Take the Time to be Creative

Image of hands painted to resemble the globe.

We’re all going though some challenging times. Some of us are trying to balance work from home and homeschooling. Others of us are front-line essential workers helping our community, while some of us might be looking for employment. Some are taking care of the sick and collectively, we’re all just trying to find some toilet paper! As the days pass by, we wonder when we’ll be back to “normal” though, realistically, we understand that “normal” will never be what we were use to.

One wonderful positive we’ve all gained during this weird transition is TIME! Eliminating our daily commute, busy schedule, and many of the Greater Bay Area friction causing factors, many of us have gained extra time. We know that we all can use this time to check-off some items from our to do list. Whether that includes, like myself, binge watching your favorited movies on Hoopla, reading those books you never got around to, playing video games that have gathered dust on our shelves, trying some new creative pursuit or picking up a cookbook to try something new! The explosion of creativity that will come from this time will be with us for generations to come. Though most importantly, we’ve taken this “extra” time to connect virtually with friends and family to share our energy and love. Though finding things to do to help distract us from the news has been a bit of a challenge, we hope that you can still see the silver lining of our current state. As a community, let's hold on to that silver lining and find the good in the bad together. Life will probably never be like it was. There will be a pre Covid-19 and a post Covid-19, as we move forward as a community, a state, a nation, a world, but what the world will look like and how we interact with one another will be up to us to decide.

Take the #SJPLCreates Online Challenge!

This week we invite you to throw out all your uncertainty and join your community through art and technology. Starting April 20, the San Jose Public Library will be hosting the #SJPLCreates online challenge. Everyday of this week (April 20, 2020 - April 24, 2020) we will be posting a video to YouTube for you to complete a challenge with your loved ones. You’ll be able to use any materials and/or technology you have access to at home. These challenges utilize the Everyone Can Create and Everyone Can Code curriculum. We also invite you to share what you create on your favorite social media platform using the hashtags #SJPLCreates, #EveryoneCanCode, and #EveryoneCanCreate. We hope that this challenge encourages you and your loved ones to get moving and create! At times like this, the world needs as much creativity, beauty and wonder as we can provide to it. Let’s do our part. Stay safe all!

SJPL YOUTUBE CHANNEL