The Creative POV [2]: While riding the bus...

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

- Albert Einstein

Hello Modern Human!

Welcome to the Creative POV, where every week an artist, Jenny Whitehead, and a comedian, Mike Lukas, offer creative tips on how to put down your screen and be entertained by the world around you.

You know, like people did before the internet because they had no choice.

For this post, you’re stuck on the bus.

Of course, on any public transportation, it’s tempting to look down at a screen or a book or newspaper. But once in a while, do what artists and comedians do and check out your surroundings for creative inspiration.

Here are three tips for doing that while riding the bus.

Creative POV Tip 1:

Sitting on the bus?

Find one person on the bus and make up a backstory for them.

Artist POV

Jenny Whitehead

First thing, I’d take a moment to observe him or her.

I can’t look directly at them (rude!), so instead I use sweeping head movements in their general direction.

“Look at the ads above their heads.”

“I need to study the map on the wall next to them.”

“This person looks like they might kill me…moving on.”

I’d note obvious clues they’ve chosen to share:

What’s their “style”? Business? Uniform? Casual? Don’t Care?
Are they trying to blend in or stand out?
Black and white tells me they are decisive and waste no time.
Sensible blue or gray tells me they are heading to a place where everyone else is wearing blue or gray.
Trendy and unexpected color combinations tell me they like to play.

Maybe who I think is “sensible” is at a breaking point and ready to quit his job and join the Peace Corps because he’s tired of the rat race and wants to work with people, not numbers on a spread sheet.

Maybe the expressive artsy fashion-guru shops only at thrift stores and never washes the clothes before she wears them to feel the spirit of the person who wore them before her.

Accessories say a lot.

Are they “silver” or “gold people”? (silver says subtle, gold says “I may not be rich, but I’m telling you I’m rich,”).

A big purse tells me they may be disorganized, with too many keys to dig for as an apartment manager who is rushing back to deal with the flooded bathroom in apartment 302.

Do they smile easily at others, willing to move over for a grandma or mother with small child or have they created an invisible shield around their bodies that says “stay the hell away”?

Are they lost in thought—possibly rewriting an argument they had with someone before they left that morning or replaying a lovely moment with someone they just met but will never see again.

I read the lines in their faces.

What are their distinguishing features if I were to draw them?

A lumpy nose?
A crooked mouth?
Droopy eyes?
A fresh haircut?

Then maybe I’d draw them.

Whatever I come up with is free reign as long as it stays in my head (or on a sketchbook in the form of “human research” for a new book).

But one thing is for sure—if they smile at me, I will smile back. It’s amazing how a smile can change (or verify) every assumption I made about who they are.

Comic POV

Mike Lukas

I like to give each person I see on the bus a secret they may be hiding.

That guy reading the magazine?

He’s wearing his girlfriend’s sexy lingerie under his casual Friday attire.

The thought of someone at work catching him keeps him from absorbing the article’s main point.

That woman protecting the full Macey’s bag on her lap?

It’s the head of the saleswoman who mocked her prior outfit.

She’s now taking it home to make her family a hearty stew.

That old guy driving the bus?

He got the job by lying about his prior large vehicle driving experience.

It’s his first day on the job and he can’t believe he hasn’t wrecked yet.

Creative POV Tip 2:

Sitting on the bus?

Name the smells.

Artist POV

Jenny Whitehead

Smells can tell you everything about a person or place.

If someone bothered to put on perfume, was it for them (subtle) or was it for the rest of us (too much)?

In my head I will say,

“You, ma’am, smoke cigarettes.”
“You, sir, smoke cigars.”
“You, bud, smoke a pipe.”
“You people, smoke weed.”
“You haven’t taken a shower for at least three days (please lower your arm from the overhead hand-straps, man)”.

Even deodorant can’t cover perspiration in August when someone runs to catch a subway in NYC.

Is someone carrying a box of fresh-baked muffins?

Is someone’s kid chewing artificially-flavored grape gum?

Did someone just pop an Altoid before gaining the courage to talk to the cute stranger next to them?

All telling.

Exhaust, stale air, the momentary smells of a place when the doors open and close are free for everyone.

Breathe deep or hold your breath, whatever the situation calls for. But notice them all. Most people don’t.

Comic POV

Mike Lukas

Remember the four food groups?

Dairy
Fruits and Veggies
Grains
Meat

On the bus, I utilize the four odor groups:

Industrial – fumes of the bus and city
Hygienic – funky bodies, forgotten showers
Edible – foodstuffs and other tasteful odors
Mystery – good god, man, what have you done?

The fun starts as I identify, categorize, and source all things hitting my nose.

Pro Tip: Careful, depending on the neighborhood, there’s often a fine line between the Edible, Hygienic, and Mystery odors.

Depending on the state of my stomach, I’ll usually take advantage of being in a crowd. Like an old jazz-man riffing with the melody, I’ll add some of my own smells to the ongoing bus mix.

Then I’ll watch my fellow “pew”-sicians to see who’s the first to notice my not-so-subtle contributions.

To any complainers, I just say, “Dig that jazz, man.”

Creative POV Tip 3:

Sitting on the bus?

Listen to conversations both for your own entertainment and human research.

Artist POV

Jenny Whitehead

Overhearing how people communicate gives me a lot of information about human nature, how they express themselves.

Often their vernacular—accents, slang, vocabulary—is something I could not make up on my own simply sitting at a writing desk in my studio.

Sitting on a bus allows a physical closeness in a space otherwise too personal.

Hearing someone talk on the phone, for instance, may not be a choice.

So, I take advantage of this “writer research” any way I can.

I may jot down brief exchanges on a napkin or on the back of a receipt if a notebook looks too obvious or isn’t available.

Sitting behind two teen-agers on a bus and listening to them talk about their peers is invaluable scoop–whether to form dialogue for a story or get insight into how your own teenagers think.

I’m noting their hand gestures, their facial expressions, their posture.

Comic POV

Mike Lukas

One of the great things about public bathroom stalls and riding the bus is that certain loud talkers speak like nobody can hear them.

I listen for lines that I can quote out of context.

I’ve collected such classics as:

“Are you kidding me? That’s f#cking illegal. I’m in.”

“It should heal in a few weeks, or so I’m told.”

“Fool me once, shame on both of us, mother.”

If someone near me is talking on their cell phone, I like to pretend I’m on my phone speaking with them.

They talk, I respond.

If they say, “Okay, I should be home in a few minutes.”

I’ll say, “That’s fine, but he’ll be dead by then.”

But into my phone.

When they look at me, I’m too deep into my fake phone call to even notice.

When nearby people on the bus are having a conversation and one of them asks the other a question, I answer it.

When they object, I say, “Gatekeeper!” and go back to my fake phone call.

Hope those give you some fun reasons to put down your screen and let the bus-riding world entertain you for a few minutes.

Next week, we’ll go over our Top-3 creative ways to enjoy sitting in a coffee shop.

See you then!

Jenny & Mike

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This Post Has 2 Comments

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