Creativity

In my line of work and teaching, creativity is something that I really love! It is what makes us unique and individuals. But, unfortunately there are times that I feel that I have to quell it--if only for a moment--because there is something that they need to learn before they can just go out on their own. What is happening with today's students is that they have been told since they started school how to do things and that they have to copy exactly what the teacher tells them. When I was teaching last semester, I had a hard time with getting the students to actually think for themselves. They wanted me to tell them how to do everything and show them how to do everything. I don't believe that is a good way to learn, at least when it comes to multimedia and film; dance is a different story.

But anyway, I received this story/poem from my professor a while back and I really like it.

The Little Boy
Once a little boy went to school--
He was quite a little boy and it was quite a big school.
But when the little boy found that he could go into his room
From the door outside, he was happy.
And the big school did not seem quite so big any more.

One morning, when the little boy had been in school awhile,
The teacher said, “Today we are going to make a picture.”
“Good!” thought the little boy. He liked to make pictures.
He could make all kinds:
Lions and tigers, Chickens and cows, trains and boats,
And he took out his box of crayons and began to draw.
But the teacher said, “Wait! It is not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now,” said the teacher, “We are going to make flowers.”

“Good!” thought the little boy. He liked to make flowers.
And he began to make beautiful flowers
With his pink and orange and blue crayons.
But the teacher said, “Wait! And I’ll show you how.”
And it was red, with a green stem. “There,” then said.
“Now you may begin.”
The little boy looked at the teacher’s flower.
Then he looked at his own flower.
He liked his flower better than the teacher’s, but he did not say this.

He just turned his paper over and made a flower just like the teacher’s.
It was red, with a green stem.

On another day, when the little boy opened the door from the outside all by himself,
The teacher said, “Today, we are going to make something with clay.”
“Good!” thought the boy. He liked clay.
He could make all kinds of things with clay:
Snakes and snowmen, elephants and mice, cars and trucks…
And he began to pull and pinch his ball of clay.
But the teacher said: “Wait! It’s not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now,” said the teacher, “We are going to make a dish.”

“Good!” thought the little boy. He liked to make dishes.
And he began to make some that were all shapes and sizes. But the teacher said,
“Wait! And I’ll show you how.” And she showed everyone how to make one deep dish.
“There,” said the teacher. “Now you may begin.”
The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish and looked at his own.
He liked his dish better than the teacher’s, but he did not say this.

He just rolled his clay into a big ball again, and made a dish like his teacher’s.
It was a deep dish.

Pretty soon the little boy learned to wait--And to watch—
And to make things just like his teacher—
And pretty soon he didn’t make things of his own anymore.

Then it happened that the boy and his family moved to another house, in another city.And the little boy had to go to another school.
This school was even bigger than the other one.
He had to go up some big steps and walk down a long hall to get to his room.

The very first day he was there, the teacher said:“Today we are going to make a picture.” “Good!” thought the little boy.
And he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do.
But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room.
When she came to the little boy she said,“Don’t you want to make a picture?”
“Yes,” said the little boy. “How shall I make it?” asked the little boy.”
“Why anyway you like,” said the teacher.
“And any color?” asked the little boy.
“Any color,” said the teacher. “If everyone made the same picture, and used the same colors,how would I know who made what, and which was which?”
“I don’t know,” said the little boy.

And he began to make a red flower with a green stem…

I believe that creativity is important and without it, we just all turn into cookie-cutters.

Some people . . . .

I'm not a big fan of the way that people are starting to treat each other. I've always been the butt of most of the jokes growing up, so maybe that has changed or carved my opinion of things. But today, I really had to hold my tongue because of some idiot person at the end of a parade.

So, I was with my garrison doing a parade in Bountiful to help us get into the parade season and get ready for the big Provo Freedom Parade. I didn't have my costume finished so I was a spotter. Spotters are there to help the helmeted characters with everything and anything that they need before, during, and after the parade; that includes crowd control at times. So we had finished the 2 miles route and I really needed to get all the characters' helmets off and get them water and start cooling down. Well, this pack of young kids ran up and swarmed one of the troopers. Normally it's okay for the kids to do that for a minute, but these kids started pulling at the costume and tried taking away the blaster. The guy in the costume pulled it away and thats when I came over and told everyone that I had to take the trooper away and started steering him towards our break area. A few of the kids started yelling "steal him! take his gun!" and ran after us. One younger kid grabbed the blaster, started pulling on it rather forcefully, then started pulling on the trooper's arm (which tends to cut into the arm or hand) so I did what I normally do: I gently grabbed the kid's wrist and pulled his hand off the blaster and off the trooper and told him "No! Don't do that!" and I started leading the trooper away. The kid was looking up at me with this smirk, kind of laughing. Some guy started yelling at me telling me that I had no right to 'slap' that kid's hand away, that the kid wasn't causing any harm. I turned and told him, rather calmly actually, that I hadn't slapped his hand, that I had removed it and that the kid was in the wrong. The guy continued to yell at me, and I mean yell.

I couldn't believe it and it still irks me a bit that people aren't willing to discipline their kids enough to know that you don't do that; or when someone actually goes to put the kid in line, someone starts calling "foul!" or "child abuser". There was nothing different that I could have done because I think it wouldn't have mattered. If I would have told the kid to let go, I'm pretty sure that the guy would have told me that I had no right to "shout" at the kid. I think that guy has a problem and that he is the one that needs help. A person like that shouldn't be around kids.

Don't go to UVRMC ER

I hate hospitals and usually try to stay away from the ER--although I am a klutz at times and don't always manage it--but I will not go to the UVRMC (utah valley regional medical center) ER. Here's why. Usually we go to the Orem Community Hospital ER because they are better staffed and polite and actually treat each person coming in there as they really have an emergency. So, monday evening my father was mowing the lawn and lost his balance when he was go up an inclide. He fell backwards and the lawn mower went over his foot. Thank goodness for boots; he still has all his toes! But getting back to the story. With those type of wounds you really need to disenfect them quickly to quell the risk of getting an infection and you need to stop the bleeding and make sure that the blood supply is still getting to the toes. So my brother drove my dad to the ER at UVRMC. They got there at 8:30pm. My dad didn't get seen until about midnight or 1am and they didn't get home until around 3:30am.

I'm just a little mad at the hospital to make someone who is bleeding and who's foot got ran over in a lawn mower to wait that long. My brother didn't know to take him to the Orem place, otherwise he would have. But it just irks me that something like that could happen in a place that is supposed to help.

So if you need emergency medical attention, stay away from that ER. Go someplace else if you can.

Film thoughts

I love films. That's probably why I made it part of my major. I love working on it rather than being in them, but it's fun either way.

But I was in a musical kind of mood and I popped in Hairspray. I noticed a few things that were changed from the theatrical release. I really don't like it when they change it just for DVD. Most of the time I really like the theatrical release and feel cheated when I see it on DVD. Hairspray is one of them A few of the fun little nuances (like Michelle's voice cracking when she's singing Baltimore Crabs) have been changed, but they weren't changed on the CD so you can actually hear them.

But I kind of have started making some side money/credit doing costumes for films and I love watching films for ideas. The Other Boleyn Girl is one of my new favorites when it comes to film costumes. I really want to do some of the costumes in that film, so research has become my new past time when I actually have some free time.

But I've got a costume meeting to go to and I'm excited to see some of the fabric that a friend of my has been searching for and found. It's the fabric that the jedi tunics were made from. I'm so excited!

Roadtrip!

I got back from our trip to Montana early early in the morning, like 5am on sunday. We decided to go up with the garrison to support our Montana members and to go see some fun costumes. There was a traveling costume exhibit that had a few Star Wars costumes and the museum asked if we could come and troop the event.

It was so much fun! The drive up there was just beautiful! I am sad that I didn't have time to stop and just enjoy everything (we were carpooling and kind of on a deadline) so that makes me want to take the drive again and see everything. But it was a bit cooler up there than it is right now down here, which I was thankful for. I tend to like the temperature a bit cooler, but I really needed this roadtrip.

It's been a while since I've been on a roadtrip with friends and we weren't going to go, but our weekend plans ended up changing and last minute we decided to go. I've been having some problems with everything here from work to graduation and I needed a break for myself. The trip was about 7 hours. Once we hit west yellowstone I couldn't keep my eyes off the window. It was just amazing. We had picked up a friend in Idaho Falls and he kept telling us about a bunch of the parks and scenery that we passed by. I want to go camping up there now. He said that there was a bunch of waterfalls around there and I am a sucker for waterfalls. I really love them even though I'm not a bit fan of water. Give me a river or a brook or a stream and I'm happy. Give me a waterfall and i'm just on cloud nine. Its the same when I'm walking through a forest or grove of trees, it's just surreal.

But as soon and I get some pictures from the event, I'll post them. Here's a teaser

Tag!

I just received this in an e-mail from a friend of mine, so I thought that I would do this to my hubby! It'll be funny to see his reaction.

1-What is his name? Jakob Lau Smith Tice
2-How long have you been married? A little over a year
3-How long did you date? for about a year to a year and a half
4-How old is he? he just turned 27
5-Who eats more? we actually eat about the same, but it changes from time to time. he can eat more if he really wants to
6-Who said I love you first? I really don't remember who said it first, but I want to say that he did
7-Who is smarter? Jakob is, all the way. I'm great with computers and multimedia stuff, but all the academic smarts he can have. He actually liked school
8-Whose temper is worse? Mine all the way
9-Who does the laundry? He tends to do it a bit more than I do
10-Who does the dishes? Jakob does; with the help of the dishwasher
11-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are looking at the bed, then Jakob does. If you are laying in the bed, then I do.
12-Who pays the bills? Jakob pays for most of them, but we each have our own bills
13-Who cooks dinner? Me mostly. He'll do it if I ask, or if I really just don't want to cook
14-Who drives when you are together? We switch off, but mostly Jakob
15-Who is more stubborn? Me
16-Whose parents do you see the most? Mine
17-Who proposed? Jakob did; in front of a lot of people too! (that's another story)
18-Who has more siblings? Jakob. I think there are like 8 of them
19-What's his favorite color? I think it is either dark green or dark blue
20-Would he prefer chocolate of vanilla ice cream? Both

Have we gone too far?

I may get slammed for saying this, but I do see both sides to this situation, but I choose to just look at it by what it is . . . a stuffed toy.

Okay, so I was watching the news last night and I noticed that there was a huge uproar about the Obama sock monkey toy and I couldn't see the big deal about it. Isn't it just like the grey (original) version but brown? Yes, I do know my history (I didn't sleep through all the history classes I took) and I know that "monkey" was a derogatory name for African Americans, but I don't see any harm in the toy. Isn't it just that . . . a toy? If we find so much wrong with the brown version, then how come the grey version is perfectly acceptable? I know that Jews were also told by Hitler that they were "ape-born", so the white/grey version is racist towards them? Give me a break. They are just toys, stuffed animals. I've made a few before from old socks.

Have we gone too far with what we find outlandish and what we don't? When has it come to the point that we are judging sock monkeys and having such a big problem with it? If that gets soo much time on the airwaves (at least here in utah it does) how come all the other despicable things that go on in the fashion industry we just kind of laugh it off or just momentarily think about it and it is put behind us.

Why is it okay to depict a white politician as a monkey but it isn't okay to do that for anyone else? That is a huge double standard. So when it comes to election time and if Obama doesn't win, are people going to say it was because he was black and it was racisim that he didn't win?

"If I am offended when offense was not intended, I am a fool. If I am offended when offense was intended, I am a bigger fool."

In front of the camera?

Okay, so I was asked recently why I don't like being in front of the camera, whether it be film or still. I always give the same answer "I just prefer to be behind controlling what I see" and it seems that that answer isn't good enough any more.

So after some thinking about it and more thinking, I guess I just don't like seeing myself in pictures. I always look awkward. I've never really liked the pictures that I'm in. On occasion I've had a few that actually looked good and those were normally taken by a good photographer (thanks a million Scott!) but I like to be in control of the picture or film rather than be the subject of it. I've been asked by a few people if I've ever considered modeling and I always tell them that no, I don't do pictures, its just not my thing. But recently I've had a few more people ask me to do pictures with them or to be in front of the camera in a film and I keep looking at myself and wondering "what in the world are these people thinking? I have more flaws than an old photograph and they want to capture it on film?" I'm sure my husband would disagree with me on this.

Well, I've been told that one way to cure a phobia is to be exposed to it more, so does that mean that I need to be in front of the camera more? we'll see. . . . . . . .

Costumes

Okay, so I've been having fun with costumes since I learned to sew and my mom has always been fantastic with helping me come up with some creative things when I would be in a rut. I'll have to post some of my creations when I finally get around to digitizing my photos (you would think that someone who actually is a tech person would do that, but I haven't gotten around to it).

Anyway, the film that I had the privilege to dance in is still in production and the director/lead actress found out that I create costumes and asked me to create a couple for her and this film. She handed me the patterns and luckily enough I've used those patterns as a base before, so I kind of knew what I was getting into. We discussed everything and I set to work looking for what she wanted to used fabric and color wise and I love getting bargains (I don't think I've ever paid full price for fabric, ever!) so we decided to go shopping on a great bargain day and found everything that she needed for half off. We had decided to go with upholstery fabrics because of the time period that she wanted, I wanted to be sure that we nailed it as close as possible. We had upholstery fabrics as well as some silkier fabrics that I can't remember what type they are. When it came to actually sewing the costume, I did have some difficulties with getting the fabrics to behave when sewing them together . . . it seems that upholstery doesn't like to be sewn to the silky stuff; and when it came to getting the back lace-up panel to adjust, it didn't want to go where I wanted it to go; and I sewed (with the help of my mom) all the trim detail by hand, but all in all, it came out amazing! I'm really happy with it and she seemed really pleased with it too. It looked absolutely stunning on her and next to her Knight, it looked great! The colors really popped out at you. They filmed it all outdoors in this wooded area and since everything was a very luscious green, the costumes popped right out!

If I get permission from her, I'll post some pictures of the costume on her. I got a few when it was on my dressform, but the colors don't seem right. They look better outdoors.

Now, I'm just waiting for the go ahead on the second costume for her, which I think will go a bit faster since I don't have to worry about a lace-up back (I can hide a zipper!) and the fabrics probably aren't going to be mixed, but this will involve a lot of trim so I'm getting my fingers ready!