In Motion with Poetry

This past Saturday night I was pleasantly surprised by Marc Bamuthi Joseph's performance.  You see, I am not much of a poetry reader, and don't generally enjoy eclectic art forms.  And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't too thrilled about spending my Saturday evening at this Zoellner event.  But when the performance started, I quickly changed my mind - engaged and entranced by the man before me and what he had to say.

Joseph has an extraordinary ability to catch his audience's attention, and keep their rapture throughout the entirety of his performance.  His passion and mastery of the English language showcases this novel art form and how it can change people's perceptions of the world.  He speaks from personal experience, which helps the audience connect on a deeper level with the artist, making them feel as though they are a part of his vision and world.  Personally, I was touched by his stories and how he told them.  Specifically, the story about tap dancing for his father was such a magnificent analogy and light into his culture and life.  His diction matched with his choice for movement really told a story.  Not to mention, his physical capabilities were incredibly impressive - showing great strength, mastery, and careful articulation.  While I normally enjoy more traditional dance (ballet, jazz, and tap), I understood the purpose of his meticulously selected movements.  He made me believe in his dance.

A stage performer for the majority of my life, I appreciated his use of the stage and expressive nature.  He traversed the entirety of the platform, even entering into the auditorium.  He made a bare stage seem filled.  While I'm normally used to full-on productions with scenery and costumes, his minimal approach let the art form really shine. With no costume and only a few lighting effects, he made you focus on what he was saying - transporting you away to his world. He knew how to effect his audience - making them laugh, cry, say "aha!", and even sing.  For an hour long performance, he was able to touch my heart and open my eyes to a new type of art.

I see now why we were asked to come to this performance.  As we discussed in class, art is all-encompassing and is often up to interpretation and perception of the master artist.  Marc Bamuthi Joseph clearly is the Lord of the Poetry Dance, and I see how art like his can add to our society and possibly even change lives.

The Creative Age

The Rise of the Creative Class Part One discusses the writer, Richard Florida's, perception of how the workplace has changed in the past century and how we as a culture have reacted to the subtle day to day changes.  He gives a calculated understanding of the social and demographic changes and how they relate back to economic prosperity and growth.  In my opinion, he has made some great points about the future of our workplace and how we are adapting to become a more creative society.

In this portion of the book, Florida talks about how we have shifted to a society of a Creative Class divided into two parts: the Super Creative Core and Creative Professionals.  This class, he claims encompasses 30% of our American workforce, which is a large portion of the employed demographic.  Looking at his findings, I have concluded that there has in fact been a significant shift in the workforce that emphasizes the importance of creativity in the workplace.  From my own personal experience, I see the importance of thinking creatively to solve problems.  I see how crucial it is to have diversity in the workplace - not just for "political correctness" - but in fact to stay competitive in the marketplace.  The more different types of people - genders, races, religions, etc. - the more likely a company will be able to creatively think about ways to solve problems.  Long gone are the days when one particular task defines a person's career and no longer are people staying with the same company for their lifetime.  A new age has dawned on this country where new ventures are encouraged and personal development is at the forefront of every person's career path.

I think that Florida's prediction and understanding of the future is stated quite eloquently on the last page of Part One:
"We live differently and pursue new lifestyles because we see ourselves as a new kind of person.  We are more tolerant and more liberal both because our material conditions allow it and because the new Creative Age tells us to be so.  A new social class, in short, has risen to a position of dominance in the last two decades, and this shift has fundamentally transformed our economy and society."

I really like what he says in the passage.  We truly have seen a transformation, even in the short time that I have been on this earth in terms of what is acceptable and what is expected.  Professionals are thinking outside the box and more things are becoming socially acceptable.  If you simply look at the way in which the Internet has changed buyer behavior and the whole shopping experience, you can see how this creative element Florida speaks of has leaked into our daily lives.  As Americans, especially, we don't accept that work and personal life have to be separate.  Rather, we see work as an opportunity to turn into a personal passion - in fact, many start up companies morph out of a muse or passion.  We regard our happiness to involve having more active time to ourselves and with our families.  We have become a society of people who yes work a lot, but also think that we deserve more leisure time.  In that, we have begun to create an economy focused around our passions and happiness.  Florida really shows us in his passages that this type of class that has begun to emerge will develop and transform us even more.

I look forward to reading more of this book and seeing his perspectives on where we are going next!