The Mystery of Henry Darger.

     What would you do if you knew a man who had the minimum amount of social life, who spent the majority of his time inside his home unless it was to go out to the store to get paint supplies or photocopies of newspaper clippings? This was Henry Darger's life. The way he lived seems to be anything except interesting, yet inside his mind a world unlike any other was flourishing. When Henry died in 1973, his landlords found the unexpected--a 15,000 paged novel, completed with an additional 15,000 pages of artwork to go along with the story, as well as a complete autobiography, the weather record for ten years, and a complete list of soldiers in his fable and full background on each character. 

       The tale Darger composed focused around a group of seven young girls who had the male reproductive system, magic, war, flying mythological beasts, and punishment. Throughout the story, the young girls, probably ranging between the ages of seven up to twelve, were highly important soldiers in a crusade to spread Christianity and faith in God and His doings. Darger's characters were given the opposite gender roles than accepted in society--females were brave, strong warriors while males were occasionally shown as weak and frightened by meek animals like mice. Inside of his story, beauty played off as dangerous and violent. 

       Despite the obvious masterpiece that Darger had created, there is an underlying problem--is the man who wrote such a beautiful, complete story ill-minded or was he just different? There seems to be a lot of evidence that faces towards insanity. Henry's mother passed away when he was younger, and since his father didn't make enough money to support a family of three, Darger's younger sister was given up for adoption. Most of his youth was spent in a boys' home, and then later, around his teens, he was sent to an asylum where he was forced to stop schooling and partake in strenuous work. While working inside the asylum, Darger was a victim to abusive and harsh beatings. Later in life, Darger was denied the access to adopt--one of his sole yearnings in life.

       Although there were many events in his life that could have led him to be on the edge, these events may have been what fueled Darger's imagination. Having almost no experience with the opposite sex and having to leave school prior to the age where taking an anatomy class is appropriate, Darger would have no idea as to what a female's body should look like, which justifies why the girls in his novel had male reproductive organs. The obsession with female protagonists may have also been born from the same lack of female association in his life. Since Darger was unable to adopt a child due to the questioning of his sanity, the ages of his heroines may have arisen from his constant yearning to have a child of his own. Having been a victim of abuse, the violence in his tale has an obvious upbringing.

       The debate of whether his novel is a product of his own insanity or a creation from a different take on life is in constant motion. There is justification either way--he had a rough life which may have led him to have many different personality disorders, but because of his upbringing, we could assume that Darger just coped with life differently. In my take, I believe that Henry is just another victim to the cruel way society analyzes us as people. Darger's sanity may be constantly questioned, but I have come to feel that he was reckless, but not crazy, that the way he perceived reality was in no way altered by his mind. 

       If one should read a caption from his story, they would find that what he endured throughout his life is directly noted in his novel. With the opportunity to adopt a child torn away from him, his female characters were punished. When he struggled with his faith in God and religion, Darger's characters were struggling with their faith and the war seemed to be going downhill for protagonists. Yet, when he returned to attending church every day, three times a day, his characters' faith was renewed and the heroines' lives were beginning to get back onto the right track. Like any author, Henry put his life into his work. He put his emotions into the characters. Every single author out there has left some part of them inside their novel, even if that was just their take on the world at that given point in time. So the question of whether Henry Darger is insane or eccentric may still be lingering on the lips of many out there, but I would like to believe he kept his sanity intact. 

       There is, however, one thing many people will continue to struggle understanding. After having been sent to the same home his father passed away in, Darger began to deteriorate at a rapid pace. The few people who grew to love him came in to visit, and gave him their appraisal at the marvelous and majestic world he left in their wake. Darger had only a few words in response, "It is too late now." What exactly was too late? Maybe he was talking about the double ending he had left the people with; one of the endings detailed our heroines' success in winning the war, while the other showed their demise. The thing is, we may never know why Henry decided to place this double ending. Maybe he regretted his decision to originally have the group of young girls win, or maybe he decided that we, as the readers, should decide their fate? 

       "Just because there are questions doesn't mean that there are answers." And that may just be something we, as the audience of his biography, as the curious viewers, will have to learn to live with. 

How many bloggers does it take...?

      John Cleese--there's a lot that one could say about the man. For starters, he's an esteemed writer and film producer, actor, and comedian in Britain. He's probably best known for his Monty Python skits and movies. What else is there to say? How about his phenomenal ability to give speeches? Oh, did I mention that he also is a renowned expert on creativity? Of course, one should already assume such things when Cleese is mentioned. 

      A few nights ago, I watched his speech on creativity that he gave during a convention. In the speech, Cleese talked about what creativity is, how we can become more creative everyday, and of course, cracked a few interesting versions of the classic light bulb joke. In the beginning of his lecture, John stated that "creativity is not a talent" rather than a way that we, as human beings, operate daily. He went over the "closed mode" and "open mode" to being creative--open mode is where we are humorous, curious, and fully relaxed, while closed mode is where we are serious, tense, and aware of daily life pressures and problems. He mentioned how being in the closed mode makes it impossible to find creative solutions and ideas, but to be in the open mode makes it near impossible to initiate the said solutions or place the ideas into something productive. So, according to Cleese, there must be a balance between open and closed modes. 

      Cleese also talked about the process to take in order to find your oasis called the "open mode". The first step is to make space for yourself, to find your own "creative oasis" hiding within the desert we call our minds. Next you must have time. This time is needed to get into the open mode, to think thoroughly, find your creative ideas, and then return to the closed mode. Thirdly, you shouldn't settle for your original idea or solution. Make sure you thoroughly explore all the possible creative branches and outlets. Then comes confidence. Once you find an idea that you completely adore, you must place all your confidence into it. You can also play off "what if" questions, to see just how much further that will take you. Lastly, one must add humor. In order to be creative, Cleese says humor is the path to take, that it helps us to leave our close-minded state and venture further into our imaginations. Unfortunately, despite being a huge fan of the Monty Python movies, I find myself disagreeing with Cleese on his statement. Creativity is creativity—there’s nothing else to it. I believe that sometimes, or rather much of the time, seriousness can bring out the most creative sides of people.

       Today, media surrounds us with serious themed movies, shows, plays, books, and songs. While a lot of these may be based on a true story, which sucks some of the creativity from the story line, they are creative nonetheless. How so, you ask? Well, many movies today are under the genre “history”. Once placed inside this category, it's obvious to the audience that the topic is based off either an actual event in history or a historical figure. Although it's core of being is true, that does not mean it is full of actual facts, dialogue, or people. 

       For example, in Titanic, the author of the script had done some serious researching. On the actual ship, in the passengers' log, there was a woman named Rose staying in the first class quarters who ended up surviving the tragedy, while a man named Jack Dawson lived in the lower quarters of the ship. His body had never been recovered. This being said, despite having the same name and fate as real people, the characters in the movie and the story line we have all grown up to love is fictitious. The tale leading up to and throughout the ending of the movie is nothing more than a figment of the writer’s mind. Despite knowing they were on the ship together, there is no other facts or evidence to validate that Rose and Jack had actually met on the Titanic. We are left to believe that Rose’s famous line, “I’ll never let you go, Jack”, is just a catchy phrase the author created to enrage the movie’s fans when she does, later, let him go. Despite the passengers’ log, there is no other documentation, evidence, or witness that can vouch for the love story we all adore. We are left to face the fact that their love never really existed.

       By taking a serious topic and adding a few comedic flares to it, the movie was born. It is a prime example of how seriousness can lead to great spurts of creativity. Think about it: Your favorite song is more than likely about a bad breakup or a misfortunate event in the musician’s life. It is more unlikely to draw inspiration from a good event, but if so, the song is still more serious than one originally thinks. Your favorite war movie is most likely not a documentary, nor is your favorite horror story. The most popular form of theatre, other than comedy, is tragedy, which is based off a serious issue and instills its audience with hidden morals of life. So, while Cleese may be right that comedy is a direct outlet of creativity, we cannot disregard that seriousness is one as well.

      Despite the disagreement on close-mindedness and open-mindedness, I really enjoyed his speech. Although it lasted a little over a half hour, I found it entertaining, enlightening, and of course, creative. By the end of the video, not only did I find myself craving to watch Monty Python and The Holy Grail, I also felt so inspired to take everything I do and look at it through a different perspective. There's only one question I have left...     

How many bloggers does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is two: one to change the bulb and the other to write a reflection on how it made them feel. 

As long as it's creative...

     A lot of the times, we use words without really understanding what they mean. We have a generalized understanding of them, but their actual definition always seems to escape us. Then there comes the words that we each percieve in different ways--the words that have different meanings to different people. These could be words are usually depend on the person, except for one. Creativity. What is it? We all seem to have different view points on what defines creativity, who is creative and why.

     According to online sources, creativity is the ability to use the imagination to develop new and original ideas or things, especially in an artistic context. But to me, I think that creativity stands for so much more. In my own terms, creativity is the quality that people possess which enables them to express how they feel about specific topics and ideas, who they are as a person, and what they believe in as an individual. What creativity exactly is depends on who the person is, as well as where their interests, hobbies, and skills lay. People can express different levels of creativity in a number of separate and unique ways. It is easier for a person to show their creative side when they have a large amount of interest, dedication, or passion for whatever project they are working on at that moment.

You Have To Start Somewhere...

I've always been told that you have to start somewhere.

    Naturally, an introduction is in order. My name is Angela Romeo, and I'm just like every other human being in the world--I have my share of bad days, and there are moments where I laugh or cry for no reason. This also means something else: I'm just as complicated and complex as every other person worldwide. So where can we start? The beginning. 

    I'm a child of back roads and woods. I spent my childhood in a microscopic town outside of Carrollton, Ohio, called New Harrisburg. Growing up in a small town meant that you had to be in touch with your creative side. This meant pretending you were a Pokémon trainer and searching in the trees for Bigfoot, but when you're a kid, your reality is found inside of your imagination. 

    Unfortunately, there arrives a moment in time when society demands us to grow up. This happened to me the summer between sixth and seventh grade. Around the age of twelve, my parents decided it would be best for our family to pack up our belongings and move towns. Like every other twelve year old, I was melodramatic about the issue and thought that my entire world was being flipped around. Little did I know that I wouldn't be moving very far, and that I was about to start my journey to becoming the person I am today. 

    I went on for the next three years, trying to be the person that media and society wanted me to be. I had a schedule full of being focused on my academics and trying to stay as mature as possible. Now that I look back on it, those were the most miserable years of my life. Although I was stuck in a routine that pushed me further and further away from who I was, I eventually managed to break the cycle. Sometime during that third year, I woke up one morning and realized that I had lost touch with who I was and that was why I felt so horrible. I desperately needed to find myself. 

    I went on what I call an "early life crisis". I had to find out who I was inside, not what others wanted me to be. In the beginning of my sophomore year, I found myself. Or rather, four guys who soon became my best friends found me. They had helped me to rediscover a passion that I had. They had helped me to remember that I loved singing. We formed a band (We went by Look Both Ways, inspired by our drummer who didn't look both ways once...) around December of 2009, and in May we won our school's talent show. 

    That was the first step, I think, in becoming who I am today. Look Both Ways had turned into my backbone, and ultimately helped me to tell society that I was sick of being shoved into its definition.  If my parents never would have decided to move to Leavittsville--an even smaller town than New Harrisburg--I never would have met those guys. I would have never met the people who helped to bring back who I was.