Neighbor of the Week: Cosme Cordova
Each week, we will introduce a new neighbor. This is not a who's who list. These are regular Riversiders doing exceptional things.
A prompt to encourage your practice of creativity this week from Riversider and local author Larry Burns.
Hello again, fellow creatives! Last week, we set down our drinks and raised a toast to the ever-ready drink coaster. Did you string up a vibrant coaster mosaic or perhaps pen a poignant tale of woe inspired by a fading coffee stain? Maybe you even embarked on a barefoot sensory journey across a coaster-paved path, rediscovering the power of touch and balance in your day. No matter the result, I hope the act of transforming drink coasters from prophylactics against humidity into promoters of personal artistic expression was a pleasurable part of your day.
This week, we're sharpening our creative focus and poking around our creative edges with an object found in most kitchen drawers but never at the dentist's office: a toothpick. These slender swizzle sticks, instrumental to such culinary structures as the club sandwich or homemade fried taquitos, today will hold together several minutes of creative play and whatever we can make with that time.
Toothpicks have been handy companions in our lives for years. Remember that dread-filled school project using toothpicks you started the Thursday night before Friday morning's due date? Or perhaps you've used them recently to test the doneness of your secret brownie recipe or unclog a soggy salt shaker. Like you, toothpicks offer a surprising range of creative possibilities.
Carefully, gather a handful of toothpicks (and a few olives or cheese cubes for inspiration), spear one of these exercises, and see how these tiny tools can prick our imaginations and lead us to unexpected artistic expressions:
As we engage with these creative exercises, let's appreciate the toothpick's historical ability to connect, create, and stimulate our senses. These background players in our daily lives hold a world of creative potential.
Just as a toothpick can hold two or more great tastes together or add a delicate dash of class to a meal, so too can our creativity bridge the gap between the ordinary and the extraordinary. By approaching the world with a curious and playful spirit, we can uncover hidden beauty, forge unexpected connections, and express ourselves in unique and meaningful ways.
Speaking of unique and meaningful, this column was written with the support of Google's Gemini Advanced a powerful generative AI writing tool.
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