How does the social surround influence the pursuit of excellence?
By Zaila Brinson UA’27 and James Stellar
Zaila and I met in a 1-credit freshman class. She began her undergraduate career as a biology major, but switched to an English major path at the end of her first semester. Then at the end of her first year, she decided to add another major, Psychology. We wrote about the switch to English in a previous blog where you can see she followed her heart and even wound up volunteering at some events put on by the NY State Writers Institute. Here we want to take on another related question that could have impacted her decision. What is the influence of the social-surround on a student’s decision-making, particularly in the early years of college, now that she is a sophomore. Zaila, can you give us some insights into what about the people around you were an influence?
My first semester in college, I took a formal creative writing course. One of the units in the class had us write two personal narratives. When I finished writing the first one, a story about a life altering experience during my childhood, I sent it to my instructor for review. Her reply shook me to my core, but in a positive way; she said that she teared up reading my narrative and praised my work for being engaging and detail-oriented.
This was the first time I had actually let someone read something so intimate and the fact that she had that reaction made me begin thinking. Maybe my poems, short stories, etc. could be things people not only enjoy reading, but also connect with on a deep and emotional level? She opened my eyes to a future I had tried to steer myself away from, since it did not align with the premedical one that had been envisioned for me for many years. However, the future she helped me begin to embrace is one where I am happy and doing what I love most. Interestingly enough, I had another teacher a few years ago suggest the same future. My high school Spanish teacher asked me if I had ever considered becoming a writer when she read my responses to questions about me and my life; I wrote those responses to help her learn even more about me for college recommendations. Though the decision to become an English and Psychology double major and Creative Writing minor was ultimately my own, the people around me did in fact influence my thought process and perspectives. If anything, they helped put air under my wings so I could fly into the right path.
How do you think your mind works to come up with and write about such issues in a way that they move people (and they do from my experience in reading your poetry).
Honestly, I think it is difficult to explain how exactly my mind works when it comes to creative writing. I never really sit down and say, “Okay, think of a topic for this poem.” My mind is like a well near a stream that has just experienced heavy rainfall, it’s prone to flooding. So, I do not believe my mind works “conventionally”, so to speak. I hear a song and maybe have an urge to write some lines. I’m sitting in the airport and see a man wearing a blue shirt and suddenly begin thinking of a new character. I’m up late one night and think back to elementary school when I fell playing tag, and that somehow prompts a six page story. For me, I like to let ideas and inspiration come to me rather than go out seeking them.
Of course, when it comes to my stories, I do try to think of how I am going to move the plot along and how I want to construct the characters, but the actual basis for such works are usually brought to the forefront of my mind from the recesses of it. Again, my head is full and constantly on the brink of bursting. I think this practice of somewhat waiting and listening, allows for my work to be more organic in some ways which people seem to like. So, when it comes to issues like the one I wrote about for my personal narrative, most of the time it just happens. Yes, I know that sounds like a lackluster explanation, but it’s the truth. I like to think back to when Ray Bradbury said, “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.” I feel. I feel my way through a poem or story. I think that is what makes some of my pieces relatable or stirring for some readers. I write what I feel and then do the thinking later, when I’m polishing the work (changing words, arranging events, etc.). I guess I try not to force myself to come up with content because I have a feeling that would not only limit my creativity, but also make writing feel like a chore. That’s the last thing I want.
I love this quote from you where you let the “inspiration come to me.” This seems exactly what we talk about in this blog series as cognitive-emotional integration where the limbic system (emotion) seems to have a life of its own. I like the book Kluge by Gary Marcus where he said that the cortex (cognition) is “Kluged” onto the lower brain by evolution. I think of the arrangement in the brain like a math teacher who gets the student’s numeric-only answer and it is wrong. But she does not know whether the mistake is an arithmetic one or the student did the whole problem wrong. I think your limbic system gives the cognitive system just the answer, not the process for reaching that answer.
Now maybe this is the essence of creativity as you seem to describe above. Let the inspiration come to you (to your cognitive mind) from the feeling part of your brain, which is also smart … it just does not talk in words. What do you think?
I would agree with this idea. I think that the limbic system seems to have an effect on how we interact with our environment and interpret life experiences. Those interpretations could be stored as long-term memories which is why I say inspiration comes to me at seemingly odd times. Making sense of the things from the limbic system happens in the cognitive mind.
For example, let’s say I remember an event that happened in elementary school one night. I feel a wave of sadness reminiscing on this past occurrence, but at first I might not understand why that is. The next day I take to my computer and begin writing a poem or short story based on what I felt last night. That is what I would describe as my cognitive mind beginning to explore and analyze why and how this inspiration came to me. The limbic system and the cognitive mind can interact to produce stories that are evocative and valuable to people in processing their own emotions. While people may have different definitions for creativity and how it can be expressed, I think it is worthwhile to explore the role of the limbic system and the cognitive mind in the creation of paintings, sculptures, poems, etc.
Then that is what we will continue to do in our next blog.
