Good Things on Sledgehammers and the Lost Keys of Creativity

As always, there are good things out there if we keep our heads up and our eyes open. Here are just a few that I found – or found me – this week.

Thing To Hear: Harry Styles' Sledgehammer

I'm a big fan of Peter Gabriel's big, bombastic 80's hits and there may be no better specimen than his upbeat pop masterpiece, Sledgehammer. This classic recently made it's way back to my ears by way of Harry Styles and Howard Stern. This live performance – recorded just before lockdown in March – shows off Styles' talent and Gabriel's all at once.

Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqm7-zN5s8k

Thing To Laugh At: Places Van Morrison May Have Left His Keys

Jack Lewis compiled a hilariously accurate list of places Van Morrison may have left his keys, drawn from lyrics that are best heard in Morrison's gravelly Irish brogue.

Did he leave them "Between the viaducts of your dream"?

Or perhaps "On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row"?

It's not a long read, but it's well worth the smile.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/places-van-morrison-thinks-he-may-have-left-his-keys

Thing To Question: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson passed away recently, having inspired over 67 million viewers with his 2006 Ted Talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity? This talk stays with me. In it, Robinson raises deep, important questions about our schools, what they give to kids and what they take away.

As our kids head back to the classroom in these strange and risky days, why not pause and ask what school is really for?

Open your heart and mind to what Ken Robinson is asking here. Find your answer.

https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity/

This passage gets to the meat of it;

"if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original ... And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities."