Creativity–and Goals for This Blog

Last updated on: July 27, 2015 at 2:22 pm by Rebecca Florence Miller

Creativity–and Goals for This Blog 2015-07-27T14:22:27-06:00 Rebecca Florence Miller

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This weekend, I spent a large portion of time binge-watching HBO’s The Newsroom, which just went up on Amazon Prime. The show centers around a group of idealists who get together and decide to do the news based on higher principles rather than getting viewers at all cost. Instead, they decide to ask themselves a few questions before they put a story on the air:

1) Is this something the viewers need to know?

2) Is this the best possible form of the argument?

3) Is this put in historical context (since news stories do not occur in a vacuum)?

4) Are there really two sides to this story?

As I watched, I began to think of all of my original dreams for this blog. I have a tagline that you see every time you visit my site:

Creativity. Conversation. Curiosity. Cultural engagement. Charis.

These are the core values that I dream of for the site. I have explained more about what I mean by each one here. My dream is to elevate the discussion and refuse to succumb to the temptations that dog all of us in this internet age, temptations to be small and mean and click-baity and get readers at all cost. Sometimes I succeed in this better than I do other times. Sometimes I lose my cool. Sometimes I’m not patient. Sometimes I’m too worried about pleasing people. Sometimes I find myself mired down in controversy. Sometimes it happens to me; sometimes I do it to myself.

But I don’t want to forget my dream to be a writer who exhibits respect, intelligence, and hope on the internet.

As I read through each of these terms in my tagline, I began to see where my site was beginning to get a bit off balance: in the areas of creativity and cultural engagement in terms of works of art. As Maggie Gylenhaal has said, “art can be one way in” when it comes to difficult discussions. In August of last year, she appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote her miniseries, The Honorable Woman. She said:

Especially at this moment, where it feels impossible, where it’s really scary to talk about–especially in this country–you know, I think art can be one way in to think and feel about this. Not that it’s going to solve anything, but if you can shift someone a little tiny bit. If it’s too scary to have a conversation with so many people because people get so angry and stop listening, maybe, maybe something like this can make you feel about it in a way that makes you think.

I loved this comment so much and have thought about it many times since watching the interview.

So, I’m going to work on getting back to my roots and not forgetting about that first item in my tagline: “Creativity.” Even though it seems like the world is going to hell in a hand basket and even though it feels like there just is no time for creativity and writing about things I love like film and books and television and how they relate to the big issues and ideas in life … I’m gonna do it anyway.

When I take a step back, I realize that I don’t want to play into the same exact debates that everyone is having on the internet. I want to inspire us all to see things from a fresh perspective that brings empathy and insight. I feel like because God is the Creator, focusing on creativity helps to bring His light and love to a dark world.

There have been so many dark things in our world in recent months. So many sad, dark things. I have been silent on many of them, but some have seemed so important to address. And yes, they are important. But when creativity disappears from the discussion, it’s easy to lose hope and a fresh way to engage together too.

So, while I’ll keep challenging problems and darkness where I can, I’m going to back off just enough to get back to those creative roots.

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The Saddening, Dangerous Remarks of Franklin Graham

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