WANTED: Goulish portraits for Critics Gallery!

[WildCherry]

Taking Dan's advice, I've decided to assign a humorous character to my inner critic. I haven't got time to make a graphic image of him at the moment but here's the low-down on his character:

My inner critic is an Ebeneezer Scrouge type of guy so I'll call him Eb. He's really more crow than man and he's always dressed in a fusty black. He has one of those high Victorian desks so that he can look down on everyone over the top of his pince-nez (but especially me!) and a huge, old-fashioned, leather-bound ledger in which he scratches endlessly with his quill pen.

In his ledger, Eb keeps a very one-sided set of records: He records every negative thing anyone has ever said about my creative work. He has a column for positive input but he never records anything there because he always comes up with an excuse as to why any positive remarks are invalid!

Being a scrouge, he hates to see me playing and having fun with my art and he tut-tuts at any money I spend on nice shiny materials. "Waste, waste, waste!" he mutters, shaking his feathery black head. He especially hates my box of pastels: "Kiddies crayons!" he calls them. "You can't make real art with those!" he scolds, waving a curved claw at my face...

Ok, you get the picture! Why not add a portrait of your nasty inner critic - visual, written or otherwise recorded - and add to the Goul's Gallery? Perhaps if we put them all together they'll be too busy trying to out-critic each other to bother us any more ;-)

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Patricia, your writing is expressive, and from reading this I would never guess that English is your second language. Well done! I look forward to seeing your IC drawing.

Sometimes when I think I'm getting along okay with my Inner Critic, suddenly she shape shifts, and turns her attention outward and becomes overly critical of my loved ones, and then I have to look within again and see what the heck is going on ... a never ending dance ...

[WildCherry]

I know what its like to try to write in a second language Patricia, but don't worry you are doing great and you are not the only non-native speaker here on CCS. Being an eternal student is the best way to live, I believe :-)

[Camille]

Great idea, Wild Cherry. Depicting our inner critics is an especially fun way to explore that which we need to bring to light in order to quash it!

[Patricia]

Hi everybody.I've found a poem I used to share with my students to teach them not only English but also ATTITUDE. I think it has some of the thoughts we've shared here. It's called :
"I thought I had to be perfect"

Wherer did so many of you get that notion?

Did we get it from parents who hoped we would make up
for all the empty spaces in their own lives?

From teachers who took for granted everything we did right
and focused on our every mistake?

From religious leaders who told us the story
of how Adam and Eva broke one rule
and were punished forever?

Do women get that message of perfection
from movies and fashion ads,
from actresses and models
with figures they can't hope to match?

Do men get it from relentless pressure to sell more,
to earn more,
and a society that makes fun of the losers in the Super Bowl
for being only the second best football team in the world?

How good do we have to be?

by Harold Kushner (September 8, 1996)

This poem gave me the chance to make my students work on their own IC apart from showing them that we are all different and unique, with a gift to give to the world.You can't imagine how wonderful it was to see their reactions and the conversations and works they did after reading the poem.-
Whenever my IC shows off I call my ATTITUDE, which is 100% if you sum up the letters
Hugs
Patricia

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Excellent poem, Patricia ... I can just imagine the shifts in perception by those young people ...

[Joanna]

My inner critic, Bertha Hodge,was all too ready to show herself to me, she practically glued herself to the mattboard. She reminded me of my second grade teacher who reported to my mother, "Joanna would rather spend her time drawing pictures of ballet dancers instead of learning her multiplication tables."
She (Bertha) is sooooo ugly to me, stomping around, almost soldierly in her clunky shoes, wearing a constant scowl. While she didn't laugh at me when I made time for my "artist date," she did snear on the sidelines as if to say, "So, I see you're playing that artist thing again." She is the one who can snicker when she says, there's nothing artistic or creative about ripping pictures out of magazines.Anybody can do that. It's so childish! You know you're never gonna do anything with all those art supplies you keep collecting or There's nothing unique about what you're playing on the piano, so why bother, and for that matter, you know buying yourself that electric keyboard, is not a priority so why are you doing it?!"
I have considered hanging Bertha's picture on the wall of my newly created creative space, and throwing darts at her, but I am not quite that violent, nor do I wish to damage my walls. So far, I am managing to quiet her voice by giving her dirty looks and telling her to sit down, be quiet and "Back up, Bertha!."

[Lin Neiswender]

Wow, Bertha is quite a frightening figure! Maybe we need to lob some water balloons at her! That will make her cardboard soggy and weak and take her IC self down a peg. Great job, Joanna!

[Joanna]

Thanks, Lin! Yeah, we could get her(Bertha) real wet and soggy and then she can scream ," Help me. I'm melting, " like the wicked witch.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

"What big feet you have, Bertha!"
"The better to stomp the creativity out of you, silly girl"

Even her name sounds imposing!

Kudos on an awesome portrait of the IC, Joanna :)

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Your experience with the second grade teacher reminds me of something I recently heard or read about a great dancer (I can't remember her name at the moment, darn it). As a child, her mother was called in for a conference, and the girl was present also. There was a lot of concern because the girl exhibited disruptive behavior in class, couldn't sit still, bothered other students, pretty much what's classified as attention deficit disorder in kids these days, and usually leads to them being put on drugs to calm them down. Fortunately though, this teacher could see beyond that, and she asked the mother to come with her out of the room. When they left, the teacher switched on the radio, and she and the mother surreptitiously watched the girl, who got up and began dancing as soon as they left, and the teacher told the mother ... you don't have a problem child. You have a dancer :)

[Joanna]

Hey, Barbara,
Interesting story, thank you for sharing that. My second grade teacher put me in a "dummy row," because I was not grasping my math. What a lasting impression she made on me in terms of my self esteem and belief in myself. Fortunately, she was fired at the end of the school year. But, I did dance. I couldn't then or even now sit down or have a sit down job. If they would offer movement or more art classes in the public school system, they might find a lot less kids that were labeled needlessly. Good to meet you.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Good to meet you, Joanna :) I think you're right. Even though I didn't have a real problem with sitting still in class as a child, as an adult it isn't one of my favorite things. I love to dance, I do housecleaning and am constantly moving, usually to music if I can get away with it :) My sis was put on Ritalin for a year or two. It was so ridiculous and unneccessary. She's a delightful, hard working, nature loving wife and mother who I love dearly and am very proud of :)