Bradley Dean is creative director at Billy Reid and is not a fan of crowds, he said. He graduated UNA with an art degree and admitted disappointment in the quality of education he received here. Since then, he has been his own teacher and life coach, and I'd say, based on his position for a world-class clothing designer, that he's doing alright for himself. For the fifty minutes that he talked to our band of fifty-something honors kids, I got an idea of what the inside of his mind is like, and I think it's very similar to Black Friday at Circuit City...in technicolor...with dupstep playing over the intercom. He has a beautiful imagination and lots of snippets of brilliant ideas, but with no organization whatsoever. It was funny.
He taught us about initiative. Falling into stagnancy is like hitting writer's block in that the only way to get over it is just to look it square in the eyeballs. Maya Angelou said when she would get into a writing slump, she would just write. Words that rhymed, incoherent words, made-up words, you name it. The key is to never turn what you enjoy doing into a chore. According to Bradley Dean, fun is how good ideas are born.
As for the idea-less? Come on in.
"The first follower turns a lone nut into a leader," said Bradley. As much as life needs leaders, it also needs brave followers. Just get off the bleachers.
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