*taps mic* Can you hear me? Mic test, mic test. There we go. Now, my aunt is a literal fashionista at heart. She loves to buy lots of fashionable items like dresses, denims, shoes, and bags. Whenever I have some old shoes or sandals that I don't want to use anymore, since we have a similar feet size, she usually ends up taking them to her humble abode just to reuse most of them. But one time, she wanted to take my old white shoes that haven't been used much, and she was having hesitations since the pure white shoes can get dirty easily, ruining its look. Besides, she wanted it to look more stylish and more "her". The answer came in the form of DIY shoe designs! She bought lots of paint colors and started designing the completely white shoes into something prettier and more fab. Not only that but she got an idea to do this to her old, wornout rubber shoes as well, rendering them looking completely new and fashionable. She even asked my other relatives if they have old shoes even if they weren't completely white and offered to design their shoes just so they can have creatively-designed shoes within their grasp. Simple problems like this can be solved through using our creativity. Any old thing we own can be reused by just creatively designing them to make them look new and good again. May it be shoes or shirts or any old clothes inside your closet, channeling your creativity can not only help you improve your creative skills but can also help you gain new things without actually buying them. So why not try it out? I'm sure you'll fa-shoe-nably succeed! Photo Source: https://craftbuds.com/diy-shoe-painting-ideas/

*checks mic* Hmm, is it working? Can you hear me? Good. I have known that origamis exist since I owned this thin origami book at my bookshelf when I was younger. Though I only did origamis for fun, I've always wondered if maybe I can use origamis for other purposes. And this is where the real fun started: when I had no idea on what gift the main character in my story should give to her mother. It's not like I had many choices since the girl is neither rich nor middle-class. So I had to think more innovatively about this. This is where I got an idea that I never even thought of before: flower origamis. Since paper isn't that costly, the girl in my story can afford buying it to make her mother's gifts. All she has to do is to fold the paper into flowers and she can make a gift out of it. I call these "forever flowers" as they stay intact for a very long time, unlike real flowers that wilt and die. Though we know that origamis exist, I think that without imagining creative solutions, we might not be able to think of these kinds of solutions. So go be creative! Think creatively and think outside the box. Find your "forever flowers" solutions in every problem you face. And maybe if you find yourself feeling lost on what to give someone as a gift, try doing origamis and designing them to what best fits your receiver. Creative solutions can bring happiness too! Picture Source: https://www.momdoesreviews.com/2019/05/12/origami-tulips-a-fun-paper-craft/

Have you actually used a crayon in drawing or painting? How about as a canvas? Nope? *grins* Well, it's about time I share a messy experience that enlightened me to a new use for crayons: canvas for carving. You see, during high school, I used to have a contemporary arts class. I've never been much of a visual artist as much as a literary one, and honestly, I was dreading the experience at first. We were supposed to use recyclable materials to create a painting and I thought about the old crayons inside my drawers, terrible unused and neglected. As I said, I don't do much visual arts so I was wondering if I could use those things in another way. Hence, I started to think about it more and realized, "Wait, we can carve on crayons, right? Isn't that possible?" That thought started a frenzy in me where I literally researched the whole internet to learn more about crayon carving. I didn't have any tools for carving, so I had to search for any sharp room within the vicinity that I can use to try it. And of course, as expected, the first try looked like a blob of a mess. I couldn't really form anything. The figures I kept forming looked so irregular and didn't look like the ones I keep trying to imitate. Despite that, I kept on trying and I really enjoyed trying. I did wish I could've taken a picture at least so I could show it here. In the end, the carved crayons weren't used because my groupmates decided on other materials instead, but that learning experience was really beneficial for me. First of all, I realized I thought about something "innovative" before knowing it ever existed. It made me learn that we humans are really capable of thinking outside our knowledge and experiences using our imagination. Secondly, crayon carving was a pain at first but it really can be a fun activity to exercise your creativity. Once you focus on the process and not the results, you'll appreciate the activity more. Lastly, I learned that being creative doesn't mean being perfect; it means being willing to go beyond the ordinary! So go further and stretch outside your imaginations! I'm pretty sure so many cool ideas are waiting for your mind to grasp. Picture Source: https://www.puppiesandflowers.com/two-very-different-crayon-carving-artists/

*mic test* Is it ready? Can everybody hear me? Good. Let's start. You know that feeling when you see so much clutter inside the house that you just want to burn it? Well, that's not a healthy way to deal with both anger and trash–in fact, there are so many ways you can deal with trash, including giving it to the trash trucks, but is that really the only way we should deal with that? I might be tired of seeing trash, but I'm definitely not tired of trying new things. There's only one way to deal with this on-going frustration of handling all the mess: art. I'm not the most artsy person around. I definitely prefer words and writing, but the lack of designs and the lackluster ambience of the house is enough to make me want to try decorating it. And so, here we are, with me picking up every recyclable trash I could take and trying my best to figure out how to make them decorations. It's fun experimenting with the materials–we even managed to make leftover soap designed like a whale and placed on the shelf as kind of like a figurine. Empty bottles became pots and old, bare shoes were painted with new colors and designs. Old clothes became rugs (which is nice because we don't have to spend money to buy new rugs), and a few pieces of boxes and plastic containers became a holder of chargers, etc. Of course, all of these things are stuff we had to design. It wasn't that easy since I don't have much experience with paints, but we did manage to do it in the end. You'll feel not only proud being able to accomplish such a task, but it'll be rewarding especially since you somehow managed to help the environment as well. And this makes me realize, art does a lot of things to our world and creativity helps us solve problems in ways we don't even realize. So, what are you waiting for? Why not go make the art-vironment a better place? You can do it too. All you need is the desire to try. Picture Source: https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/green-living/recycling-refresher-course

(Me: *checks mic* Is it working? It is? Alright, let's start.) My mom's never been a travel person, but she's exactly the type of person that jumps in when there's a problem that needs to be solved. A few decades ago, she and her colleagues had to pass by a city that is completely different from the other cities in our countries on their trip. Filled with rice fields, incomprehensible language systems, and unique indigenous cultures, the city seemed like another world they just discovered. Just as they're marveling about the beautiful sceneries, an impending problem arises: someone needs to use the bathroom. Now, this can easily be solved if there were public bathrooms stationed for travelers. Unfortunately, there wasn't and one of her colleagues is about to lose their mind. So, they had to knock on one of the doors of the people living in there. Just as soon as they're about to ask if they can use the bathroom, spears were suddenly pointed at them. Yes, this was a tribe who treats newcomers as suspicious people. Her colleague is already in a dire need of using the bathroom–and now, they're in a life or death situation too. Well, if you remember, I just said that these people have incomprehensible language systems. They might have the same nationality as us, but they'll treat outsiders as possible enemies. Curious as to how they solved the problem? We have to thank something for this: body language. Using gestures, pointing towards the body parts and acting out what they want to do, my mom and her colleagues was able to avoid death and actually use the bathroom. Funny, right? It might seem funny, but creativity does indeed save lives. Well, particularly acting and theater. It's not like you needed a degree to find the resolution to this problem either. You just need to be innovative enough to figure out how to communicate without words. And what's that but body language and creating messages through acting? It's amazing how creativity can go as far as save someone's life. Now, whenever I go to the bathroom, I remember this and wonder what would've happened if they hadn't been that creative in the first place. Whew, thank you, creativity! Picture Source: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-body-language.html

Very informative short film about climate change!! Link: https://youtu.be/DhhVr5iLF-c

Really informative resource for climate change! Link: https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/climate-change-frequently-asked-questions/

A playlist of Netflix documentaries about climate change's effects on animals! Very informative and insightful to watch! Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydZ2Hrp_gPS1DRwFcowNTRNR1B9QbPm3

Written by Corinna Keefe Link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/shorthand.com/the-craft/climate-change-stories/amp-index.html

It's interesting to see haikus like this because the message is captured in just a few words and it hits :)

It has no title but I like the mesmerizing use of simple words to capture a message ✨💖

A really thought-provoking and introspective poem!

I love piano and violin duets so so much! This is another one of my faves! It really inspires me at times in writing light angst/mellow stories and poems. :) Link : https://youtu.be/5NgVpzAVgGU

One of my favorite classical violin and piano duets!! Link: https://youtu.be/nhvXnUoqU9U

This poem was really interesting and I thought it really captured things we experienced and are experiencing right now 👀

This video is really interesting! It can help you gain perspective on creativity in schools 👀🙏 A masterpiece talk in my opinion ☺️ Link: https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY

Just a helpful resource for understanding literature better ☺️🙏 Link: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/

"The world of literature is a sacred mirror that shows not the reality around us but the dreams and fears that reality stimulates. It is not where we live. It is life itself." - Dennis Vickers, Only Breath

This article gives an enlightening view on literary taste and criticism! I enjoyed reading it ☺️ Link: https://engfoci.blogspot.com/2018/05/educating-literarytaste-by-paz-latorena.html