TRANSCRIPT

You know what time it is. Here we go. It’s story time. Hey, I said it’s story time. Alright. So today’s story time actually is about one of my favorite memories from high school. So you know that I enjoy drawing and painting. I love things that are beautiful. I love artwork. I love going to the museum and just looking at paintings and photographs.

So when I was in high school, I had an awesome art teacher. Her name was Ms. Halstead, and I remember one day, it was after lunch, and I just happened to be walking through the hallway and I was about to pass her classroom. And I noticed that Ms. Hallstead was sitting in her room, the art room, at her desk very quietly, and she looked like she was focused intently on something, but her shoulder were kind of down and.

She had a pen in her hand and she was, it looked like she was drawing something and my curiosity got the best of me. So I, I walked into the classroom and even though I walked into the classroom, she still didn’t look up. I had to walk all the way to her desk. And then she looked up, oh, hey Tiffany, how are you?

And I said, I’m fine. Ms. Halston, what are you up to? She said, oh, I’m just sketching. And I said, oh, wow, Ms. Halsted, I love sketching too. And that’s when she put her pen down and she also put her sketchbook down and she said, oh, really? Tiffany, you really like sketching? I said, yeah, I, I really like sketching, but sometimes I try not to sketch when I’m in class because I don’t want the teacher to think I’m not paying attention and I wanna focus.

And she started to talk to me and started to explain how important sketching and doodling actually was. She told me how she, again, as a full adult, at that time, I think she was in her forties, she even in church while the pastor was preaching a sermon, she would sketch and doodle in her notebook. Now I was in shock because, you know the, the parents usually tell their children, Hey, when you’re in church, pay attention, focus on the sermon.

So to hear another adult telling me that she actually sketched and doodled during the sermon, it really blew my mind. But she said, Tiffany, here’s the thing that people that aren’t artists don’t know. You see, when we as artists are sketching or doodling, we’re actually the most focused. She said, when I’m sketching in church and doodling, I’m actually paying more attention to what the pastor is saying.

She said, it’s just the way the creative mind is. CRE has been made. She said that. She wanted me to start sketching and doodling more. She wanted me to do it even when I was at church, and again, I have great parents, so they were okay with me sketching because they knew I loved art, but she encouraged me to do it in class, to do it in church.

She said, Tiffany, even when you’re about to go to bed, an idea may pop in your head. I want you to also sketch, then write down what pops in your head. She said, Tiffany, you’re an artist, and it’s actually not a bad thing. Now, I never forgot that. And I remember as I went through the rest of my high school years and then went to college, I continued to doodle and sketch in class.

And I remember specifically when I was in college, I had a science class and we were talking about the anatomy of a frog. And while the teacher was teaching, I was drawing a frog and I was drawing the different parts of the frog and labeling the parts in my notebook. And what happened was when I took an exam, that image that I had drawn, I added colors and I added all of the information about the frog popped up in my mind, and I aced that exam and I realized how powerful creativity is and how important it is to visualize something because visualizing helps you to remember.

So even now I sketch when I’m listening to a sermon, I sketch when I’m doing something or listening to a a presentation because it helps me remember what I’m listening to. Maybe you’re the same. Maybe you’re an artist and you love sketching, but maybe you’re not. Remember, creativity is so important and that’s why I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson and today’s story.

I’ll talk to you next time.