Does More Friends = More Creativity?
Maybe our adventures, big ideas and deep thoughts don't come from only us, but from our communities.
A Book to Read: Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
Whew, this was a good one guys.
FINDING MARGARET FULLER is a novel based on the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s best friend. Margaret Fuller was also friends with Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Horace Greeley.
She was friends with everyone. Except for Edgar Allan Poe. They were more like frenemies.
If you were a writer in the mid 1800s, you hung out with Margaret Fuller. I imagine her as a historical version of Ann Patchett.1
We meet our protagonist as Margaret approaches Ralph Emerson’s estate in Concord Massachusetts. After reading her work, Emerson had invited Margaret, “The Most Well-Read Woman Person in America,” to spend a week at his home.
Much to the annoyance of Mrs. Emerson, Margaret’s one-week stay turned into an entire summer of ambling down country roads with her new soulmate, Mr. Emerson. He calls Margaret “the greatest woman of ancient or modern times, and the one figure in the world worth considering.”
Can we all have a moment of silence for Ralph Emerson’s wife, who (while pregnant, of course), must play host to the woman that her husband calls “the one figure in the world worth considering?” Ugh.2
In addition to her chaste but soulful relationship with Ralph Emerson, Margaret Fuller explores Walden Pond with the feral handyman who lives upstairs (Thoreau, of course) and watches the petals of the Queen of the Night flower unfurl by candlelight next to a young “Louy” who is still decades away from writing LITTLE WOMEN.
The novel follows Margaret Fuller’s life as she dips in and out of the Transcendentalists camp in Concord. She spends a few years teaching before leaving the profession with all the angst of a modern-day-teacher-turned influencer:
“I must leave teaching…it is slowly chipping away at my life’s energy, perhaps even pieces of my soul…I yearn to be a writer, a thinker. I long for more.”
After Margaret quits teaching, she writes a book about Goethe, hosts Series of Conversations (at $10 a pop), edits a literary journal, travels the continent, writes more books, works for Horace Greeley at the New-York Tribune, and eventually becomes a foreign correspondent in Rome. Here, the book (like her life) shifts pretty dramatically - the the book to find out how. No spoilers here!!
There are so many fascinating aspects to this book (early takes on feminism, 19th century vibes, gorgeous writing, the extraordinary sense of place), but most interesting was this idea that these Transcendentalists writers NEEDED each other. Emerson collected writer-friends as if his creativity depended on it. Any maybe it did. Maybe he couldn’t have written as he did without Margaret Fuller. I think they all needed each other. Margaret was Hawthorne’s inspiration for Hester Prynne. The guest room in Emerson’s office was were Margaret’s words often flowed the best. Walks with Thoreau fed the souls of every writer who graces the steps of Emerson’s Concord mansion. Their community fed their creativity.
A lesson to teach: Paper Towns and Why Learning is Awesome
I love the idea that writers and creative people need each other. It makes me think about school. My students need each other too. Even though sitting at a table with noisy classmates who are trying to hide their Tik-Tok infested iPhones under tables doesn’t seem like a conducive setting for productivity, I still maintain that students need each other. The learning is in the mess and the noise and the drama. Community is the magic of school.
Convincing my students of this requires some work. I love John Green’s 2015 TED talk for this. In it, he talks about “paper towns:” fake places that were put on maps as copyright traps. In one instance, a paper town turned into a real town because people kept showing up, expecting there to be a town there. John Green spins this metaphor into learning with a community.
His metaphor is a pretty hard-to-follow for my high school students, especially my kiddos that are speaking English as a second or third language. So, before showing the video I define the word “cartography,” explain “copyright traps” remind them about metaphors.
Then I show the first three minutes of the video, up to the point where John Green says “while maps don’t show you where you will go in life, they show you where you might go. You very rarely go to a place that isn’t on your personal map.” Green discusses how being part of a community of learners puts more places on your “personal map.” When you meet people and they expose you to new ideas, concepts and places, those things are then put on YOUR personal map.
I stop the video to give my students an example from my own life: Back in 2006, when I got an email inviting me to go to China for free and teach, I deleted the email. China had never been on my “personal map.” I’d never really considered China. I knew nothing about the country and I didn’t even like Chinese food. However, when I told a friend about the email, he insisted that I un-delete the email and get myself to China. It was on HIS personal map, and a conversation with him put it on MY personal map.
Boom. Community.
Back to the video: John Green speak of being a terrible student until he attend a fancy boarding school, wherein he becomes part of a community of learners. He gives all kinds of examples of things he learned, often because of his friends rather than his teachers. He talks about the benefits of being part of a community of learners.
Then I ask my students how WE can become a community of learners.
The TED talk helps students begin to answer questions such as “what is the point of high school?” and “why do we have to work together?” I tell my students that I want to expose them to as many things as possible to give them as many options as possible in life. But I’m just one person. Your classmates will teach you too.
I tell my students:
“If you are sitting next to a person who is obsessed with trains or cows or Switzerland or the Marquis de Layfette, facts about steam engines, farms, the Alps, and the Revolutionary War will sneak into your brain, planting a seed for future learning. Your friend’s and classmate’s obsessions will end up on your personal map of possibilities. And I want that map to be as big as possible.”
Here are the questions I give students to answer during the video, and here is the video. We only watch the first 10 minutes.
Place I’ve Been to Because of My Community of Friends
Sometimes my students struggle with the metaphorical map that John Green constructs.3 No worries, they can just think about places. There are plenty of places that I’ve been to for family reasons (Tucson! Tulsa! Baldwin, Wisconsin!), and students likely have the same experience.
This whole line of thinking did get me wondering about my friends though. How many places have I been to purely because a friend held open a door to a city for me?
I thought about all the friends who have moved: Visiting friends is always a good travel excuse. I’ve gotten to visit Great Falls, San Diego, Wenatchee, Oakland, New York, and Orlando simply because I have friends who live there. Thanks friends!
Strange errands with your friends: I once drove from Las Vegas to Albuquerque and back in one gulp with a friend to pick up her son. I may not be able to squeeze an article or story out of the experience, but it was still a good time.
Travel due to friends getting married far from (my) home: Unlike most people, I LOVE getting invitations to destination weddings. Whether it’s in Akron or Augusta or Edmunds, I’ll do my damnest to be there.
Rachel: My running/hiking friend has inspired so many adventures. We’ve slid down rock water slides, dragged our kids up mountain trails, and run countless races together.
Jenn4: A few months ago my teacher-friend-Jenn told me about a fellowship program that involves a trip to Auschwitz. She sent me a link, I applied and got in! So expect some Holocaust/Poland content next summer. Speaking of Jenn, she was also largely responsible for my Paris itinerary last year. My husband and I took our two daughters to Paris, but Jenn told us where to stay and what to do.
My parent’s neighbor: Sometimes someone doesn’t even have to be a friend to usher you into a new experience or place. I once casually mentioned to my parent’s neighbor that I wanted to run in a local relay race. When someone on her team dropped out, she got my number from mom and a few weeks later I was in a van, participating in a 200-mile relay from the Canadian border to Whidbey Island. Good times.
Darren and Brianne, fellow educators who I’ve only met two or three times in-person. We put together an article for Social Education and then presented together at NCSS in Philadelphia a few years ago. I do love me a teacher conference! Here are a bunch of teachers after our early morning run up the Art Museum steps, Rocky style.
And last, but not least - Denise. When someone has been your best friend for the past 37 years, its impossible to extricate all the ways they’ve influenced you. Denise has introduced me to half of my former boyfriends (and one former husband). She taught me how to ice skate, shave my legs, and mix drinks. We’ve traveled together from Miami to Boston to Sioux Falls to Puerto Vallarta. We’ve written books together, watched countless baseball games, and been to every single casino is Las Vegas. Who knows what we’ll do or where we’ll go next. I’m excited to find out.
Question: Where have you been or what have you learned because of your friends?
Thank you so much for reading. May your week be full of community, great books, and adventures with friends.
See ya next week.
Have you ever heard an Ann Patchett talk? She’ll reference all her best friends, from Barbara Kingsolver to Tom Hanks to Kate DiCamillo. I have no idea how she gets any writing done, with all these friendships to nurture.
I once watched my ex-husband fall in love with someone else and it is not a good time. All my love and sympathy to Mrs. Emerson.
I get it. I struggled with metaphors also as a high school student.
Yes, I have a friend named Jenn. Every Jenn has a friend named Jenn.
Love this idea (and how you're teaching it), and it's so true. The adventures I've had because of friends...even when it's just the grocery store it's STILL FUN!
First, I am getting this book right away. Sounds amazing! And second, I love this idea of our friends fueling our creativity. I can definitely say that my writer friends (all distant and online, but truly friends in the best way) have kept me going when I am certain I would have stopped. It is a lonely process and especially when it is something you are aspiring to and that is not your current profession, etc....you need your people!