everybody has a little something in Common . . .

          Thinking about topics to blog about isn’t the reason why I haven’t updated my blog in what seems like forever.  The thinking about my topics is the easy part; in fact I even have a list of all the things that I would like to blog about. But to actually sit down and gather all the incomplete thoughts, and all the untapped feelings that you have inside your head and construct a piece of writing that seems worthy of someone else reading , can be a little overwhelming. This blogging thing is kind of new to me. I love to write, but I never really write about myself. If I do I use other characters to portray my most inner thoughts. So what do I write about exactly?

The theme of my composition class in "creativity".  Writing a blog about creativity would be taking the easy way out. There are so many different parts to creativity, and everyone has their own take on what creativity means to then. Most people agree that one of the biggest forms of expression and creativity is music. The other day Grammy winning hip hop artist Common came to Kutztown University to talk to students. I had no idea that he was coming, and wasn’t particularly interested in what he had to say. But it was free and what else was I going to do on a Tuesday night? So my boyfriend and I attended this event.

As a hip hop artist creativity is something that you work with on day to day bases. No one likes an artist that raps or sings about the same thing over and over. Common was very intriguing, because before he even started to talk he asked someone in the audience to pick a word. Someone from the audience shouted out “skills”. He paused for about 2 seconds, and then started to freestyle. Now, he could have free styled about pretty much anything, but he did one of the most creative freestyles I have heard yet. He started to free style about how you need skills to go far in life. But then his freestyle took an interesting turn.

He started to incorporate things about Kutztown. He talked about using his claws like a “golden bear’, he alluded to being hungry and going to grab a slice at ‘Mama’s’, he referenced hanging out on ‘Main Street’, and even started talking about thirsty Thursdays. At that moment the morale in the audience quickly changed. Everyone started cheering and laughing, because we felt a connection with him. It’s not every day a famous artist comes to a campus as small as Kutztown, and indulges his self in our culture. I was touched that he knew so much about our campus.

Throughout his lecture he used his creativity to give us examples, and tell us stories that we could relate to, but the main theme that he wanted he conveyed was ‘greatness’. Greatness is so broad of a topic, but he was trying to give us the message that in order to make it through life you can’t just be good, you have to want to be the greatest. This part of the lecture , caught my attention because I am going through a lot of self issues myself.

When I first came to college I knew what career I wanted and what I wanted to do with life, but things have changed. I have went from being a secondary education major to undeclared in not even a year. I feel lost and overwhelmed. Everybody reassures me that ill be fine, but I cant just take ‘gen ed’s’ for the rest of forever.

Common's speech really gave me hope, and really encouraged me to look deep inside and figure out what it is that I want to do. Greatness takes time, and work ethic , and I'm just looking for a passion of mine. Hopefully I find it, hopefully I can squeeze something out of the creative bones in my body , and discover a path worth venturing.