a conversation about awesome with dallas clayton
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I absolutely love Dallas Clayton's books An Awesome Book and An Awesome Book of Thanks. My kids and I like to sing his books rather than read them. The words and images are beautiful.
Creativity, innovation, and truth-telling can be very vulnerable in our culture which is why we often feel deeply inspired when we see it. I asked Dallas a few questions about how he finds the courage to share his authentic self and his work with the world. His definition of vulnerability took my breath away.
1. How do you define vulnerability? Vulnerability is one of the last things we share with people, yet one of the first things they try to recognize.
2. What role does vulnerability play in your work? I try to make things for people who are vulnerable in the most basic sense in that they are young, and therefore unaware of how vulnerable they are. This makes them at once vulnerable and without artifice. What a rad group to make things for.
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3. What does authenticity mean to you and how do you practice it in your work? Do what makes you happy. Use that to make other people happy. That's pretty much where I'm coming from.
4. Is perfectionism an issue for you? If so, what's one of your strategies for managing it? I can't even draw a straight line.
5. What inspires you? People who play unpopular sports. People who play instruments nobody cares about in genres of music that no one listens to. Anyone and everyone who wakes up every day and does something amazing just for the sake of doing something amazing.
6. What's something that gets in the way of your creativity and how do you move through it? I don't have enough hours in the day. Need more arms. Developing robotic arms to help combat issue.
7. Describe a snapshot of a joyful moment in your life. 3am with your friends all on the floor, laughing so hard that you can't breathe and your stomach hurts and the thing you are laughing about doesn't even make sense.
8. Do you have a mantra or manifesto for living and loving with your whole heart? We're all going to die.
To celebrate the holidays, Dallas, and these wonderful books, we're giving away three copies of An Awesome Book of Thanks! To enter, leave your name in the comments section and tell us one thing that you're thankful for today! I'll draw the winners on Monday.
I encourage you to check out these books! They're great gifts for kids and adults and the perfect book to donate to a classroom. We could all use a little more awesome in our lives!
