Art Revival

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“I saw as a teacher how, if you take that spark of learning that those children have, and you ignite it, you can take a child from any background to a lifetime of creativity and accomplishment.” ~ Paul Wellstone

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~ Pablo Picasso

If you’ve read this blog over the years, you know that I have a big beef with cutting the arts when the money for education dwindles and budgets need to be trimmed. I’m not going to go into that right now. I know you’re breathing a sigh of relief. What I want to write about is the wonderful trend of recognizing the importance of the arts for us to live happy and healthy lives. The thing that prompted this post was a segment on the Sunday morning TV magazine, CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley. I’m including the clip here for you to watch. It’s short and inspiring.

The arts and creativity have always been a part of my life in various ways. And because of the movies and TV shows I watched, the books I read, my journal, and getting involved in theatre, I was able to do lots of self-examination and healing. Without creativity and art, I’d be a sad person indeed.

When I started Story-Power, I had no idea how many people I would meet who had similar experiences to my own. They were using their creativity to heal from all kinds of trauma they had suffered and as a result, were helping others do the same. I want to name just a few here so that you will hopefully go listen to my conversation with them and realize that there is a way to find happiness even during the darkest times.

The first guest I want to introduce is Lala Drona, episode 42, which aired on February 16, 2022 titled: “Life Informed Art”. Lala’s artwork at the time I chatted with her was centered around trying to heal from the fact that one of her breasts did not develop at puberty. You can imagine how devastating that was for her. She hid the condition as long as she could but when she finally revealed her condition to her mother, she was forced into surgeries to “make her normal”, which was traumatic in itself. But when I talked to her, the art series that she’d produced had helped her come to a new decision to have the implant taken out and her healthy breast removed so that she would never have to have another surgery ever again. I was inspired by her description of her journey.

The second guest’s episode aired March 26, 2025, episode 123, Constance Scharff, PhD, titled “Breaking up Obsessive Thinking”. Constance founded her own research institute to study how to help people overcome trauma. Because she worked on ways to recover from her own trauma, she is now helping others do the same by researching techniques that help break up the obsessive thinking that we engage in when we’re trying to avoid dealing with the dark emotions confronting the terrible events we experienced. One of the techniques I thought was extremely interesting was singing out loud to induce the good feeling hormones to break the negative thoughts. I found her work fascinating and the great thing is she’s written books that you may be interested in to help you with whatever trauma you’re dealing with. We all have trauma in one form or another. Creativity can help us find our way to heal and become happy.

The last guest I want to introduce is Nancy Norbeck. Her episode will air on April 23, 2025. I have not prepared her episode to be scheduled yet, but I will probably title it, “Make Bad Art”, which is the title of the 6 week course she teaches. She’s also the host of the podcast, “Follow Your Curiosity”, which is available on all the big podcast outlets. Nancy’s mission, which I whole heartedly agree with, is to help us see that making art is not just for the elite, talented, few, but for everyone. Humans are creative creatures and we die a little bit inside each day if we don’t get to do something creative.

So throw out that notion that you have to have talent to be creative. If you are human, you’re creative. Maybe you’re a great cook, gardener, crafter, blogger, home decorator, or any number of other things that require creativity and out of the box thinking. Then latch onto the thing you love to do for fun and watch your happiness quotient grow.

Thank you so much for following, reading, and commenting on these posts. Let’s champion creativity and the arts as a way to come together in community so we can support each other.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2025

Story-Power on Patreon

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power Patreon Community so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. They have recently instituted a free tier so you can try it out before you buy. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Let’s share what we’ve learned from the stories we love.

Classic Cinema with the Sage Sisters

Stories are a huge part of the way humans communicate with each other. I think all stories are allegories where we can learn all kinds of important things, not the least of which is how to understand ourselves and others better. The best stories can be told over and over from one generation to the next and still teach great lessons. Emotional Intelligence and critical thinking are two of those lessons. Celeste and I think there are many classic movies that show us the progression of where humanity is today and we want to share them with you.

Shakespeare was right, “All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players.” The stories we tell and consume are us trying to figure out who we are, why we’re here, who we want to be, and the kind of world we want to live in.

Come join the conversation on YouTube and our Facebook group.

PodMatch for Podcasters

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Prolific Writers Life

My husband, Barry and I recently joined Prolific Writers Life which offers members a variety of free online work sessions and discounts on coaching sessions with industry experts. They offer opportunities to hone your writing skills, develop your author brand, and connect with a supportive community in live events. You can participate in group chats or send private messages to members through Prolific Writers Chat. If you’ve got a writing project, or are an expert who can help members finish their writing projects, come join the community.