Category Archives: creativity

Life Style, Charm, Culture, Majesty of Nature and the Built Environment- by Gary S. Smolker

In Fast Paced Societies Some People Think Sleep Is A Symptom of Caffeine Deficiency

I love coffee.

I find coffee to be highly stimulating.

  • Coffee/caffeine turns on, activates, stimulates and fires up sections of my brain.
  • Drinking coffee makes me more alert, makes me better able to concentrate, makes me better able to think, makes me feel energetic and energizes me.
  • Without a doubt, coffee/caffeine is a psychoactive substance.

CONFESSION OF A CAFFEINATED COFFEE LOVER:

  • I drink coffee to keep awake, to make me more alert, to energize me and to make me energetic.
  • I drink coffee every morning because coffee makes my brain function better.
  • Coffee makes me become alert and energetic.
  • I love to meet strangers in coffee houses while they are purchasing a cup of coffee.
  • I love to sip coffee while talking to people.
  • I am a “social coffee drinker:”
  • For me: Coffee houses are a place where I can talk to strangers and a place where I can meet people “for a coffee.”
  • I have met new people, complete strangers, in coffeehouses.
  • For me coffee houses are a place of refuge: I enjoy reading a book alone while in a coffeehouse while
  • I “love” breathing in the smell of coffee, looking at “sweets for sale”, looking at people entering and exiting the coffeehouse.
  • I enjoy listening to strangers talking to one another in the background while I am in a coffeehouse.  Sometimes I ask for permission to join them in their conversations.
  • I love to look at signs posted in coffeehouses.
  • I love “dream come true” success stories.

“DREAM COME TRUE” INSPIRATIONAL COFFEEHOUSE SUCCESS STORIES

  • Creme Caramel LA is an inspirational business success story.  So is The Daily Grind.
  • The owners of Creme Caramel LA began their business in 2010 selling pies they made from scratch at a rented booth in a Farmers Market.
  • Within three years later they were selling pies they made from scratch in booths they rented in ten different Farmers Markets — from Silver Lake (an area of Los Angeles) to Northridge (another area in Los Angeles.
  • In 2013 they opened their Creme Caramel LA store described below.

YUM

  • On July 3, 2016, I walked from my apartment to a hole in the hole in the wall Creme Caramel LA store I had driven by (without stopping) on my way to work for more than one year.
  • At least five days a week for over one year, as I drove by the glass entry door to that store I was always fascinated by a sign on the front door stating “I am not a cupcake.”
  • IMG_8869
  • But I never stopped to go in.
  • On July 3, I decided to walk to that store to find out what was behind the front door, what is behind that “I am not a cupcake” sign.
  • Once inside, I immediately saw a sign which states “Stressed Is Just Desserts Spelled Backwards.”

Below is a photograph of that sign which I saw as I walked through the front door into the Creme Caramel LA store.

IMG_8901

Growth Phase

  • Creme Caramel LA is no longer a “start-up” business.
  • It is now in its growth phase.
  • The owner-operators bake and sell their own original recipe creme caramels, custards, upside down pies, bread puddings, quiches, and tea sandwiches on the premises.
  • Creme Caramel LA specializes in creme caramels, upside down pies, custards, bread puddings and serves a variety of coffee drinks and sweets and savories for onsite consumption.
  • Inside is a table against a wall with three chairs to sit on located on the wall to the right of you as you walk into the store and to the left of you is a display case  containing pies and cakes and other savories for sale.  A coffee pot and espresso machine are located behind the display case counter.  Further back is the kitchen “Where The Magic Happens.”  Outside the front door, on the sidewalk, are two tables to sit at with a few chairs to sit on.  While there I bought and ate a lemon bar and I bought and drank a coffee.
  • For your information: Creme Caramel LA is located at 14849 Burbank Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA. 91411.
  • Creme Caramel LA is located near the intersection of Kester Ave and Burbank Blvd., about a ten minute walk from where I live on Burbank Blvd. in Van Nuys, California.

Creme Caramel LA

I liked the lemon bar and coffee I had on Sunday (July 3) so much that I walked there again from my home on July 4 to have breakfast.

For breakfast (on July 4), I bought a Strada  and drank two Salted Caramel Lattes.

See pictures below of my breakfast, the Strada I ate for breakfast.

IMG_8910

IMG_8914

The Creme Caramel LA’s Strata I ate was a savory bread pudding with jack cheese, cheddar cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and longinisa.  Longinisa is a Filipino pork sausage.

Below are two close up pictures of the Strata I ate for breakfast Monday morning (July 4) at Creme Caramel LA— taken after I had taken a few bites of it and cut off a small piece.

IMG_8921

IMG_8922

 

Below is a photograph of a list of the hot coffee drinks served which I took inside the Creme Caramel LA
store on July 4, 2016.

IMG_8893

Below are two photographs I took inside the Creme Caramel LA store of the list of custards and confections created/served at Creme Caramel LA.

IMG_8863

IMG_8918

IMG_8919

Below is a photograph of the sign inside the store advertising the prices of sandwiches and Spanish Tortilla made and sold in the store.

IMG_8915

Below is a photograph (taken by me) of the message on the front door of Creme Caramel LA sign stating “I am not a cupcake.” f

IMG_8869

I wanted to know what does “I’m Not A Cupcake!” meant.

When I walked into the store I quickly found out.

  • Among the various savories served at Creme Caramel LA  is “Unicorn Poop” (Meringue Cookies).

IMG_8870

  • Individual portion sized sweet “bar cookies” available to for customers to buy, to have with their coffee or other drink or to take home.
  • The “bar cookie” in the top right hand corner of the picture below is a S’Mores Bar consisting of marshmallow on top of a chocolate chip cookie.

IMG_8972

On Sunday morning (July 2, 2016), I ate a lemon bar cookie, like the one in the picture above beneath the S’Mores Bar.

Inside Creme Caramel LA there is only one table with four chairs for customers to sit on while they drink their coffee.  See picture below.

IMG_8971

Above the door leading to the kitchen where all pastries are made (from scratch) is a sign which says “Where the Magic Happens.”

IMG_8866

Outside are two tables with a few chairs for people to sit on while they drink coffee and eat pastries.

Below is a picture I took directly across the street (Burbank Blvd.) of the Creme Caramel LA storefront and of the two tables with chairs in front of the entry door.

IMG_8968

Below is a close up picture of the front (entry) door to Creme Caramel LA — which as you an see, is hard to see as you drive (on Burbank Blvd) past the front door of the Creme Caramel LA store.

IMG_8869

By the way, Creme Caramel LA is a dog friendly place.

Below is a picture I took of a dog drinking water out of a bowl in front of the store.

IMG_8926

The Creme Caramel LA story proves that Los Angeles is a place where dreams can come true.

My Worldwide Search

I am on a worldwide search/quest to find, savor and enjoy fully the best of everything, including t

  • he best books,
  • the best bookstores,
  • the best movies,
  • the best coffeehouses,
  • the best coffees,
  • the best chocolate,
  • the best confections,
  • the best sweets,
  • the most picturesque places
  • the most magnificent places and,
  • the most charming places in the world.

I found such a place, in June, 2016: a coffeehouse in Pullman, Washington, The Daily Grind.

The Daily Grind’s address is: 230 Main Street, Pullman, Washington 99163.  Phone: 509-334-3380.

The Daily Grind is the best coffeehouse I have found on my worldwide quest to find the best coffeehouse.

PULLMAN, WASHINGTON

  • Pullman is in the Palouse Region of Eastern Washington.
  • Pullman is a “small town.”
  • Washington State University is located in Pullman.
  • Pullman is a farm town, a town surrounded by farms growing crops on rolling hills.
  • People hunt deer on those farms.
  • You have to watch out for deer when you drive on the meandering roads that come into and go out from Pullman into the countryside.
  • I walked up and down Main Street in Pullman – which was about a one or two or at most three blocks long walk.
  • Crops grown in the countryside surrounding Pullman are shipped by trucks, trains and by barges out to customers/consumers all over the world.

Below are photographs I took of crops and wildflowers growing on farms in the countryside around Pullman, a barn, the Palouse River, a railroad track (partially covered by a wooden structure) on a bridge over the Palouse River and of a sign on one farmer’s property telling people to “keep out”/”no trespassing.”

IMG_7724

IMG_7723

IMG_7808

IMG_7789

IMG_7793

IMG_7816

IMG_7847

IMG_7854

IMG_7855

IMG_7874

IMG_7901

IMG_7905

IMG_7915

IMG_7938

IMG_7977

IMG_8424

IMG_8376

IMG_8476

IMG_8456

IMG_8103

The Palouse Region of Eastern Washington

The Palouse region of Eastern Washington consists of rolling fields covered with growing crops, endless miles of gravel roads, scenic vistas, unpaved trails and pathways for walking, paved non-motorized trails for biking strolling and running, and is teaming with many species of birds plants and wildlife and has many unique points of interest.

Three examples:

  1. The Pullman Parks and Recreation trail system, for example, consists of almost 8 miles of paths.
  2. The Kamiak Butte area of the Palouse, for example, has over 130 species of birds, 170 species of plants and 30 species of mammals for wildlife viewing.
  3. Just off Main Street in downtown Colfax – which is an extremely small town in the Palouse Region of Eastern Washington – stands the tallest chainsaw carved structure in the world, the Codger Pole.  The Codger Pole was built to commemorate a football game between Colfax and the town of St. John played in 1938 and replayed in 1988 by those still around 50 years later.  It is 65 feet tall.

The City of Colfax is situated between the Spokane Airport and the city of Pullman Washington.

I stopped in Colfax on my way from the Spokane Airport to Pullman Washington.

I had never seen anything like The Codger Pole before seeing it during my stop to get a bit to eat  in Colfax Washington as I was driving from the Spokane Airport to Pullman.

Below is a series of pictures I took of the Codger Pole, when I stopped on my way to Pullman, while I was in Colfax, Washington.

IMG_7662

IMG_7666

IMG_7667

IMG_7663

On my way to Pullman Washington from the Spokane Airport I drove through Colfax, Washington.

Below is a picture of a sign I saw on the sidewalk as I was driving through Colfax.

IMG_7687

I stopped and went inside the “Top Notch Cafe.”

If I remember correctly there were about 10 chairs at a counter to sit on and four or five booths to sit in.

On a wall was posted a T-shirt shown below.

IMG_7674

Of course, I ordered a hamburger with fries.

Below is a picture of the hamburger with fries served to me at the Top Notch Cafe.

IMG_7678

Below is a picture of my hamburger sandwich which indeed contained two hamburger patties, a slice of ham, several slices of bacon, several slices of cheese, lettuce, pickle and tomato.

IMG_7677

That sandwich was way too much for me to eat.

I couldn’t eat more than a third of it.

I was with two friends (Saeed Yadegar, MD and Grahame Elder) who shared my hamburger sandwich with me.

I think downtown Colfax consists of three blocks.

Charm, Charming Places and Charming People

Pullman is a very small city, and a “college town.” The main campus of Washington State University is located in Pullman.

Pullman, Washington is the most charming city I have found on my worldwide quest to find the most charming city in the world.

I came across The Daily Grind  as I walked along the one or two blocks on Main Street in Pullman.

The Daily Grind is the most charming coffeehouse I have found on my quest to find the best coffeehouse in the world.

The Daily Grind

Below is a picture of the sign I saw on the sidewalk on Main Street in Pullman.

This sign (on the sidewalk) is right in front of The Daily Grind.

IMG_8033

Everything about The Daily Grind is charming, from napkin holders on the tables, to having comfortable chairs to sit in next to wooden tables to sit at while drinking coffee, to charming paintings, posters and signs hanging on the walls to a grand painting painted on a major brick wall.

The napkin holders on each of the tables are “decorated’ with clever messages.

Below is a picture of me in front of one of the napkin holders.

IMG_8068

Below is a close up picture of that napkin holder.

IMG_8066

Below are photographs I took of a few of the napkin holders I found on tables in The Daily Grind.

IMG_8080

IMG_8318

IMG_8298

I don’t remember if the above picture is of a message on a napkin holder or a picture of a sign.

Below is a picture of a hand painted wall behind a table inside The Daily Grind

IMG_8367

Below is a picture of the neon sign on the front window you pass as you enter The Daily Grind.

IMG_8036

Below is a picture of the front of The Daily Grind I took from across the street.

IMG_8035

Attached to the drinking areas (which have tables to sit at and a conference room) is a small kitchen that serves a limited menu of freshly made breakfast dishes and sandwiches) and an area that serves a huge variety of coffees.

A huge variety of coffee drinks are made and sold in The Daily Grind as well as unique “gifts”.

  1. Hand crafted soap made out of coffee beans.
  2. Signs with “value laden” messages.

See photographs below, of hand crafted soap made with coffee beans sold at The Daily Grind.

IMG_8324

IMG_8326

See photographs below of signs sold in The Daily Grind.

IMG_8050

IMG_8049

IMG_8052

 

The Daily Grind is a one of a kind coffee house.

The Old European Restaurant

The Old European Restaurant is Kid Friendly,Warm and Welcoming

IMG_8087

The owner operators of The Old European Restaurant, located at 455 South Grand Avenue in Pullman, Washington believe that dining should be a wonderful experience, not just a place to eat.  A welcoming sign inside their restaurant says:

“Gose w Dom, Bog w Dom”

“Guest in the house, God in the house!”

IMG_8086

The owners of The Old European Restaurant proudly let you know “who is serving you.”

On each table is a book titled “Old Europe Story Book” which provides a brief resume of each one of their service staff and each member of their background crew.

Below are two examples:

Channing is our smiling girl who moved from NY to Pullman to study grizzly bears because she loves animals.  As it turned out, she will get her degree, and has worked herself into the challenging position of  training our new service staff members, and manages a mired of details, necessary if our operation is to offer the kind of service you should expect.  Channing is planning a wedding and is to be married in June!

Kevin.  Oh if we all had this young man’s grit and spirit!  He is working 3 jobs to keep out of loan debt, studying to become a neuro-biologist, and has survived 8 major bone surgeries.  The pain is there but you would never know if by the way he produces in our kitchen.  Pullman is his first home away from home, and we have the privilege of including him in on our staff.

Fabulous Food

The food served there is fabulous.

For breakfast on Friday (June 10, 2016) I had the “Scandinavian Cake Plate” at The Old European Restaurant which consisted of:

  • 2 Mini Buttermilk Hotcakes
  • 1 Strawberry Swedish Crepe with sweet cream filling (the crepes have fresh squeezed orange juice in the batter)
  • 3 Seasoned Sausage and Havarti Cheese Aebelskivers Buttermilk Hotcakes
  • 1 German Potato Pancake (with bits of spicy German sausage and onions in the batter) with applesauce and  sour cream

On the Menu under “Scandinavian Cake Plate” appears the following information: “The story goes that a waiter in the City of Paris, who was preparing desert for the Prince of Wales and his entourage, accidentally spilled the orange liquor on the desert and it caught on fire.  The Prince was impressed so the waiter tried to name it after him.  The Prince declined, but asked that it be named after Suzette, a lady in the party, and now we have “Crepe Suzettes.”

Additionally, I drank a cup or two of Organic Shade grown coffee — which is discussed and described on the menu as follows: “Save the rain forest and your health!  Enjoy this rich, mellow roast, full of antioxidants without pesticides or chemical treatments.  A portion of our sales is returned to support the farmers who grew the beans in Central America. We serve a fresh dark blend in your individual French Press.

“In the Old Country, coffee was not easy to afford and was often unavailable for purchase. To many folks who had left Europe’s hopeless economics for a chance of a better life in America, a hot cup of coffee at the crack of dawn (made from the grounds that weren’t used the day before that) before doing the chores in the fields, became symbolic of achieving a better life!  Such was the case of our grandparents Pedersen.  To them, that early morning quiet ten minute cup of coffee together before the day began meant everything.  When grandpa became old and unhealthy, the Doctor said, ‘No more coffee.’  Eventually, grandpa completely lost his memory and was put in a nursing home.  Grandma visited him, but he did not know her.  One day grandma came to visit him and brought her coffee pot along.  She proceeded to brew coffee just like she always had, only there she had to shoo away the well meaning nurses.  That day became a very special moment of life.  The coffee brought back grandpa’s memory for a couple of hours.  Grandma and grandpa talked about the past, the family, the farm and all the special things they had shared together.  The following day, grandpa passed away.”

Charming Signs in the Cougar Land Motel in Pullman, Washington

Below are pictures of signs I took in the lobby of  the motel I stayed in while I was in Pullman, Washington.

IMG_8289

IMG_8287

IMG_8290

Washington State University is located in Pullman Washington.

Below is a sign of the wall of the motel where I stayed in while in Pullman, Washington.

 

IMG_8280

Rico’s Pub

Below is a sign on the window of Rico’s Pub.

Rico’s Pub is located on the same block on the same side of the street and a few doors away from The Daily Grind.

IMG_8292

Below is a sign on the side walk in front of Ricos.

IMG_8593

Ricos has been a neighborhood pub serving the Pullman community since 1909.

According to its official history:

In 1909 Rico’s primarily provided tobacco products.  However, beverages and meals were available for the nearly all-male clientele who gathered for a game or two of pool or cards.

Rico’s survived both Prohibition and the Depression that followed Black Thursday on the strength of the its house specialty, “Smokehouse Milkshakes,” which literally sold by the thousands.

Below are pictures of fresh flowers growing in the flower boxes on the patio on the sidewalk in front of Ricos.

IMG_8587

IMG_8586

IMG_8584

IMG_8585

IMG_8589

Other Businesses in the Neighborhood

Below is a sign in the window of a Eco-friendly spa, located a block away from The Daily Grind.

IMG_8574

Below is a picture of of a sign on the window of a mortgage company located a block away from The Daily Grind.

IMG_8097

Below are photographs of  signage/signs on a book store located directly across the street from The Daily Grill.

IMG_8598

IMG_8038

IMG_8600

IMG_8599

And a sign requesting people to not park their bicycle in front of the door.

IMG_8603

 

Historical and Present Thoughts About Coffee

I have a lot to say about coffee and chocolate, and so do other people.

I took the photograph below while I was having coffee back in Los Angeles, at my local Starbucks, in Van Nuys, California, this morning.

IMG_8741

In Times “Past”, Coffee Houses Were Shut Down because Their Customers Discussed Political Issues.

On 29 December 1675, Charles II promulgated his “Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffee Houses”, which he described as places of license and seditious libel.

From now on, said Charles II, it would be forbidden “to keep any Public Coffee House, or sell by retail, in his, or her or their house or houses (to be spent and consumed within the same) any Coffee, Chocolate, Sherbet or Tea.”

There was a tremendous outcry, and the monarch let them stay open another six months.  Thereafter, Charles futile decree was soon forgotten.

Many coffee-house customers thought about the cost of coffee: chocolate cost more than coffee, but tea was even more expensive.

Coffee provided the most stimulation for the least outlay, which is probably why these were “coffee houses” rather than “chocolate houses.”

Charles II unsuccessfully tried to suppress these establishments which he considered to be hotbeds of sedition.

The Old European Restaurant Serves Organic Coffee for Its Health Benefit Reasons

In a a book on each table of its tables, titled “Old Europe Story Book”, the Old European Restaurant reports:

Coffee beans are one of the most absorbent of the agricultural crops.

Pesticides can not be washed off or roasted out, they become part of the bean, and flow right into your steamy cup of coffee.

Pesticides such as endosulfan and carbofuran which are banned in the U.S.A. are not banned in other coffee producing/importing countries.

Fresh  chemical free coffee has more antioxidant activity than green tea, black tea or cocoa as it contains CHLOROGENIC ACID.  Reduces the absorption of new glucose that actually slows the release of sugar into the blood stream. May supply up to 70%  antioxidant requirements in one day.

The National Institute of Health discovered that organic, chemical free, cool roasted coffee beans extended life expectancy in case studies by 10%, 2-6 cups per day. Other benefits

  • mental alertness and over all physical performance
  • reduction of risk of diabetes
  • reduces symptoms of PMS
  • delays onset of Alzheimer’s and risk of
  • protects cells from DNA damage
  • benefits liver function

I don’t know if any of the above statements about pesticides or health benefits are true, but I now drink only organic coffee, whereas before I did not ask for organic coffee when I ordered a cup of coffee.

Do Not Underestimate the Effect Food Can Have on People

Chocolate Was/Is Thought to Increase Sex Drive

In ” The True History of Chocolate” Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe write that in the Secret Memoirs for the History of the Republic of Letters, the writer Louis Petit de Bachaumont relates a party reputed to have taken place in June 1772, given  by the marquis de Sade:

Friends write from Marseilles that M. le comte de Sade … gave a ball.

… Into the desert he slipped chocolate pastilles so good that a number of people devoured them.  There were lots of them, and no one failed to eat some, but he had mixed in some Spanish fly.  The virtue of the medicine is well known.  It proved to be so potent that those who ate the pastilles began to burn with unchaste ador and to carry on as if in the grip of the most amorous frenzy.  The ball degenerated into one those licentious orgies for which the Romans were renowned.  Even the most respectable women were unable to resist the uterine rage that stirred within them.  And so it was that M. de Sade enjoyed the favors of his sister-in-law, with whom he fled to avoid the punishment he deserves.  Several persons died of their frightful priapic excesses, and others are still quite sick.”

The Coes report:  Thereafter de Sade and his male servant (a Leporello type) were forced to flee to the estate of the King of Sardinia, who promptly had them arrested.  They escaped from the fortress in which they were locked up, but the parlement at Aix sentenced them to death in absentia, and executed them in effigy.

Do Not Underestimate the Effect the Majesty Nature Can Have on People

Below are photographs of a country side of rolling hills covered with growing crops [taken by my good friend Saeed Yadegar, MD] which Saeed and I saw as we drove through the countryside on our recent June 9 through June 12, 2016 trip to Pullman, Colfax and Palouse, Washington.

IMG_8753

IMG_8750

IMG_8756

IMG_8757

Upon seeing those photographs a friend of mine remarked: A busy soul rests looking at those photos.  Beautiful and very uplifting.

Time Passes

Below is a sign on the building indicating the name and products of the business which previously occupied the location and space now occupied by The Daily Grind.

IMG_8609

 

The pace of life and attitude towards life, the built environment and natural environment, I experienced on my recent trip in Eastern Washington – in Pullman Washington and environs – was remarkably different  than the pace of life and attitude towards life and tremendously different than the built environment and natural environment I experience every day in Los Angeles.

Conclusion

We are all products of our environment and circumstances.

That is part of what it means to be human.

Question?

Is Eastern Washington the Land that Time Forgot?

I don’t think so.

Copyright © 2016 Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved

The Importance of Being Fun – by Gary S. Smolker

There Is Not One Approach That Is Always the Winner

CONTEXT

Below is an image of the front side of a T-shirt with the initials PUWRFC.

PUWRFC stands for Princeton University Women’s Rugby Football Club.

My good friend Richard Gibson wore that T-shirt at a meeting I had with Richard yesterday.

That T-shirt set the tone of our meeting.

The purpose of my meeting with Richard was to come up with a strategy to recommend to a friend of mine’s daughter Jessica who we thought was on the verge of being exploited by her employer.

Jessica , a highly qualified skilled and experienced woman, was experiencing an on-going frustrating situation at work.

We wanted to make sure Jessica understood our opinion that this is/was an appropriate time to be tough,

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A (CORRECT) MENTAL MODEL OF HOW THE WORLD WORKS

During our conversation with Jessica, Richard and I gave Jessica a mental image, a mental model, to have of herself of who she had to be while negotiating a compensation package with her employer.

Richard and I made it absolutely clear to Jessica that there are times when it is okay to be tough; there are times when it necessary for a woman to be “tough.”

The  T-shirt Richard wore (front of T-shirt pictured below) was given to Richard by his adoring daughter Caroline.

IMG_4364

Below is an image of the reverse side of the T-shirt, Caroline gave to Richard.

IMG_4362

I took those photographs yesterday afternoon (May 7, 2016) at my friend Richard Gibson’s home.

The words on the reverse side of the T-shirt are

  • FIGHT
  • SCORE
  • WIN
  • EVISCERATE

The four words above (on the back side of the T-shirt) express (encapsulate) the attitude of the National Champion Princeton Women’s Rugby Team during the time Caroline was an undergraduate student at Princeton.

The team, through its T-shirt, signals to member of the team to the world at large that the team and its members (while on the Rugby Football field) have an aggressive take on prisoners attitude.

I sent the above image of that T-shirt to Jessica to reinforce the attitude and mental frame of mine Jessica, Richard and I had discussed at our meeting.

LIFE IS ABOUT HAVING GOOD JUDGMENT

During the four years Caroline was at Princeton University’s she was on Princeton University’s women’s rugby football team.

Each year of the four years Caroline played on the Princeton University’s women’s rugby team, Caroline was an All-American Women’s Rugby Football Player.

Princeton won the National Women’s Rugby Championship three of the four years Caroline was on the team.

When Caroline graduated from Princeton, Richard gave Caroline the choice of training on the United States Woman’s Rugby Team for the Olympic Games or going to medical school.

Caroline chose to go to medical school instead of to train for the U.S. Olympic Woman Rugby Football Team.

Life Is Not A Formula.

Caroline is currently practicing medicine as a neo-natal physician on the staff of the neo-natal intensive care department at world renown Seders Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California.

Caroline Gibson, M.D. deals with the life and threatened death of prematurely born and or defectively new born babies every day, saving their lives.

The fact that life is not a formula is what makes Caroline’s life, your life and my life interesting.

Life Is Full of Messages, Choices and Decisions

Life involves having a strategy and positioning.

Outcomes in life depend, in part, on having good judgment, and making good choices and decisions.

There are many alternatives in everyone’s life, many choices to be made.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we have a mental image of how the world works and of our impact on the world.

We are constantly sending impactful messages to everyone who sees us, hears us, and/or reads what we write.

Visual messages and choice of words identify who we are, what we believe, how we think the world works and what we are about.

See for example:

  • Steven Pinker’s THE STUFF OF THOUGHT – “Language As A Window Into Human Nature”
  • Steven Quartz and Anette Asp’s “COOL – How the Brain’s Hidden Quest for Cool Drives Our Economy and Shapes Our World” and
  • Stephen Apkon’s “THE AGE OF IMAGE – Redefining Literacy In A World of Screens.”

Below is a photograph I took a couple of weeks ago of a man wearing a T-shirt.  I believe the T-shirt that man is wearing sends a very clear message (makes a very clear statement) of what that man believes, how he thinks the world works, and of his emotional orientation.

In my opinion that T-shirt shows the man wearing that T-shirt identifies with the toughness and wildness of professional boxer Mike Tyson.

That man is clearly saying (to me) that he is a FAN and fully supports everything about and roots for the success of Brooklyn New York born professional boxer Iron Mike Tyson and identifies with who Mike Tyson is and Mike Tyson’s struggles and approach to life.

The “key” words to me in that T-shirt are “Brooklyn, NY” and “Iron”/”Iron Mike Tyson.”

The man in the picture is celebrates iron/toughness/coming from a rough neighborhood by using the words Iron Mike Tyson.

The message printed on that T-shirt is a provocation — equivalent to dogs peeing to mark their territory.  The message in that T-shirt projects physical male prowess, especially in a “fight”, especially in the boxing ring.

The message being broadcast on that T-shirt is: I AM TOUGH. DON’T PICK A FIGHT WITH ME.  I AM V E R Y TOUGH.

I took that photograph while I was eating breakfast on the patio at Aroma Cafe and Bakery on Ventura Blvd., in Tarzana, California, two weeks ago.

IMG_4181

The Aroma Cafe and Bakery has a palpable energy.

The customers who go there and wait staff there are always high energy.

The Aroma Cafe and Bakery’s menu is an example of unfettered creativity, as is each dish served there.

I’ve been a regular at the Aroma Cafe and Bakery for more than five years.

Below is a picture of a woman wearing a T-shirt which sends an entirely different statement that the T-shirt worn by the man above wearing the Iron Mikey Tyson T-shirt.

The words printed on her T-shirt are The Angels Have Landed.

I took the photograph of her, wearing a The Angeles Have Landed T-shirt (see image below), at the Starbucks Coffee Shop (Starbucks Store # 6630) on the corner of Burbank Blvd. and Van Nuys Blvd., in Van Nuys, California, located at 14431 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys, last week.

That Starbucks is located in a lower-middle class neighborhood one block away from that portion of Van Nuys Blvd which is the location of Van Nuys’ and Sherman Oaks’ “automobile row.”

New car dealerships, with car lots full of new and used cars for sale, line both sides of Van Nuys Blvd., one block away from this Starbucks.

Many of the customers in that Starbucks are struggling writers, film writers, book writers, joke writers and comedians.

IMG_4346

There are many angels in the earth.

Below is a photograph of man whose T-shirt directly deals with his idea, which is a universally held idea,  about the “California State of Mind.”

I took the photograph of that man (below, last week) outside of Lido’s Pizza in Van Nuys, California — located at 14232 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, CA.

Lido’s Pizza has been in business for about 50 years.

IMG_4179

Look at the photograph below of the same man with his girlfriend.

Look at the joy on their faces.

IMG_4180

Don’t Be Afraid of Who You Are

You can’t be afraid of who your are.

Don’t run away from your own powers.

Embrace your strengths.

Our choices are affirmations of our values and goals.

Everyone has the power to say, “This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.”

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.  Its to enjoy each step along the way.

Do what you want to do; be yourself.

Play big.  There is no passion to be found in playing small – in settling for a life that is less than you are capable of.

GETTING BACK TO MY FRIEND’S DAUGHTER JESSICA

Helping people see possibilities increases the choices they can make.

Jessica is in the process of negotiating her compensation package with her employer, a national real estate brokerage firm.

Jessica has extremely rare specialized training experience skills and ability.

Jessica is a specialist in a narrow segment of the commercial real estate industry.

Richard has more than 50 years of experience in the real estate industry, as a real estate broker, as a developer, as a property manager, as person who raises money for projects, as an investor and as a financier.

After my meeting with Jessica and Richard concluded, I sent a “heads-up, brief summary of our meeting and follow-up” email/letter to Jessica’s sister Sabrina.

Below is a redacted copy of a note I sent to Jessica’s sister Sabrina – via email.

I also sent a copy of that e-mail  to the mother of an extremely talented young lawyer friend whom I am very fond of and to that young man.

FOLLOW-UP “HEADS-UP” LETTER

Saturday evening, May 7, 2016

Sabrina

I had a telephonic strategy meeting with your sister Jessica and my friend Richard Gibson this afternoon.

At the beginning of our conversation, I “asked” Jessica to write down the following four words:

  • Fight
  • Score
  • Win
  • Eviscerate

Throughout my discussion with Jessica, I repeatedly advised Jessica to be tough in her dealing with you know who.

The attached images are the front and back of a Princeton University Women’s Rugby Football Club T-shirt that was worn by Richard Gibson at our meeting.

Richard’s daughter Caroline played on the Princeton University’s Women’s Ruby Football team for four years; she was an All-American Women’s Rugby Football player those four years and the intercollegiate team Caroline was on won the National Championship three of the four years Caroline was on the team.

Caroline is a neo-natal intensive care physician at Cedars Sinai.

Caroline deals with life and death every day.

Knowing  your sister Jessica and Caroline for many years, I know your sister Jessica can deal as coolly under pressure as Caroline,

I look forward to Jessica and you meeting Caroline.

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

We cannot sleepwalk through life.

We need a strategy; passion and anger are not enough.

By the way, I am sending a back copy of this note to a young talented lawyer I am very fond of who has been sleepwalking.  I am also sending a copy of this email to his mother.

Mother of young lawyer:

  • Please wake your son up.
  • Please give your son hell.

Warmest regards,

Gary

IMG_4364

IMG_4362

Jason Fane’s Comments Regarding that Email and My Reply

After reading the above note to Jessica, my super achieving brilliant friend Jason Fane wrote to me:

“You catch more with honey than with vinegar and make fewer enemies.

“Many battles are won by strategy, and positioning.  The opponents may not ever know that there was a battle or that they lost.”

I replied:

“Tell that to the Shepard who threw the rock at Goliath.”

Jason replied:

“OK, where would I find him?  Where does he live now?

TAKE AWAY:

  • There is a time and place for everything.
  • Once in a while, you need to throw the stone that kills the enemy.

Creativity Is About Connecting Things

At its core creativity can’t be reduced to a formula.

Creativity needs novelty and surprise to seem fresh and new.

However, creativity is just connecting things.

I wholeheartedly agree with what Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said about creativity in in 1966:

“When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.  It seemed obvious to them after a while.  That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.  And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”

I know creative people draw upon their own lives (personal experiences) as creative fodder.

My favorite Steve Jobs quote is:

“You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

My favorite quote about the importance of observation in the creative process, is the following statement made by Louis Pasteur:

“In the filed of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.”

My 28 year old daughter Leah Graham Smolker’s latest blog post (on “Leah’s Travel Blog – Journeys Across the Universe) at https://easytospell03.wordpress.com/2016/05/art-travel-soul/ titled “Art, Travel & Soul” posted on May 8, 2016, (today) is a perfect example of all of the above.

In that post, Leah explains that great artists and writers were determined to travel at some point in their life.

Leah explains that, “Art does not exist without travel.  Art needs a location.  Art needs architecture.  Without, there is no soul and there is no spine-tingling gratifying effect to the viewer.  Travel is more than nomadic tendencies; travel is the creation of human capital and enterprise.”

Leah is talking about creative artistic masterpieces, not run of the mill ordinary art.

In that post,

  • Leah explains how travel influenced the life and work of Edvard Munch, Caravaggio, Goethe, Van Gogh, Chagall, and Edward Hopper.
  • Leah quite stridently describes how travel played a dominant role in creating the gratifying effect of viewing the great masterpieces of art she describes in that blog post.
  • Leah explains the attitude of the famous creative artist whose paintings she discusses in her post titled “Art, Travel and Soul”: “A lot of great artist loathe cliches, banality and unoriginality.”

Leah gives many examples.

Below are two of my favorite pictures discussed in Leah’s recent blog post titled “Art, Travel & Soul” – which Leah posted earlier today.

I agree with Leah that the two paintings shown below have “soul” and are extremely original.

Those paintings have a spine-tingling gratifying effect when ever I view them.

129203824747903298_565d2482-b728-41c0-b042-0ba0048fed7b_98537

laid-table-with-view-of-saint-paul-de-vance-1968

By the way, Leah and I “rank” people by how much “soul” they have.

Leah and I talk about how much “soul” people have all the time.

I agree with what David Dye, Bill Walton, Michael Jordan and  Vincent Van Gogh have said about the human spirit:

  • “Work that is disconnected from meaning and purpose is a prison bar.” – David Dye, author and leadership development coach
  • “You don’t win championships by just being normal, by just being average.” – Bill Walton, basketball player
  • “Championships are won while the stands are empty.” – Michael Jordan, basketball player
  • “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Va Gogh, artist

ABOUT LEAH

Leah attended school in Mainland China, Thailand and Israel as well as in the United States and has taught in South Korea.

Leah has loved art and reading books her entire life.

Leah has traveled to and “lived” for brief periods of time in thirty different countries.

The Importance of Being Creative, Talented and Fun

Unless your are an absolute genius famous for creating things – as well as famous and revered for living a life that pushes boundaries – such as choreographer Jerome Robbin, it is absolutely necessary that you be fun and fun to be with if you want to succeed in life or in business “long term.”

Robbins was a bully and a perfectionist.

Robbins was so despised by dancers that they sometimes refused to speak to him off the stage.  But few refused his invitations to perform.

Robbins was widely acknowledged – revered actually – as one of the most creative artists of his time.

In 1949, he contacted his friends Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents with the idea that they should collaborate to create a new musical.

Their goal, Robbins said, should be to establish the avant-garde on Broadway.

These three creative men collaborated on the project proposed by Robbins because they wanted to create something that felt modern yet timeless.

Over the next few years, these three men traded scripts, scores and choreography ideas.

Working on this project required every ounce of their tenacity, artistry, technical wizardry, and endurance.

In 1957 – eight years after they had first embarked on that project – they were finally done.  All that was left was to find financial backers.

Nearly every producer they approached turned them down.  They were told their “play/musical/dance drama” [Westside Story] was too different from what audiences expected.

Robbins finally found financiers willing to support a staging of Westside Story in Washington, D.C.

Their creation, West Side Story, was first performed in 1957.

When the curtain went down on opening night there was silence.

As everyone prepared to take their positions for the curtain call there was absolute silence, they took their places holding hands.

When the curtain went up, they looked at the audience and the audience looked at them.

And then the audience jumped to their feet, stamping and yelling.

West Side Story went on to become one of the most popular and influential musicals in history.

West Side Story is a genre defying masterpiece.

Robbins, Bernstein and Laurents trusted themselves enough to let their creativity out.

 

Copyright © 2016 by Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved