Making Ideas Sparkle

I spent the Fourth of July upstate in a verdant pasture, terrifying farm animals with a dazzling and deafening display of pyrotechnic wizardry. The big velvet sky was ablaze with shards of color, and thunderous booms and crashes echoed off the nearby hills. We lit up the night in a brilliant, crowd-fueled celebration of our independence and idiocy.

Of course, by “we,” I mean “them.” “Them” being my braver and/or drunker friends who had been allowed to play with explosives in their youths (because they had parents who didn’t care about them), and were therefore not afraid of blowing their fingers off in a tragic bottle rocket mishap.

I remained a safe distance away from the detonation site. Partly because I’m not stupid. But mostly because as a child, I was taught that fireworks will kill you. So on this night, I let my experienced-but-unloved buddies risk their digits with their cherry bombs and M90s (M80s? Whatever.)

I was happy with my sparkler.

I’m sure you’ve seen that kid on Independence Days past, hanging back from the crowd, an anemic spray of sputtering sparkle illuminating his ghostly pale face. That was me! Then and now.

I’m man enough to admit that I really enjoy a good sparkler. All the Grucci elements are there: drama, light, unpredictability, licks of fire. Plus, a sparkler won’t leave me thumb-less. I will even go so far as to say I adore sparklers.

Hi, my name is Bradley, and I sparkle (spar·kle ˈspärk(ə)l/ v. what one who is holding a sparkler is doing).

I love sparklers so much that I am going to enjoy their spectacular yet safe wonderfulness not just on the Fourth of July weekend, but every single weekend of the year.

Are you with me?

No?

Fine. Then will you at least show solidarity by embracing the metaphor of sparkle as a bright idea, and taking a look at this list of 52 creativity prompts?

1. Challenge a norm
2. Be a “yes” man
3. See things as a child
4. Write with your left hand
5. Find fault with everything
6. Steal an idea
7. Brainstorm standing up
8. Keep a swipe file
9. Be bold and brave
10. Go to a gallery
11. Be the first
12. Make mash-ups
13. Escape context
14. Talk to a stranger
15. Introduce a puppet sidekick
16. Make it a joke
17. Bust out the crayons
18. Carry a notebook
19. Link two diametrically opposed things
20. Impersonate Einstein
21. Impersonate Seth Rogan
22. Impersonate Elmo
23. Impersonate your mom
24. Try automatic writing
25. Doodle
26. Reinterpret a classic
27. Listen to a TED Talk
28. Build something with LEGOS
29. Hang with a kid
30. Set a timer
31. Use analogy
32. Make up words
33. Set a quota
34. Go for a walk
35. Take an alternate route to work
36. Breathe
37. Change physical perspectives
38. Listen to Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”
39. Exaggerate wildly
40. Ask 25 questions
41. Destroy something
42. Don’t ask “Why?”
43. Uncover the emotional insight
44. Take a shower
45. Make a story
46. Be a vandal
47. Go commando
48. Admit that “creative block” isn’t a thing
49. Learn to juggle
50. Dig deep
51. Set some weird rules
52. Slap somebody