tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15873138912859079022024-03-19T01:45:24.404-07:00Alex Raffi BlogA multiple first-place winner with the Nevada Press Association for his illustrations, Alex is also an accomplished artist and animation professional. As an editorial cartoonist, his work can be seen weekly within local news publications. His artwork has also attracted interest from book publishers and writers, and he has illustrated multiple books. In his spare time, Alex is also a painter. His paintings and editorial cartoons can be seen at www.alexraffi.comAlex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-76289845460281317002017-05-07T22:55:00.002-07:002017-05-07T22:55:45.205-07:00How to Draw a Peculiar Alien <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WMAh8f5J_mc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-2576188244988995452017-05-07T22:49:00.002-07:002017-05-07T22:49:24.068-07:00Time Laps of One of My Paintings. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1kAeeZY4erE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-18957468232959792002017-03-16T10:50:00.001-07:002017-03-16T11:03:15.776-07:00Alex Raffi<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "times"; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;">Partner, Creative Director:</span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 12pt;"> Imagine Communications</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times"; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;">Creator, <span style="color: black;">Author </span>presenter: </span></i><span style="font-family: "times"; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;">Creative Courage with Alex Raffi</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">Alex Raffi is a husband, father, business owner, creative director, painter, author and </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times";">book illustrator</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">. He has also worked as an editorial cartoonist, animator, and caricature artist. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Multiple first-place winners with the Nevada Press Association for his illustrations, Alex joined Imagine Communications (then Imagine Marketing) in 2001. Since that time, the firm has grown to 11 employees and become one of the valley’s most respected and creative full-service communications firms. <span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Imagine’s design team has created and assisted in the development of branding materials for numerous organizations locally and nationally. As the partner and creative director, Alex has led Imagine’s evolution into a firm whose philosophy has consistent, open-minded creativity rooted in focused business strategy at its cornerstone. Under Alex’s direction and leadership – along with that of his business partner, Brian Rouff – Imagine has maintained a high retention rate among clientele and employees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Alex’s work has helped to shape the community. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times";">A true advocate for creativity, Alex has made it his goal to demystify the creative process with as many people as possible through his highly acclaimed Creative Courage program. As a result, he is a sought-after guest speaker who has conducted his workshops and seminars for a variety of organizations and schools throughout Southern Nevada, including Zappos.com, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce, the Charter School Association of Nevada, SMPS Las Vegas, The American Institute of Architects Las Vegas, the American Marketing Association of Nevada, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada State College, Clark County School District, Orange Coast College, the LABMAN2014 event and many more schools and businesses throughout Nevada. This work leads to him writing his book </span>“<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Courage-Alex-Raffi-Harnessing-ebook/dp/B01E3EDCD0?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0">Creative Courage with Alex Raffi: Harnessing Your Creative Capacity</a>.” published in April 2016.</div>
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<span style="color: black;">He also wrote and illustrated “The Sheep Counting Dream” a children’s book written in rhyme about a little girl who couldn’t fall asleep the night before her birthday.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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<span style="background: white;">A longtime Nevadan, Alex is actively involved in the community. Currently a member of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce Foundation board, he was honored in November by the Henderson Chamber with its Noble Award, which is given to a dedicated individual who passionately supports the Henderson Chamber, its mission, and its members. </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times";">And is the Chapter president of the Las Vegas chapter of SMPS (Society of Marketing Professionals) for 2017. </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";"></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "times";">He is also on the committee for the Narrative Illustration Program at Orange Coast College, is a mentor and presenter for the Children of the Arts program, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times";">and has served as a big brother for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. Additionally, since 2007, Alex has been a proud fundraiser for St. Baldrick's, a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and giving survivors long and healthy lives. </span>Total, Alex has raised $21,512 for St. Baldrick’s. He is now in 12th place out of 510 participants for the 2015 event and in fourth place out of 33 participants on his team, Bald By Design. Bald by Design is ranked No. 1 out of 143 teams in Nevada and 10th in the country. For his work fund-raising since 2001, he was “knighted” and admitted to the organization’s Knights of the Bald Table <span style="color: black;">and soon be knighted as a Knight Commander for his 10<sup>th</sup> year.</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An award-winning graphic designer and editorial cartoonist, Raffi collaborated on and illustrated <span style="color: black;">“American Gestures” and </span>“Conventional Gestures: Meaning and Methodology” and also illustrated Richard L. Epstein’s “Critical Thinking” book series <span style="color: black;">as well as “The Riddles of Human Society” by Conrad L. Kanagy and Donald B Kraybill</span></span></div>
Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-61665820688847810192016-10-06T00:14:00.001-07:002016-10-06T00:14:27.298-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-27524841835304132842016-07-20T09:41:00.000-07:002016-07-20T09:42:39.846-07:00 A little chat with myself at the age of 17<h2 class="medium" style="background-color: white; color: #26292e; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px; margin: 20px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px;">I was asked a question on social media after changing my profile picture to me at 17 years old. My friend Raymond asked, “What advice would the current you give the young cat in the current profile picture ???” So I figured I’d answer in this blog.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">You’re not as deep as you think. </span>Although you live inside your imagination for the majority of your day, those thoughts bouncing around in your head that seem like solutions to every big problem comes from poorly gathered data. People aren’t as one dimensional as you think, and nothing is ever as black or white as you may convince yourself it is.</div>
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That being said, you can improve the data you use to problem-solve by reading more. It’s something you will learn to enjoy, but at that point, it will feel more like validation rather than discovery. Getting some of your lessons secondhand makes the process of developing an understanding of your world a bit slow going. So read more. And not only comic books and Dungeons & Dragons manuals.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Sleep more.</span> You’re not missing anything. Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in the healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke. It’s important to build good sleeping habits early. And by the way, staying up late doing nothing is not equivalent to rebellious behavior. That leads me to my next piece of advice:</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">School is important.</span> While in school, you should take as much advantage as possible. Your academic career will be spent in places where you will be surrounded by very smart people whose jobs are very specific: to give you all you will need to survive out in the world. Listen, ask questions and do ALL of your homework! You will eventually figure out that the quality of the education is equivalent to the quality of the armor and tools you will find yourself using over and over when looking for work or planning every stage of your life as you grow older. It’s not easy out there. Make sure you are well-trained to deal with it.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Your biggest worries right now aren’t as relevant as they seem.</span> Your world is very small right now. You may think some solutions need to be drastic. You’re wrong. Don’t bottle things up. Share them with friends and family, especially if those things are causing you to hurt inside. Everything always gets better. Do the work required to get to that better place.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Read more.</span> I know I already said this, but just trust me. It’s really important that you make more time for reading.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Go on hikes.</span> It is good exercise, and you will — eventually — find that it helps you clear your head and process ideas. This will be very important to you in a few decades. Trust me.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Don’t be so darn shy.</span> Life is much more interesting when you are one of the people rattling the bars. Know when to be a passenger and when to steer the ship.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Learn the value of money.</span> This is very important. You will eventually marry someone who gets the importance of balancing a checkbook, but a little more due diligence would save you some unnecessary struggles and also prep you for your future career as a business owner a tad bit better.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Work harder in your dad’s frame shop.</span> He works really hard and was able to build a small one-man business from nothing. It will teach you the value of doing things right and the satisfaction of earning a buck with your hands. I’m disappointed in how you are handling the time in the shop with him. Don’t miss that opportunity to do something important for the family.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Stick with soccer. </span>Don’t get discouraged. You may not have the skill, but you do have the heart. I know you do because you build an entire career with that same heart. You will look back on this time and wish you would have taken more shots on goal. Believe me.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Stay in the band.</span> Some of the most fun you will have in life is while holding a guitar in your hand. Make the most of it. Keep it up. Stay in tune.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Clean your room.</span> It’s gross. And your mom is not your slave. Have some respect for yourself and her. It’s the least you can do.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Speaking of Mom, ask her more about her life.</span> Before it’s too late.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Drink less soda.</span> It’s better to grow taller than wider.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Tell you parents where you are going with your friends.</span> They are worried about you.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Realize that all that art you’re making is doing more than you think for your mind. </span>The way you see creativity will become a center point in your life and will define you in many ways. Keep it up.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">You’re not as weak as you feel.</span> Pick yourself up and keep moving forward.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">Keep your eyes open.</span> Opportunity is everywhere. It may not be obvious. It may require some adjusting and risk-taking. But realize that it’s there and you can take advantage of every one.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700;">You have more potential than you realize.</span> Everyone does. Make the most of it. You are going to be okay.</div>
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And finally, <span style="font-weight: 700;">always remember that parachute pants look stupid in every decade</span>. Stop wearing them. Especially the Reggae ones.</div>
Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-8990543526287036142016-06-21T01:03:00.001-07:002016-06-21T01:07:23.367-07:00Thanks for nothing.<div style="text-align: center;">
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-32132590591461626942016-06-12T08:43:00.002-07:002016-06-12T08:43:40.765-07:00How to draw a whale in 60 seconds<div style="text-align: center;">
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-66687590676733812302016-06-12T08:42:00.003-07:002016-06-12T08:42:31.671-07:00How to draw a dog in 60 seconds<div style="text-align: center;">
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-24720170508161478642016-06-10T11:38:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:13:12.744-07:00Share. <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span data-offset-key="7hcur-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">We are all moved and inspired by the things we are exposed to, things we hear and experiance around us. I only know what I know and only react to what I have seen or felt. We are all involved in the sharing of information that is used in this way. So it's obvious that together we respond and react to things as an organism. Influenced by the movement of the masses. We choose to lead or follow. We inherently lean on each other and push each other past the all of life's thresholds. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4q234-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Understanding this makes me believe that it is always time for us to do better. It’s time for us to work harder, not in a physical sense but in a virtuous sense. And most importantly, to TALK about it. SHARE the great things you do without shame. The influence of virtue’s actions in the air has been thin for a very long time. Because it’s considered bragging??? As if that is a worse crime than apathy. We all love to brag about selfish things through indirect communication using status symbols or titles rather than actions. The internet has made humanity the most narcissistic it has ever been. I say apply that narcissism to our good deeds. Saturate media with it. The selfless are so unelectable now. Leadership is not practiced as a virtue. It must have empathy in it's execution. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dbb3j-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">We’ve lost many artists this year and only heard about their great deeds in death. Think of the missed opportunities there. What about the opportunities missed by people who were never in the limelight? They may not have been able to influence millions but they could have influence at least one life. And that is a win in anyones book. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="r1f6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s time to put good deeds in the center of the ring. It’s time to do them and share what you did no matter how small. Don't be ashamed. It’s time to share the stories of those deeds with out shame with the intent to encourage more people to do the same. Become a leader of good deeds to people around you. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ch4d1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">This has to be done as soon as possible. Have urgency. Because it’s possible a time will come when it will be too late to fix what someone have done to themselves or others. I understand that it may not seem like our responsibility. This is bigger than just wearing an "I voted" sticker. A vote in an election is not equivalent to your contribution to humanity. Unfortunately, unwittingly it's often the cause of what is destroying it. The work has to be done at ground level. By us. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8124f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Be the voice that will lead others to become a voice. You don’t need a plaque or a title to earn the right to do this. All you need is a want. It’s time for us to raise our expectation of each other. It’s not too late. But it may be, soon, if we keep ignoring our responsibility to participate in our own evolution. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="98vhl-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Lastly, I'd love to hear some of the things you have done to work toward making the world a better place. Please share your story below. </span></div>
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-7078649740287381842016-05-17T13:03:00.001-07:002016-05-18T09:00:07.168-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi June 3rd<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IqiNdlQ0eQM" width="480"></iframe><br />
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-15255349904862610762016-04-30T06:49:00.001-07:002016-04-30T06:49:50.165-07:00Rest in peace mom.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NT7PItbI2a0" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-53528074241278170282016-04-02T16:22:00.001-07:002016-04-02T16:53:04.991-07:00My book is now available.<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-76558239159087821762016-03-05T22:41:00.002-08:002016-03-05T22:42:35.642-08:00<div id="fb-root">
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Thank you McMullan's Irish Pub and St Baldricks Las Vegas for another incredible event. Raised $500,000 this evening...<br />
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-74434061478408367392015-12-29T10:32:00.000-08:002015-12-29T10:44:11.861-08:00If you have a pulse, you have a purpose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="_5yi_" style="font-style: italic;">Descartes takes his date, Jeanne, to a posh restaurant for her birthday.</span> <span class="_5yi_" style="font-style: italic;">The waiter hands them the wine list, and Jeanne asks to order the most expensive bottle on the list.</span> <span class="_5yi_" style="font-style: italic;">"I think not!" exclaims an indignant Descartes, and *POOF* he disappears.</span></div>
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“What is the meaning of life?” </div>
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Many people have spent a lot of time on the answer to that question. But maybe the answer lies in the question itself?<br />
Our ability to reach out that far within our own minds and ask a question that big is telling, in many ways. Our need to know the answer can be seen as our purpose. Our need to answer every question in our lives could possibly be the only force that drives us. We are all involved, whether we know it or not, in the progression of our world at many levels. Every life is a small part of a bigger organism. The moment we came into existence we all automatically joined humanity. Our participation however small is relevant and part of the endless tapestry of life in the world. It’s important to realize that the fact that we have a pulse is the only proof necessary to understand that we have a purpose. And our creativity is the tool we use to exorcise that purpose. I believe the terms “creativity” and “problem solving” are interchangeable.<br />
When we open a puzzle box and empty it out onto the table we are looking at a problem to solve. It was easy to create this problem. You simply needed to overturn the box. The piece’s scatter across the table in all directions. Pieces fall at all angles and many land upsides down. Yet, every piece has its place. We know this because we can see the solution in the image on the cover of the box. We realize that it will take time to find matching pieces and strategically place them near each other until that portion of the puzzle is solved. We are not discouraged because we are sure there is a solution. Every piece has a place. The world is full of problems, very complicated problems that require that same amount of undiscouraged determination. Man made problems caused without consideration of consequence. We don’t have the advantage of knowing what the solution looks like. There is no art on the box. But we do have the ability within all of us to find it. Once we get to work the solution will begin to reveal itself.<br />
We also have much smaller problems, run of the mill problems that need to be solved at home or work. There is virtually no moment in your waking life where you are not taking note of any given situation, evaluating it and forming an opinion as to how to react or not react. It’s important to be aware of those moments. We are in a constant state of problem solving. If problem solving was an Olympic event, we would all be fit for the tournament. So our lack of creative capacity or in terms of this idea, our lack of being good problem solvers does not come from a lack of ability. It comes from a lack of will. Or simply put, it comes from a fear of failure.<br />
We all have the potential to become better problem solvers. And it all starts with understanding the power and potential of our creativity and having the courage to follow it.<br />
We have been living for a long time with a kind of creative apathy. We take our amazing ability, to see, evaluate, react and execute solutions, for granted. If a turning point is encouraged in our perception of creativity and enough of us champion the cause and become better problem solvers at work, life, and love, then maybe it could cause a kind of paradigm shift in the way we react to problems globally. It could create a shift needed to build a better world for our children and our children’s children. <br />
In the prologue of Henry V, Shakespeare poetically asks his audience a favor. He asks them to suspend their belief for a moment. He is about to tell an epic story set in fifteenth century England of a young king who lays claim to certain parts of France based on his distant lineage. This leads to a war between two great kingdoms. He laments on how could the humble makings of a small wooden stage, a handful of actors and stagehands produce such a massive story? Aside from some very creative artistry, you could imagine that “special effects” were very limited in the 1600’s. Shakespeare struggled with this obstacle. How could he start his play with his audience primed for the story? How could he avoid the initial uphill battle of believability? He came to the conclusion that he would simply ask a favor. He asks… <span class="_5yi_" style="font-style: italic;">“Think when we talk of horses, that you see them printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth; For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, carry them here and there; jumping o'er times, turning the accomplishment of many years into an hour-glass…”</span><br />
Shakespeare humbly requested that we delve deeper into our imagination. Don’t let yourself be stifled. Don’t limit yourself to accepted norms or let perceived reality stand in the way of your vision. Shakespeare was challenging the internal skeptic within all of us, encouraging us to allow ourselves to see with our minds eye a scope of possibility beyond the meager visage of what was before us. He asks this because he knew that people allow themselves to be stifled and distracted from seeing possibility.<br />
Understanding creativity requires an acceptance of possibility. We all have our own perceptions of our own creative capacity and judge our potential on what we have done so far and place judgment on the result of our past efforts.<br />
I would like to take a note from Shakespeare and call for a muse of fire that might inspire you to not judge creativity on the results of it’s process. But instead to take note of the capacity of the process undiscovered. </div>
Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-88187074029992916652015-07-09T09:53:00.001-07:002015-07-09T09:53:30.057-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi Video 7 of 7 – Problem Solving<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ib02uc5COYs" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-64390799471547352052015-07-09T09:36:00.001-07:002015-07-09T09:36:24.594-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi Video 6 of 7 – Creativity in Childhood"<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LqzX8FQcIFc" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-83878913531516946322015-07-08T20:53:00.001-07:002015-07-08T20:53:56.597-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi "Where Ideas Come From"<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rEuaJmxZcdI" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-72463388942187073192015-07-08T10:47:00.001-07:002015-07-08T10:47:12.317-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi "The Brain"<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7GppE5jobRY" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-51285182247078744662015-07-07T15:19:00.001-07:002015-07-07T15:19:04.367-07:00Creative Courage Programming Your Subconscious<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R4xdqtHQBqg" width="459"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-68900884162522657442015-07-06T20:45:00.001-07:002015-07-06T20:45:54.746-07:00Creative Courage with Alex Raffi – Moments of Discovery<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fXYAIv2wuJc" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-71251679969783424062015-04-01T17:12:00.001-07:002015-04-01T17:12:43.298-07:00You can buy my Children's book the Sheep Counting Dream here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-54677251499860255882014-12-22T15:38:00.001-08:002014-12-22T15:49:59.749-08:00I am shaving my head again to help fight Childhood Cancer. <br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; text-align: start;"><b>I'm having my head shaved to stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer, but more importantly, to raise money to find cures. Please support me with a donation to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. This volunteer-driven charity funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Your gift will give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers. So when I ask for your support, I'm really asking you to support these kids. BONUS: I'll photoshop either you or myself into any picture you like. Thank you! Click the picture of the geek above to donate.</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long, healthy lives.</span></div>
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What makes the St. Baldrick’s Foundation unique?</h2>
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<span class="s1">We do one thing and we do it well: fund childhood cancer research. We take great care of the funds raised by our generousvolunteers and supporters to direct every possible dollar to carefully selected research grants. Whether it’s through our signature head-shaving events, partnerships or advocacy initiatives, our primary focus is to have the greatest impact for kids with cancer around the world.</span></div>
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-29830837779755320102014-10-15T21:22:00.000-07:002014-10-15T21:22:02.750-07:00<div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-87402650162321429362014-10-06T19:20:00.001-07:002014-10-06T19:20:23.897-07:00Why I am voting NO on the Question 3 Margin Tax.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5CBtJk_g6Ik" width="480"></iframe>Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1587313891285907902.post-40159865294975995432014-09-24T23:23:00.000-07:002014-09-24T23:33:57.262-07:00The Wild Garden of our Childhood <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a moment before reading on and draw a
picture of a person you love as best you can in 60 seconds. Then continue
reading this blog.</span></div>
<h1 align="left" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></h1>
<h1 align="left" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Everything is ceremony in
the wild garden of childhood.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></h1>
<div align="right" class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: right; text-indent: -.25in;">
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-width: 100%;">Pablo Neruda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We get comfortable in our mediocrity when we
grow old. We lose that wide-eyed wonder that molded us. We internalize life. We
grow older and learn how to be afraid. We replace our wonder and curiosity with
a need to imitate and emulate. A child, on the other hand, lives in life.
Children are an open nerve, feeling life. The way they perceive the world is
powerful and deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they're rarely
taught how rewarding it would be to keep that sense of wonder because adults encourage
them to leave it behind as they did. Our want for clear, tangible results took
precedence over the more critical process required to get better results, and
we became content with choosing from the diversity of ideas from those around
us. We lost our patience for discovery. We neglected the child within that is
patiently waiting for us to empower let it guide us. There is power in that simplicity.
We mistake childish perception as naïve or simplistic. On the contrary, there
is a deep purity to childish perception. We must begin to identify that
perception as qualified creative courage.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-width: 100%;">Have
you ever looked at how a child draws a person? Many drawings I’ve seen were
rudimentary, consisting of a circle with two dots for eyes, a big smile for a mouth,
and arms and legs coming off the circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They look a bit like this: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5C2zSz4JUO5UFA1-NVVnjG_32WyLpZCS5_w851mhtEb3O4sZJNLrfAnZU2dFfJoX3vz0-5wib2UnKX049RKnSlAoWijIcCVc8p4sroFa00lGJhorzo5zLIUrIh6jvM6CnC3fWQj5OwE/s1600/happy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5C2zSz4JUO5UFA1-NVVnjG_32WyLpZCS5_w851mhtEb3O4sZJNLrfAnZU2dFfJoX3vz0-5wib2UnKX049RKnSlAoWijIcCVc8p4sroFa00lGJhorzo5zLIUrIh6jvM6CnC3fWQj5OwE/s1600/happy.png" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times;">Many
might find this drawing charming or cute, but I’m more curious of our opinion
of the process. Consider how we tend to judge artwork and apply that
consideration to this drawing. We may believe that this drawing is not a good representation
of what a person looks like, and we might conclude that its lack of
sophistication is due to the fact that a child drew it. But if you consider
that the child's intent was not to impress your notions of what a person should
look like, you may begin to see this drawing differently. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Take
a moment to consider what a child sees when interacting with people. They look
into eyes, which are on the face. They speak from a mouth and hear from ears
that are also on the face. Everything they know and see of people is on the
face. Arms are there to bring food to the face and legs are there to get the
face from place to place. Satisfying the needs of others does not motivate
them. They are depicting their perception of what is important in the
illustration of a person. The torso does not define a person; what does are the
moments of engagement and tools used in those engagements. This is what is
missing from our perception, as we grow older. We begin to have a need to
impress others with the result of our search to communicate ideas in an
</span><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">accepted </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">format, but that limits us. We edit ourselves out of reaching our
creative need to find the wonderful. The richness of things we feel we can’t
express in an exceptional way. How many of us have had something wonderful to
share and not had the words to express them. Is it a lack of words or a
preserved notion that others may not understand our idea?</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times;">Now
compare your drawing with this one. Did you express your love for the person
you drew freely? Or were you focusing on creating a factual illustration of
that person? There is no right or wrong way to illustrate. My goal is to make
you see your creative process in action. If you see ways to expand your
perception from this illustration and feel you may have stifled yourself, give
it another shot. Open yourself up fully in the illustration and express what
you feel. Nobody will see the drawing but you. Try your best to deprogram your
fears for a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times;">We
need to strive to see the world through younger eyes. We need to live with the
fearless sense of expression of a child. Stripping away the binding fear of
judgment will clear the path to innovative ways of seeing our creative
potential. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Alex Raffihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10916220311079302146noreply@blogger.com0