Tag: humor

Categories
Quotes

Happy Birthday, Will Rogers!

Quote from Will Rogers: "Things ain't the way they used to be and never were."

Things ain’t what they used to be and never were.

Will Rogers

On November 4, 1879, a humorist and cowboy philosopher was born in Oklahoma, Indian Territory. He began his show business career as a trick roper, ended up in Vaudeville, movies, the newspapers, and radio. It wasn’t a bad career for a cowboy!

When I was in high school, a graphic artist-teacher introduced me to his humor. He thought I could relate to his wit and the way he could turn a phrase. Though he was right, it didn’t help my social standing much. Nothing stood out like a sore thumb more than an Indiana teen in the nineteen-eighties who was into Will Rogers! Throw in my love for Marx Brothers movies and I was an odd duck!

Photo of Will Rogers from Filmplay Journal. Public Domain.
Will Rogers in Filmplay Journal, January 1922 (Public Domain)

Will Rogers is worth remembering because his humor was not only witty but was for the most part kind. He didn’t have to tear somebody down to make a point. He could laugh at himself and shine a light on the absurdity of culture and politics. And he could make you think before you realized it.

The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing for you if you don’t let it get the best of you.

Will Rogers

So happy birthday to Will Rogers! He’s a guy worth remembering today.

Categories
creativity

Is It Nonconformist or Not?

Quote from James Thurber: "Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?

Can somebody claim to be a nonconformist when they are doing what they feel is necessary to fit into a group of nonconformists?

I often thought of that when I took art classes, and later, worked in art departments. I loved to be creative. But it seemed to fit in, you had to have certain beliefs, dress a certain way, and behave in a certain manner. That wasn’t for me! I just wanted to create. I didn’t want to waste my creative energy on trying to fit in with this group or that.

I love Jame’s Thurber’s quote because it reminds me of that awkward feeling I had when I wasn’t quite fitting in with my art buddies, nor with my more conservative friends.

“Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?”

James Thurber

Culture ruins nonconformists. A musical band is considered a sell-out when its creativity hits the mainstream. Fashion trends are all the rage one year and totally faux pas the next. If one is wearing last year’s fashion trend, are they out of touch or are they cutting-edge nonconformists?

What is considered conformist in one group is considered shockingly out there in another. Perhaps the true gauge of who is a nonconformist is that they never quite fit in any group they are a part of. We are all unique individuals, after all.

Categories
motivation

Do you know why with certainty?

Cartoon of birds on a wire

When something happens, it’s easy to assume we know the answer to the event. But what if the “obvious answer” isn’t all that obvious? Our assumptions can deceive us, can’t they?

The little bird in my cartoon thinks he knows why his yellow friend is so large. Naturally, he must be eating some killer birdseed! But is the bird’s assumption correct? What if another factor caused the yellow bird to have some hefty prominence?

  • What if the yellow bird was an escapee from a science experiment?
  • Could the yellow bird have an overactive pituitary gland?
  • Maybe he had been on Sesame Street and birds naturally get yellow and large there
  • What if he is a she and in this species of bird, the females are larger?
  • Perhaps he is simply a different species?

Humor works because a joke or a cartoon sets us up to think in one direction, then the punchline takes us in another. It’s a bit of mental whiplash. Henny Youngman was great at it.

“If at first you don’t succeed…so much for skydiving.”

Henny Youngman

We make assumptions all the time. Could it be we shouldn’t be as certain of our assumptions as we are? Perhaps we need to be humble enough to consider there are other answers to why something is the way it is. It could lead to creativity…and perhaps a breakthrough.

Cartoon of birds on a wire
Categories
motivation

Cranky + Caffeine = Comforting Cheer

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

Yesterday, I read an article about my favorite hot beverage, or at least the prime drug that is in my favorite beverage; caffeine. It has been around for centuries, and according to the article, changed the course of history. Yet he maintains it also comes with a cost.

Washington Post article on Caffeine by Michael Pollan

Here’s the Audible link to the book

As I write this, I am enjoying some coffee and considering what caffeine has done for my creative juices.

Photo of Kevin Spear enjoying a mug of coffee
Enjoying some coffee with the “All Things Possible” mug.

Should I be concerned that I like my coffee? A stat in the article says up to ninety percent of adults ingest caffeine regularly. It’s a drug that businesses favor because it boosts productivity. Almost every office has coffee brewing. Creatives rely on coffee to get going in the morning. This is especially true considering how creatives like to be night owls. What would the world look like with a caffeine and coffee ban? I shudder to think.

The only thing I’m sure of is it would allow cats to take over the world. My illustration shows what I believe my cat would’ve done to me without that morning perk.

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

Could I quit coffee anytime I want? Sure I could. Just don’t give the cat a heads up if I ever decided to attempt this horror.

Categories
Quotes

Develop your eccentricities early

“Develop your eccentricities early, and no one will think you’re going senile later in life.” David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man