Permission · WHITE_SPACE 여백

For many people, trying to find their creative voice can be so elusive. Some people spend their whole life looking for it. However, I suspect, we all found it when we were children...but over time...slowly...it slipped away from many of us. So slowly, in fact, that when it is almost gone it’s hard to remember we ever had it.

Can you remember when you felt most creative? Think back...back when you were in kindergarten...when you pulled out your box of 64 Crayola Color Crayons and just colored...when you sang aloud in class without the worry of embarrassment...when you got out the glue, construction paper and staples...when you chased a ball around the playground for hours on end...when you weren’t afraid to fail. You were in that special place once. We all were...

Maybe that’s why we idolize rock stars, movie stars, artists or major league baseball players. They are all living like they are still in kindergarten...still playing...creating...living...loving. So, we feel relegated to live vicariously through our heroes’ eyes while we try to find a path back to that place they never left. Somehow, they still have permission...permission to create..permission to play.

Well, we can’t go back to kindergarten. Some of us are lucky to get into grad school, but kindergarten is out of the question. So how can we find that permission we had in kindergarten again? Permission to play? I hear we can become rock stars if we get an XBox?

The other day we had a get together for Lyra’s work crowd. In Korea, a hwayshik (team dinner) consists of heavy eating, heavy drinking and...(once the many layers of inhibition are peeled back)...heavy singing at a karaoke bar. So, by the time everyone reaches the karaoke bar, they are back in touch with what is still left of their creative souls. It’s too bad they have to find it inside a soju bottle. It’s only at that point, people feel they have permission to let it out.

However, Lyra and I wanted to avoid the heavy drinking part, but still give people permission to let their creative inner selves roam free....hmmm???

Well...to be honest...we didn’t set out to help people find themselves. We mainly wanted everyone to enjoy the night without destroying themselves or Lyra’s home in the process.

So what do we do?

Remember that box of crayons and construction paper I mentioned? Earlier that week we had grabbed a bunch white t-shirts, spray paint, fabric markers, stencils and scissors for the party. Sounds kind of girlie? Maybe...but who cares. When the group was getting sufficiently stuffed and tired...we broke out the reinforcements and sent everyone back to kindergarten!

I was worried...what if everyone thought spray painting t-shirts was stupid...and wanted to keep drinking?

Well...they didn’t. Soon everyone was at ease with themselves and totally absorbed in their t-shirt. They were in kindergarten again! No rules. All each one of them had to do was design a t-shirt using the spray paint, markers, stencils and whatever else they could get their hands on.

Our little t-shirt experiment did wonders to grease the social wheels. Once fully engaged in the creative process, everyone opened up...and by extension...were able to express a bit of who they were...without a fear of being ostracized.