"Despite the mythology around the idea of the lone genius, the famous partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney demonstrates the brilliance of creative pairs."
I believe Shenk is on to something. Cat Dixon and I collaborated on series of call-response poems--poems often better than either of us had written before, I think. Mine were eaten in a computer fatality--100s of poems I'd never submitted, gone--but a line in her book surprised me. My voice was preserved distinctly. I wondered where it had come from. She said it was mine from that series of poems, and she still has earlier versions. The creative friction seemed especially productive. The energy reminded me of Clarion workshops where one writer's creativity sparked another's.
Here's a contest for similar ventures, Cahoodaloodaling's In Cahoots.
Speaking of collaborations, this one is genius although I suspect neither writer thought so at the time. It had me laughing so hard I cried. I wish they hadn't stopped when they did. Warning: a few swear words.
"The Creative Climate" by David Brooks
Interesting pair of articles. Brooks, who I've heard is unpopular with some, but he makes some good observations along the way--to a political end, not polemical (that I can discern). But his observations about the arts I thought of interest.
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