You can’t pop the hood for an inspection.  There’s no starting switch, no pedals to pump and no brakes.  Your brain just goes.  And goes.  And the more it goes the sharper it...

In his first exhibition (1940), Bill Traylor’s art work was described as “primitive.”  In New York (1943), it was classified as “folk art by an old Negro man.”  It went into...

"Sometimes, I had to spend a whole day mixing a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly as large as myself. I would be broken with fatigue at the day's end. …I was then annoyed...

“There's two kinds of people in the world: Those who think people can be divided up into two types, and those who don't." Groucho Marx   There are two types of creativity...

“Thigh bone connected to the hip bone… neck bone connected to the head bone…” Lyrics from “Dry Bones”   We all have the same basic skeleton. Though each may be slightly...

I get up around 5 am.  I make coffee, then check for the newspapers.  During these moments, I’m adrift in undirected thinking—the routine of my day.  These activities do not spur...

“What are you thinking about?” “Nothing.” This is a common exchange between two people—say two friends, lovers, or husband and wife.  To respond by saying “Nothing” usually...

“After all, what does it mean to be a star in Des Moines, Iowa?” -- 1970s recording artist from Des Moines   For many years, our garage was home to a plywood replica of a...

Creativity is the recognition of an idea with potential for success.  Of course, many ideas never show potential.  They flow in and out of our minds like a swirl of...

“Pray favor us with your narrative,” the man said. Unless I am very much mistaken, that is the singular voice of the “sleuth-hound, the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed”...