This April
When I think about Houston, I try to step out of my own experiences and see it the way other people do. On most mornings, I read the Houston Subreddit. On the Reddit community platform, Houstonians have discussions, often snarky, with each other and visitors from around the world. I especially enjoy threads where people try to describe Houston. Here’s a nice example: https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/7ziynt/what_food_or_dish_best_describes_houston/. My favorite reply is from kimshrug:
I don’t think one food or dish can describe Houston. Just like one person or one group couldn’t be the face of this city. Maybe bbq’d fajita crawfish tacos??
Houston is not often described as “creative,” but if we get into the habit of noticing Houston’s sparks of creativity, we can more often see its possibilities. More importantly, we can help the world see Houston as a leader in finding new solutions to problems, like COVID-19, which are plaguing the world.
Fast Company: How Reframing A Problem Unlocks Innovation, 2013-Apr-4 by Tina Seelig of Stanford University
… you can look at every situation in the world from different angles, from close up, from far away, from upside down, and from behind. We are creating frames for what we see, hear, and experience all day long, and those frames both inform and limit the way we think. In most cases, we don’t even consider the frames–we just assume we are looking at the world with the proper set of lenses. However, being able to question and shift your frame of reference is an important key to enhancing your imagination because it reveals completely different insights.
I hope this months Sparks will give you a few more frames for Houston.
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Creative Houston, PBC 