s face it–sometimes, you need a little extra encouragement to get your brain going. Creative expression fuels creative thinking, I suppose. Ah, the vicious cycle.
In college, I had quite a few more opportunities to expand my ideas further outside of the box. I remember one day in particular–I was tired, overworked, and honestly, very fed up with school (hard to imagine, right?). I was determined to incorporate some happiness into the whole “college is stress” mix, so when my media history teacher assigned a paper to our class that afternoon on any topic we wanted, I chose the happiest thing I could think of–Disneyland. And lemme tell you–writing about the media coverage of the “greatest place on earth” is much more bearable than assuming that every assignment has to be . . . well, boring.
Today, I took it upon myself to re-visit my teenage self, organizing a brand-new “inspiration” folder for when I get stuck or discouraged. In this three-ring binder, I’ve arranged current and potential project ideas, notes for improving on my website (under construction) and this blog, media connections and contacts, and physical print samples and magazine inserts that I think are just dandy. On the cover, I’m working on another one of my famous collages, meticulously arranging printouts of vintage ads and motivational quotes in whichever way I see fit. The trouble is, I seem to have misplaced every glue stick I own, and after searching every room in the house three times, I’m starting to think that maybe gnomes stole them. Since I have to get ready for dinner in a few minutes, I guess those paper images are just going to have to wait to be affixed to this glorious work of art. I may be making a late-night trip to Wal-Mart for some Elmer’s, though.
I hope you all have a fantastic Friday evening, and that you find pleasure in the little things in life. After all, there’s no rule against using scissors and glue when you’re a grown-up.
