Lorde: Unpredictable Inspiration and Authentic Expression

The singer-songwriter, Lorde, creates music that deeply resonates with her fans through raw emotion and authenticity. Lorde allows her songwriting process to be pure, allowing inspiration to come to her and not forcing it when it is not present. She does not believe that she can make herself be creative in periods of dry spells and will willingly go long time periods without writing songs, simply because she is not moved by anything. For her, the creative process is complex and takes time. She allows herself to struggle and she is open to sourcing inspiration wherever it may be found.

Lorde’s third studio album, Solar Power, was released nearly four years after her second. This time gap between creative works depicts how she allows creativity to flow naturally over time. The album took inspiration from many sources however, reconnection with nature played a large role in its development. In taking time off from the public eye and straying from the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle, Lorde found creative inspiration again.

In Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being, nature is described as an absolute and enduring great work. This great work can support the creative process with its infinite color palette, textures and shapes, and age-old wisdom. He writes about how connection to the natural world serves our spirit, and where spirit is served, so is artistic work. 

In Solar Power, Lorde expresses a lightness in being disconnected from technology and embracing the natural world. The album was a stark shift from her much heavier, melancholic previous works. This reinvention demonstrates how she allowed creative energy to find her by deepening her connection to the natural world, rather than remaining in the same artistic box that the public eye placed her in.

    Rubin writes, “Even if the world outside were to remain static, the information we took in would be ever-changing. And so too would the work we bring forth” (Rubin, 56). By embracing changing input, Lorde allowed herself to move freely
within her self-identity and through that her creative output evolved.

He Jiankui: Creative or Criminal?

         He Jiankui, informally known as J.K., is a Chinese scientist who became well known in 2018 after announcing the birth of twins, Lulu and Nana, whose embryos he had modified using gene-editing technology to make them HIV resistant. CRISPR, a gene editing tool developed in 2012 by Jennifer Doudna and her team, repurposes a protein that bacteria use to protect themselves from viral infection by cutting out their own DNA. Since the creation of this new gene-editing tool, scientists have speculated that it could be used to modify human DNA.
        In Walter Isaacson’s book about Jennifer Doudna and her life up to and beyond the invention of CRISPR, he recalls how she responded to his question about her technology being used for gene-editing in humans. She told him it was “in the realm of science fiction”, but Isaacson seems to disagree, citing J.K.’s experiment. If the creator of the technology couldn’t see this application as possible, why did J.K.?

        Use of CRISPR on human embryos had been theorized before, because there was a clear possibility it could edit human DNA to treat genetic disorders or confer resistance to disease. And, because genes are heritable, these defensive measures would be passed down to an embryo’s future offspring. Editing a gene is risky and can be imprecise, so concerns about potential off-target effects, personal autonomy, and informed consent all turned this application into an important ethical debate among scientists. There were also concerns about a potential “designer baby” industry, where parents could pay to choose certain characteristics for their children. J.K. was motivated, or perhaps blinded, by his roles as both a scientist and father to two daughters, to skirt ethical guidelines and carry out an experiment intended to edit an embryo’s genes to grant resistance to HIV.
        In order to be successful, J.K. had to find a way to edit human genes in a way that would protect the subject from HIV infection. His solution to this was replicating a known genetic mutation artificially using CRISPR. This mutation is called CCR5-Δ32, and it modifies the CCR5 receptor on cells in the immune system in such a way that HIV cannot enter the cell. He chose this mutation because people who have it naturally have been found to have resistance to HIV. It’s also a good choice because it’s a base-deletion mutation (32 nucleotides long, hence the name), which means a section of the DNA is missing. This is the type of edit that the original CRISPR mechanism excels at.
        When announcing the birth of the twins, J.K. said they were “as healthy as any other babies”. He has, however, stated that the long term effects of the modification are not known. There are a few issues that could arise with the twins' health. One problem is that the CCR5 receptor that is not present in people with this mutation is usually important for immune and neurological function. People who naturally have the CCR5-Δ32 mutation are more susceptible to certain diseases, while being more resistant to others. Another issue is that mosaicism was found in the twins, meaning both unedited and edited cells were present. This could mean that parts of their bodies are still susceptible to HIV, but there is no way of knowing what off-target effects will appear once the girls grow up.

        J.K. spent three years in prison for his unauthorized experimentation. Within the scientific community, his actions are widely seen to be irresponsible and dangerous. Support from the public has been mixed, however, with some people believing that the chance of finding a way to better defend against disease is worth the risk this type of genetic intervention carries. He now works as Dean of the Pharmacology Laboratory at Wuchang University of Technology, and has stated his intent to work on human gene-editing experiments again in the future.

Jessica Mckenna: A Musical Twist on Improv Comedy

    Jessica McKenna is an actor, sketch writer, improv comedian, and more from Southern California. After receiving her Bachelor's degree in Theatre from Northwestern University she later moved to Los Angeles where she joined the Upright Citizens Brigade, where she still regularly performs today with the improv teams Magic to Do and and Baby Wants Candy. It was here that she met her comedic partner Zach Reino in 2011, and six years later they started the podcast "Off Book" together. 

    On "Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast", McKenna and Reino invite a guest every episode and together they improvise a musical on the spot- no scripts or plans before recording, just a conversation at the beginning to spark ideas. Accompanying them are pianist Scott Passarella and producer/drummer Dana Wickens who provide the soundtracks. The show demonstrates amazing talent, covers a wide variety of genres and topics, and doesn't always make sense but is so charming and fun that it doesn't need to. 

    As if that isn't impressive enough already, McKenna is also a regular on the streaming service Dropout, where she makes appearances on a variety of shows that allow her to further showcase her improv and musical talents. One such show is "Make Some Noise", where the host Sam Reich gives players different wacky prompts to act out, like a Sorting Hat who's also a mean girl or the weird cellmate in the corner joining in for Cellblock Tango (both real prompts Jess has done on the show before). 

    Another prime example is "Play It By Ear", a spinoff of the "Game Changer" episode "Official Cast Recording" that is similar to "Off Book" in its premise and zany charm. McKenna, Reino, and one to two guests act out a musical on a stage while fulfilling prompts given by the show's host Mano Agapion. The format of a television show as opposed to a podcast also allows for simple blocking and choreography that adds a new dimension of entertainment. 

    In his book Culture Care, Makoto Fujimura compares culture to an ecosystem; no man is an island, and we are all connected to each other through the groups we belong to and how we interact with them. A thriving ecosystem is diverse and abundant, and a healthy culture should be the same. Jessica McKenna embodies this idea very well because of how much she collaborates with others and the variety of people she works with. She has mentioned frequently in interviews about "Off Book" that there aren't many people who can both do comedy and perform on Broadway- most guests fall into either one of those two categories. "I think I'm interested in having all kinds of guests; it keeps the variety of the show and keeps us fresh," McKenna said in an interview with Crossfader Magazine from 2018. "It's obviously fun and sometimes easier to play with friends or people that really share our improv background but it's also exciting to try and push beyond our comfort zone...I don't think 'Off Book' would be 'Off Book' with just one time of guest."

The Social Commentaries of Jordan Peele's "Us"

        In high school, I watched Key and Peele sketches for my Lit class and I went home to talk about it with my sister. She suggested I watch a Jordan Peele film, and that's when I saw the movie “Us”. I have watched the movie countless times, as well as his other pieces “Get Out” and “Nope” but the one that stuck with me the most is “Us”. The incredible use of symbolism as well as themes of societal classes, privilege, and even one's own identity really captivated me. A quick synopsis for context is the film follows Adalaide Wilson who goes to her beachfront home with her husband and two kids when she has a gut feeling something bad is going to happen. As night approaches, four masked strangers appear at her house, but they each take the appearance of one of them. Horrified (spoilers ahead), they soon realize they are not trying to hurt them, as each “tethered” is part of a forgotten population living underground mimicking the lives of those above and they simply crave how those above get to live. It goes from being a typical home invasion horror movie to making viewers reflect on their own privileges, all while making a statement on what happens to those shunned from society. 

        Peele uses a very intricate and intentional approach to his creations, and we see this throughout the film “Us”. In multiple interviews he states he has been very fascinated with the idea of doppelgangers since a young age, asking himself “what if our darker selves (or hidden selves) are as real as us?” (Itzkoff, 2019). His creative process involves a lot of utilizing his own experiences and interests and incorporating them into thought provoking commentaries on society. He uses everyday settings, with many scenes filmed in broad daylight, to build an uncanny tension that does not just evoke fear but also uncertainty, creating a powerful and captivating film. He also shares that he loves to incorporate “easter eggs” in his films as he does in “Us” to keep expanding in the depth of his symbolism and keeping viewers engaged. To learn more about easter eggs in “Us” here is an article written by Yohana Desta on some featured.

        

        The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson shares the long journey to the discovery of CRISPR, a groundbreaking gene editing technology, following Jennifer Doudna. Something in common with both Doudna and Peele in their creative processes is that of a motivation that drove them to create. While RNA technology and a critical horror film are very different from one another, both creatives had this internal drive that pushed them. Doudna went to college in the 1980s, studying biochemistry in a field women were shunned from joining. Driven by curiosity that started when she was a teenager reading James Watson’s The Double Helix, she stayed motivated through all hardcomings eventually leading her all the way to a Nobel Prize. Peele created “Us” as a way to explore the duality of humans while providing a social commentary on topics rarely shown in modern films. His motivation stemmed from a desire to cultivate deep thought and deliver it in an accessible and appealing way. Both creatives, while very different, shared the same internal push to share their works in hopes of having an impact. 

           For more insight on the film, here's a video of Peele on the process of creating of “Us”:

Aaron Maine and Porches: It feels right

 Based around New York native, Aaron Maine, Porches is an alternative musical group that experiments with synth-pop, rock, and indie elements to produce music.

I started listening to Porches in April when my boyfriend played me a song from their latest release on Spotify, Scraps and Love Songs Revisited. 

At the time, the world felt like it was moving unrelentingly fast. With finals approaching and the list of things to do expanding, it felt like there was never a moment to truly rest. Each day regenerated itself with more tasks to do, no matter how many got done the day before. 

I find myself unwillingly brought back to this feeling as the current school year progresses, I think a lot of this feeling comes from anticipation of the future. College is one of the last periods in life where the individual is able to be an individual–what they do and create is somewhat inconsequential in the grand scheme of life. And yet, it is hard to ignore the anticipation of the day when life will ultimately transition from inconsequential to unforgiving. I don’t think it gets past most college students that eventually their role in this world will no longer be “explorer” or “discoverer,” it will be consumer and producer. It is not lost on most of us that the noise of life is not going away anytime soon, and we are likely going to get more lost in it as we exit the mindset of a college student and enter the one of an adult. 

In the midst of all of these thoughts and anxieties, finding this EP was like a breath of fresh air. The music is gentle with an edge. Acoustic and electric guitar paired with piano and raw vocals are the prominently used instruments and they create a mood that reflects the mundanity of everyday life while highlighting how consequential it all feels to the individual. There are many strange and borderline erratic instrumentals featuring banging of random notes on the piano and guitar scratches, and you can hear the imperfections in Maine’s voice come through- it all screams of uncertain anticipation for the future, and it lacks the polished feel of modern day music production. It doesn’t sound like it was created in 2025. In all fairness, despite its release date on streaming, this EP was originally created and produced in November of 2011.

In an attempt to discover Maine’s intent, I turned to some interviews about his creative process. They didn’t yield direct answers as many of his comments are vague and ambiguous, but they did give me some insight to base inferences off of. 

A 15 Questions interview with the band’s center member reveals that Maine describes his process as practice. He doesn’t “wait for inspiration to hit,” he has a routine and is intentionally structured in his practice. Still, when he does sit down to create, he starts from random lines or lyrics that “feel right” to him. His creative process is a really neat mix between Rick Rubin’s ideas of seeds and artistic discipline that he expands upon in his book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. 

These insights lead me to believe that maybe this belated release to streaming just felt right to Maine. And, truthfully, that would not at all surprise me given the current climate of the nation and how it feels to be an individual in it in this day. Maybe Maine’s response to this feeling was to release music that brings the listener back to a true feeling of individuality, one that acknowledges uncertainty and slows the world down. 

Whatever his true impetus was, I’m glad to have the music. It screams of authenticity and desire for connection through acknowledgment of the feeling of senseless existence. The EP recognizes the humanness in all of us, and gives voice to the parts of us that feel suffocated, and in the current climate we live in, where individuality is constantly lost between patterns of production and consumption, this feeling becomes more and more invaluable every single day. 

Billie Eilish - Speaking to my Soul

    In 2017, I was in seventh grade. That was also the year that Billie Eilish came out with her first EP: don't smile at me, and I was already obsessed with her song "ocean eyes" which I found on SoundCloud in 2015. After discovering this song, I went down a rabbit hole and wanted to find out everything and anything about her. When she came out with this EP, I was ecstatic, I already knew that I would love every single one of the songs, and I was right. Soon enough, my favorite song switched from "ocean eyes" to "bellyache" and I was hooked. Especially going through middle school, I found comfort in her music, and since then I became a huge fan, even to this day.

    In Makoto Fujimara's Culture Care, he begins the first chapter with a story of him and his wife, and how they were going through financial struggles as newlyweds. They did not seem to have much hope for their future, and went day by day trying to make ends meet. One day his wife brought home a bouquet of flowers and he was very upset by this since they did not even have enough money to buy food, let alone flowers. But his wife's response really stood out to me, and to him as well. She told him:

"We need to feed our souls"

And to me, that is exactly what Billie Eilish's music does. It feeds my soul. Her creative process is simply going through life, feeling emotions, and putting those feelings into lyrics.

For Fujimara at the time, he felt lost, and his art was not coming out as he liked since he was too focused on what was to come tomorrow. Instead, his wife was bringing art and beauty back into his life, in the form of flowers. This is exactly what it felt like for me as a 12 year old exploring her emotions, and finding Billie Eilish's music.

    Another thing that really solidified my love for her music is the fact that she created this entire EP in her room with her brother Finneas, and continues to make music with him. Her connection with her brother was something I was also able to relate to her with, because I am very close to my older sister, and she is someone who was able to push me to create my own art in the form of poetry. 

    Billie Eilish is someone that I am sure almost all of Gen Z can relate to, in multiple forms. She speaks to our souls with her openness to expressing emotions, making you really feel the music. I find her a creative genius, as well as someone who I look up to when I write.

Ocean Eyes - Billie Eilish

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy's Gentle Generosity

"An encounter with generosity can remind us that life always overflows our attempts to reduce it to a commodity or transaction-because it is a gift.” 

- Makoto Fujimura, in Culture Care 

    In his writing, Fujimura challenges the idea that life is merely something quantifiable. Instead, he argues that life itself fervently resists this reduction. Life is too rich, too mysterious, and too sacred for it to be flattened and twisted into such a two-dimensional idea. Generosity is what reveals this truth: not everything valuable can have a number determine its worth in order to be commodified. Life is not a product - it is a gift. 

 

 

Charlie Mackesy 

    One creative who embodies this philosophy in his work is Charlie Mackesy, author and illustrator of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. His book is a quiet and gentle masterpiece. It showcases a series of ink sketches and handwritten reflections that explore kindness, vulnerability, struggle, and friendship. It doesn't waste time with politics, religion, or complexity. In its simplicity, it is deeply human. 

    Mackesy’s creative process was a collective effort and emotionally driven. He began sketching these characters during a time of personal reflection, inspired by conversations with friends and his own internal questions. His art is intentionally imperfect and simple: with smudged ink lines, open space, and muted colors that only add to the softness of the scenes paired with handwritten text. Fully reflecting the rawness of human experience and focusing on the overwhelming truths of life through the perspective of a vulnerable child. He didn’t set out to make a bestseller; he set out to make something true. 

By opening the book with simple questions,  

                                    “What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

                                                     “Kind,” said the mole

   Mackesy sets the tone for a different kind of power. Not the power to control others, but the power to care for others and be cared for. His characters model emotional honesty, the courage to ask for help, and the strength to act to both be loved and love. These themes directly reflect Fujimura’s call for generative creativity: art that gives more than it takes. Art that calls to action generosity and brings about something beautiful to the world. 

 

The mole, The horse, The boy, The fox - a quote  

 

In one of the book’s most famous lines: 

“Sometimes  

                        just getting up and continuing is  

                                                                                brave and magnificent.” 

    Mackesy reminds us that resilience and true strength don’t always look like protest or revolution. Sometimes it’s quiet persistence. Since he wrote this with his friends, he never expected it to become a book, but every line they wrote had a profound impact on those around him, so much so that the Canadian military requested the lines he came up with to be used to support soldiers suffering from various forms of trauma and pain. 

    The public reception of Mackesy’s work reflects the hunger for cultural care. His book became a global phenomenon, not because it had a great story of a hero or had jaw-dropping masterpieces of artworks, but because it offered something nourishing for the soul. Readers of all ages found comfort in its pages of wisdom. A reminder that they mattered, that kindness was still possible, and that they were not alone in the world, or at least they don't have to be.  

    Fujimura’s reflection and Mackesy’s book show us that creativity is not passive and neutral. It’s a choice. A choice to create rather than consume, to care rather than cast aside... Whether through words, sketches, or passing advice, the artist has the power to heal a culture that’s forgotten how to care.