Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

Crazy dreams by Sandra Lee Schubert 2008

Wild Woman of Queens: Notes on Urban Creativity from across the East River.

Sandra Lee Schubert


Creative Dreams

A group of researchers have developed a technique to interpret brainwaves that occur during dream states and display images based off of the data.

Count me in. Last night I dreamt I was responsible for separating people into pair's at a park. Each pair would have a particular task to do. There were hundreds of people for me separate. In the process I befriended a young married couple. The husband and I became partners in a foreclosed apartment building in Manhattan. It had previously been bought by a corporation that had rudely kicked all the tenants out. My business partner and I had to clean out the left behind possessions.

The next scene I was living in Ireland, trying to buy food in a Irish fast food place. I kept trying to get potatoes to go with my meat but just got more meat. I was walking to my new home and decided to stop by and look at people hanging out by a body of water. It was a happening place. The water came right up to the sidewalk. People were swimming in the water and there were fish and giant bullfrogs. I asked a couple of women what they called this body of water. Was it a river? An ocean? They answered me in such a thick Irish brogue I couldn't understand a word they said. No matter, we had a fabulous time and I was liking my new adventure. I walked on and came across a church that was the building i had bought in Manhattan. My partner had converted the building into a thriving seminary and bustling church. I felt bad about being left out of all of this considering I was an Interfaith minister.

I could use that dream software. Imagine if I could take all those scenes and bring the visuals to life. Giant Bullfrogs? Walking through a city in Ireland, a place I have never seen, I felt oddly at home and happy. But wouldn't it be fun to see if any of the images had relevance for other people? Dreams hold so much possibility. My own dreams are always rich and full of elaborate imagery. They stay with me throughout the day, sometimes so vivid they become more like a real memory then just a dream. The dreams become rich fodder for me to pull images and stories out of them.

Would our lives be easier if we could take our visions and put them right on paper or a canvas? There is always this struggle to bring creation into being. What would we lose if we didn't have to engage in this particular kind of struggle? I am not sure. All I know is that I have this rich playground to play in. Sleep is my artistic retreat.

Sandra Lee Schubert is a creative vagabond, a poet, writer and dabbler in the arts and online entrepreneur. She co-facilitates the Wild Angels Poets and Writers Group at the historic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. She is also the creator of the e-course, Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own. Visit her blog: Email her info@writing4life.com or @writing4life via twitter.