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VeritasVeritas California State University Northridge

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Volume XII

Issue 1

In This Issue:

Freshman Celebration

Debate: Creativity

Unconventional Sports

Creativity

Upcoming Events:

Freshman Celebration

Piano Trio VOCE

UBU ROI

CSUN Cinematheque

http://www.csun.edu/calendar/

November 2012 Su Mo Tu W Th Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

The Psychology Behind People Believing They Aren’t Creative

Submitted by Tanner Christensen

http://www.creativesomething.net/post/31270547473

Creative thinking is an in-nate ability in each of us. If you have a brain that func-tions fairly well you can dream up new ideas. It’s that simple.

However, there are quite a few people in the world today who believe that they’re not creative, that they simply can-not think creatively, and that no matter what they do they’ll forever be a straight-shooting analytical thinker. You might be one of those people.

It’s just not true to believe that anyone can’t be creative.

Consider the child who plays with a toy where they have to fit small, cylindrical shapes into holes in a box. The holes are cut in a way that they will only allow one (or two, if you’re really crea-tive) of the shapes into each. One is shaped as a circle, an-other a square, another a star, and so on. If you leave the child alone to play with the toy, eventually she’ll figure out how to get the right piec-es into the right holes, with-out any intervention from a more-knowledgable adult.

That’s creativity in action: finding an idea or solution that works by experimenting and playing.

And yet, there are still so many people who believe they just can’t do it. When they’re faced with a problem at work, or school, or in their relationships, they go with the default solution and, if

that doesn’t work, eventually give up. When they can’t fit the peg into the hole, they quit trying, because they can’t think creatively.

There are a few reasons so many people don’t think they’re creative, I believe. And psychology can’t explain some of the biggest. Here are two reasons that I deem as the most prominent for peo-ple believing they aren’t crea-tive.

One of the reasons people don’t feel creative is because they consider it a big-sum game. They see people like Einstein in the history books, or Steve Jobs in the news, cre-ating innovative ideas that change the world, and they think “I could never do that!”

This mentality is especially strong today, where you only have to turn on your phone to hear or see someone doing an absolutely revolutionary task with their ideas. It’s hard to compare yourself to those who are succeeding (more often than not) on such a grandiose scale. But creativity isn’t always about big innova-tion or revolutionizing the world. Even small problems require creativity (like when you were a child and had to put the square peg into the square hole).

Another perspective that causes people to get stuck in believing they aren’t creative is an ingrained fear of failing.

As a child, and into young adulthood – particularly in

A Ground-Breaking Feat

Sunday afternoon, geologist

and aspiring inventor Dr. Rick

Terra showed off his latest cre-

ation at the Natural History

Museum. Terra gave a demon-

stration of his device, which he

simply calls “Quake Mk1.” Ter-

ra claims that it can predict an

earthquake five minutes before

it strikes.

“It’s truly a great day for sci-

ence,” exclaimed chemistry

professor, Dr. Eli Mendel.

“Think about all the lives he

could save,” proclaimed Dr. H.

Clay, one of Terra’s col-

leagues.

After the demonstration,

Terra socialized with the

crowd, and chatted about

how he created such a mar-

velous invention.

“People always called my

ideas stupid. I was the laugh-

ing stock,” he explained. “My

parents told me to get these

ridiculous ideas out of my

head and pursue something

that made some sense. They

wanted me to become a doc-

tor or an engineer, something

that, as they said ‘could con-

tribute to society.’”

“Everyone seemed to be

against me” said Terra with a

melancholic look in his eyes.

“But I didn’t give up. No sir.

My grandfather was the one

who encouraged me to contin-

ue and I thank him for it. If only

he was here to see this.” Terra

said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Terra says that the Quake Mk1 is currently in its final stage, and hopes to have it per-fected by the beginning of next year.

By Nikolas Yousefi

Managing Editor

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Creative Mind Behind the Exterior.

can’t accept that exploring is per-fectly normal. So they never ex-plore. They have a question or an idea pops into their head and they brush it aside, only accept-ing what they know to work as the possible solution. It’s this fear ingrained into their thinking that causes so many people to believe they’re not creative.

But anyone can be creative. It takes work to be creative, and for many people it will take a lot of time too, but that doesn’t mean the possibility isn’t there.

Breaking these two psychologi-

cal locks as to why a person may

believe they can’t be creative is

the first step into helping them

see that they are.

the United States during the past few decades – you were likely taught that being wrong or mak-ing a mistake is final. Once you mess up, you’re done, game over. Fail a class or don’t get that per-fect job and your life is as good as over. But as we grow up and ex-plore the world we begin to real-ize that’s not entirely true. Yes, there are times when failing will be a terrible end, but it’s safe to say that more often than not you can make a mistake, learn from it, and carry on. Most problems in life are ones you can fail at and still come out on top by trying a different way.

Unfortunately, because the be-lief that failing is such a terrible thing to experience, many people

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Veritas - Volume VII, Issue 1

PAGE 2 NEWS NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Editorial Staff

Editor-in-Chief — Breanne Foster

Managing Editor — Nikolas Yousefi

Photo Editor — Tayler Castillo

Business Manager — Arielle Feliciano

Newspaper Advisor — Dr. Ellyn Lerner

University 100 Honors — Tuesday/Thursdays

Fall 2012

©Stephen Glassman—http://www.urbanair.is/

Freshman Celebration By

Breanne Foster—Editor-in-Chief

Wednesday, November 28 marks the opening of the seventh Freshman Celebration at CSU Northridge. From 9:30 am to 3:15 pm on both Wednesday and Thursday (November 28th and 29th), the USU Grand Salon will be filled with the 2012 Celebration projects from the different University 100 classes. A digital gallery of the freshman projects will also be available at the Virtual Freshman Celebration on Moodle, guest login available November 28.

According to the Freshman Celebration web-site, the Freshman Celebration is modeled on CSUN’s Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Creative Works Symposium. Many of the projects are inspired by or responses to this year’s Freshman Common Reading book, One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni.

The first Freshman Celebration at CSUN took place in 2006, and it was opened to all students enrolled in the fall University 100 class in 2007. Over 900 people (including about 825 students) attended the 2011 Celebration.

For more on the Freshman Celebration, check out their website.

Freshman Celebration website:

http://www.csun.edu/univ100/freshman-celebration.html.

Sporting a New Idea about Creativity

Most people think that creativity is purely a men-

tal sport, where the only activity involved is think-

ing and creating something such as art, music, liter-

ature, or inventions. But that is not so.

Creativity comes in many different forms, one of

which is displayed on the football field. Or should I

call it: the Marching Band Field?

Marching Band is one of several sports in which

creativity is a major component. Color guard, Short

Flags, Dance, and Cheer are all other sports that

utilize the football field in a way other than its

namesake.

Beyond just re-utilizing the field, each of these

sports is creative in their nature. They combine

physical activity with something more artistic.

They each involve creating a comprehensive

and complex routine that showcases the talents

and skills of the team. And, usually, this routine

must correspond with a musical soundtrack.

Marching Band is perhaps the best example of

a “creative sport.” Each show starts with the

conception of an idea or theme that is then

transformed into both drill (similar to choreog-

raphy), and music. Then the performers must

memorize both drill and music, and work as a

team to perform the show to the best of their

ability, following certain techniques of marching

to move as one unit. While marching the five to

seven minute show, the band will also be playing

their music, going beyond the notes on the

page—not only in their ability to play musically

rather than just sound, but also because of the

fact that music (and drill) frequently get changed

during rehearsals and those changes are ex-

pected to be memorized on the spot.

Adaptation, manipulation, individualization,

and conformation are all characteristics of crea-

tivity. Creativity is the ability to make something.

And making a sport into something that doesn’t

take physical prowess to excel in is a type of cre-

ativity, even if it doesn’t seem so.

Remember that creativity manifests in many

different, and often unexpected, ways.

By


Photo by Hardy Indiigo Art by Banksy

In response to Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of the East Coast, British street artist Banksy pays

homage through his art.

Urban Air Photo from Freshman Celebration site. Sign by M. Vivar. http://www.csun.edu/univ100/freshman-celebration.html

2011 Welcome sign to the Freshman Celebration.

Ad made by Breanne Foster

Ad made by Arielle Feliciano


PAGE 3 LIFE NOVEMBER 27, 2012

The Ability to be Creative? Is everyone creative? Is it something you are born with? Or is

there something more to it? Does one have to practice to be

creative, to hone creativity like a skill? Or is creativity a talent

made for a select few?

PRO

Creativity is usually perceived as an artistic ability which produces new, innovative ideas. This is true, but creativity is more than that. It’s an ability, an attitude, and a process.

People think that they lack creativ-ity if they are unable to create works of art or invent a new gadget. How-ever, creativity has many outlets and each person has their own way of being creative. We use creative thinking to solve problems by brain-storming new ideas and exploring all possibilities. It operates together with critical thinking which we use on a daily basis to make decisions.

The ability to be creative is just generating new ideas by changing or combining existing ideas. Writers, business owners, musicians, chefs and many other professions utilize creativity in their work.

Anyone can be creative if you have the right attitude. It’s about being open to change and new ideas as well as taking risks without the fear of failure. An idea can pop in your head, but if you don’t make it possi-ble it will vanish along with the op-portunity to create something signif-icant. It takes perseverance to create something and anyone who works hard for it can achieve it.

As children, we used our imagina-tion when we played and expressed our creativity the most. However, it’s been suppressed in school as we were taught there’s always one cor-rect answer and were restricted by guidelines.

We can bring back our creativity by becoming curious again. Anyone can be creative if you make a com-mitment and take the time for it.

“Bah! Creativity is something peo-ple are born with, like intelligence,” argues psychologist Bernice Sim-mons. “I’ve seen people that believe they have creative talent spiral into sadness and depression because someone doesn’t think they’re that good.”

“Creativity,” commented Simmons, “is just something not everyone is meant to have! And people need to learn this right now before they end up in a bad situation.”

“I find it insulting that people have the gall to say that anyone can be cre-ative,” scoffs supposed surrealistic painter Isaac Ladd. “Just because someone can draw a house with two chimneys or a car with no windows, they shouldn’t be dubbed as being ‘creative’ or ‘imaginative’. We just need to face the facts that not every-

one can be as creative as us artists. People don’t choose to be creative, creativity chooses them!”

“Besides,” Ladd stated, “even if they were as creative as they say, they cannot much the works of my idol, Jackson Pollock.”

“People have to face the fact that they are not good at everything, and being creative is one of these things,” claims math professor Dr. Mino. “Just because they can paint a nice house or make a good necklace doesn’t mean they should be urged to contin-ue doing this.

“We should urge them to pursue another career so their dreams won’t be shattered when some critic gives their ‘masterpiece’ a negative re-view.” Said Mino. “We should urge them to study math, or science…or math!”

By Nikolas Yousefi

Managing Editor

By Arielle Feliciano

Business Manager

Babbs, who was played by Conor Hogue, senior. Babbs was part of the three college boys, but, for most of the play, he was seen in a long, black dress. He had been impersonating the character of Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez, who was actually played by Amelia Valencia, sophomore.

“I’m from Brazil… Where the nuts come from!” was one of the many memorable quotes from Hogue (as Lord Babberly pretending to be Donna Lucia). “I’m not going to marry old Spettigue… I could never be happy with a man like that!”

Stephen Spettigue, played by Justin Suhr, senior and staff writer of the Stinger, received just as many (or more) laughs than Babbs. While not one of the main characters, Spettigue was a vital part who added to the general hilarity of the play.

While Charley’s Aunt is mainly a comedy, as seen by the outrageous characters, there is the underly-ing love scheme. Perhaps the most touching scene in the play was when Ela Delahey admitted her love for Lord Fancourt Babberly to the latter, thinking he was an old lady. While these two plucked the heart strings of the audience, old Spet-tigue makes another appearance, breaking the mo-ment with more laughter.

While it may be more difficult to put on a play with such a short cast list, the actors and actresses at Cam High certainly pulled it off with the chemis-try they have on stage. When watching Sage Beh-an, junior, on stage, all anyone could think of was Kitty Verdun and whatever emotions she was feel-ing. Even when not part of the main action, Behan’s body language made the play come to life—you weren’t watching a play, you were taking a walk through the college gardens, looking at the “roses, primroses, and cabbages, and things,” when you happened upon this crazy scene.

Charley’s Aunt: A Fabulous Farce

Photo Submitted by Branden Sanborn

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=216472535131209&set=t.1415118177&type=3&theater

Justin Suhr, Amelia Valencia, and Conor Hogue performing in Adolfo Camarillo High

School’s Spring 2012 production of Charley’s Aunt.

a couple of new faces. Courtney Derrico, junior, brought a new energy to the theater. In the role of Ela Delahey, Derrico added sentiment and emotion to the comedy, adding another depth and dimen-sion to the humor.

The play centers on the main plotline of guy meets girl, guy likes girl, girl likes guy, guy and girl live happily ever after— multiplied by four! While the plotline is simple, the characters and situa-tions add facet after facet, keeping the jokes and surprises coming.

One of the characters that received the most laughs was Lord Fancourt Babberly, nicknamed

“When pious frauds… are dispensations.” This quote by Hudibras was the first thing the audience saw at curtain call for the Cam High production of Charley’s Aunt. Accompanied by the sounds of a violin jig (played by Allie Foley, junior), Jessalyn Bernick, jun-ior, opened each act with a fitting quote; this small addition really set the scene, adding charm and character to this Victorian era play.

Charley’s Aunt was written by Brandon Thomas and performed in London the spring of 1892; it was the most successful play of its time. The play has been performed by both Jack Benny and Ray Bolger.

This production had many familiar faces as well as

By


CON


PAGE 4 OPINION NOVEMBER 27, 2012

By


http://browse.deviantart.com/?thumb_mode=0&view_mode=0&order=9&q=creativity#/d2ug9rx

Creativity by magnusf2

One Amazing Thing, By Chitra Divakaruni

This heartfelt story takes you along on the journey of

people from different walks of life: a teenager with a

hidden talent, a grandma with a secret past, a man

looking for redemption, and others. All trapped to-

gether below a building without knowledge of when

they’ll be rescued, they slowly come together as they

each tell their “One Amazing Thing.”

"Divakaruni is a brilliant storyteller;

she illuminates the world with her artistry;

and shakes the reader with her love."

--Junot Diaz

Borrowed from the Daily Sundial

http://veritascsun.wordpress.com/

Creativity is defined as the

ability to create, but there is so

much more to creativity than

that.

Creativity is a way of

thinking and of doing things.

Creativity is about finding

new solutions and different

ways of doing things.

Creativity is not about thinking out-

side of the box—it is about redefining

the box.

You don’t have to learn a

secret handshake and try

and decode secret mes-

sages to find the meeting of the creativity club.

Anyone can be creative.

Creativity is not inventing something or being artistic. Creativity is thinking in a

different way than others. Finding more than one solution or interpretation. Doing

something in a manner different than usual. Creativity is going above and beyond

the standard first response.

Creativity comes in many different

forms, not all easily recognizable.

Ad made by Tayler Castillo

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