Season 2: Episode 8: Creativity

Please tune in as I highlight a new book that I am reading, The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Ph.D.

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Darline Berrios: 0:03

Hey everyone, welcome to Share Your Sparkle. I'm your host, Dr. Darline Berrios. And this is season two, creativity. Hey, people, I hope you're well. I'm recording from outside cuz it's pretty delicious here today. At some point, you hear me yell at me. And it's because we're sitting on the deck, and I'm hoping he doesn't run away or started digging in the grass or the sand, which is very possible, but I'll keep it in there because it's probably really funny. Um, I'm going to start off by sharing a few resources, random memory, and then get right into the topic of the day creativity. But one resource I want to share first is that Alicia Keys and Deepak Chopra are doing a 21 day meditation. I saw that in my email today, I don't know why I didn't see it like about a week ago when I think it started. And usually, like, I've done these with like Oprah and him in the past, like, just they post like a message of the day. And then like some space and time with music, and a mantra for you to repeat in. So Alicia Keys is doing one with him, which I think is really great. So I recommend checking that out. I just started day one today. And it talked about like, the feminine, divine part of us, which is in everybody, you know, like feminine and masculine. But I think what they're trying to do is highlight feminine energy, you know, bring more balance into the world. So that's one thing. The other is actually, Elizabeth Gilbert. She's the one who wrote Eat, Pray Love. She wrote this book called Big Magic, which has to do with creativity. And I recommend you check it out. It's a quick read. Bane, sorry. Oh, my God, he's trying to help my dad fix the car. And my dad's like, if you're not a mechanic, get out of here. Anyway, Elizabeth, Gilbert, Big Magic. She writes about creativity and how you don't have to be a tortured individual to be creative. And she shares some stories. And it's a quick read, and I enjoyed reading it, and I've really read it. So that's another resource. And then the random memory for some reason. There's a song and it's kind of technically I think, oh, the guy's name is Robert miles. And I think it's dreamland. And I'm going back to 1996. This is when I remember it for me. song is called one on one. So 1996 that summer, I lived in Florida, and I had a little blue Celica was standard. And I just remember it, like playing the CD and like being in the summer sun and Florida and just driving in my little blue Celica down the highway. And that was just the most random memory but one in one. Robert miles. It's better no a 1990 song, I guess. I don't even know how big it wasn't where I heard it. But that's my random memory. And I'm wondering why that came to mind. But oh, so I want to share some words I started off late. But I want to share some words from a book that I haven't finished reading yet. But it's called the disordered cosmos. A journey into dark matter, space, time and dreams deferred by Shonda prescod. Weinstein. And I don't know how many of you know this about me like those of you listening, who are my friends or family, but I love the night sky. Like I have been fascinated with the stars since I was little. And I don't think it's something I share very often. But like, this summer, I might get like a telescope. And because where I am, it's a great place at night to view the stars. There's not a lot of light pollution. And I just am fascinated and I love love the night sky. And I was wondering what to talk about today. So creativity came to mind because I wonder. And I mentioned this, I think to my sister in law and my brother, how the world would be and this is like with any marginalized or underrepresented group in any field. How the world would be would be if most of the people highlighted were black and brown, most of the black and brown scientists of the world. You know Before highlighted and and their contributions and supported, right, what would the world be like? And Shonda prescod. Weinstein is a physicist, she has her PhD, she's one of fewer than 100 black American women to earn a PhD from the Department of Physics prescod Weinstein presents a vision of the universe I'm reading from the inside cover that is vibrant buoyantly, non traditional and grounded in black feminist lineages. In the book she also identified identifies as an a gender woman. And now this was tricky for me, because I was looking up a gender. And it seems that that's a term that's used for someone who doesn't identify with any gender in terms of like masculine, or like male or female. But I think that age, gender, woman part that she speaks to what I've come across, and Philip, please help me if you're listening is has to do with, like what she aligns with. So a gender who's a black, a gender, woman, physicist and brings in her identity into this book, which I think is wonderful for people of color to see and hear about, and white individuals as well. So let me just unplug because I'm like a geek about the cosmos and science. And I actually got it like Quantum Physics for dummies last summer. I had no clue what the hell was going on. But I got it because I'm like, this is seems really interesting, really interesting stuff. Like I want to know a little bit more about it. I think I got through the introduction, and that's about it. But let me read her first page, and then I'm going to go a little bit further into the book and it might get hot depending on your identity. This might be hard for you to hear. But please listen. ls ask is for you to listen. So in the beginning of bedtime story, once upon a time there was a universe, we're not sure how it started or whether there is a reason, we don't know. For example, if space time is ordered or disordered at the smallest scales, which are dominated by the weirdness of quantum mechanics, we are pretty sure that during the first sliver of a trillionth of a second, it expanded very rapidly so that for the most part, it looked the same in every direction and look the same from every position, it was sameness everywhere, except the particle started to flip out of nothing due to random fluctuations caused by quantum effects. Maybe in space time, we are still not super sure about that. Then again, we are not super sure about this either. For some reason those particles formed more matter than anti matter. That process which formed a particle type called baryons is called Vario Genesis. From there, these baryons started to form structures and from those structures stars formed. Then the stars got old and some of them died in super epic, rather fabulous fashion. They exploded into supernova, making heavy elements. Sorry, like carbon and oxygen in the process. Those elements went on to be the basis for all life on Earth. Earth is a planet one of the structures that formed around stars from the leftovers of Novi, eventually a smaller type of structure that we call life forms on Earth. Some other life forms that evolved through relatively hairless apes that use a variety of methods of communication. There were about 7 billion of these apes with various levels of eumelanin and feel melanin in their skin, and hair, giving them a range of colors. The Apes also have a lot of different hair textures. Some of the ones with less eumelanin have for a long time now been cruel to the ones with more, some of whom we know as, quote, black people. We know why this is, although we don't fully understand the why but it might be due to laziness or because they are jealous of our bogie. But despite this, Black Lives come from the same Vario Genesis the same supernova and the same structure formation, no matter what the lowest you will melanin, people say, black lives or star stuff. And Black Lives Matter, all of them. So that's how she starts her book. She goes on to talk about, you know, the science and history behind physics. And then in what I like is there aren't when I'm thinking of science books, identity isn't explicitly talked about the cheeks implicitly addresses it here. I'm going into a chapter called the physics of melanin, you know, melanin? Is that part of our bodies? And the more melanin you have, the darker you have, the less melanin you have the lady you have, the lighter you are. And she identifies as a light skinned black individual. And she's fully aware of how, and she speaks to it. In her book, that the world in how you're perceived, whether you're a light skinned, black individual, and that I would say, brown as well, or dark skin, black or brown individual, the world treats you differently. And it was really interesting how in Fox News, I know, I don't watch it, but it's on in the background. I can't believe that my dad watches it. And I'm admitted that to the world, but it's true. He does. It's kind of scary. But it's actually very, it's it's really scary actually. Well, first of all, because it's my dad. But second of all, that a lot of individuals listen to information, like that's put out by Fox News. And one of the I don't know what show it was, but it was talking about critical race theory. So critical race theory, is the idea that you are treated a certain way because of who you are. And in some case that treatment is discriminatory, right? So let's look at the legal system. And this came out of actually, someone and I can't remember who the person was looking at cases that were very similar with the charge and with whatever was going on. But black individuals were being charged more harshly than white individuals. And this was seen over and over and over again. And after enough of these observations, this individual came up with the idea of critical race theory that you are treated a certain way in this world. And in some ways that's discriminatory. And in some ways, it's a privilege. I mean, this is literally something that we teach, that I had co taught before with another teacher, and it's called, you know, it's either privilege or discrimination in these systems, like the political system, or the legal system, or the economic system, you know, whatever the case is that you might have a privilege, or you might be discriminated against because of who you are socially significant identity, whether it's gender, sexuality, your socio economic status. And I like the fact that she talks about it in this book, because it's important, we need to talk about it, and she is also conscious of her light skinburness right. And that doesn't go unnoticed, as well, for me being a lighter skin, Puerto Rican as compared to Puerto Ricans who are a lot darker than I am. It doesn't go unnoticed. Anyway, those are my thoughts about that. But let me talk about a part in the book where she talks about the physics of melanin. Let's see here. And she goes into win. I am going into the book now and these are words. When I finally beginning began asking questions about melanin. I approached it like a scientist by searching the scientific literature. I was surprised to learn that melanin is becoming an active, active topic in bio physics after a few centuries of what I would call her Oh half hearted investigations investigation. By racist. Now, people want to understand how melanin works as a material and what utility it might have for future technologies to basically understanding how we get our skin color and how this is going to help us in the future, right? What might have been different if, for example, they hadn't been distracted for about half a century by the pseudoscience of eugenics, which is considered foundational until the Holocaust helped some understand its social implications. eugenics is another word for Greek, with Greek roots formed from EU which means good and Geno's, which means race and that captures the intentions of the field choosing who lives or dies, or ever even comes to exist at all, using rules developed by people with the power to make the rules although you Genesis ideas predate the rise of white supremacy. eugenics has been a cornerstone of science under white supremacy that even today continues to thrive in some corners of science. So listen carefully here. Although openly Eugene, eugenicist ideas are considered to be somewhat fringe, it is still clear from anthropology, anthropological studies of science that the biology of the disempowered okay. Such as people with X X chromosomes, often identified as women of any race is less likely to be studied. In decision General, women are less likely to be studied. When I learned that melanin had finally become a popular topic, not because it was realized that people of African descent are interesting in our own right. But because so many white people are getting skin cancer. I was pained, but not surprised. So I need to repeat that again. Listen carefully, when I learned that melanin had finally become a popular topic, not because it was realized that people of African descent are interested in our own right, but because so many white people are getting skin cancer. I was pained, but not surprised. I mean, this is not the first time we've seen something like that, where in terms of the economy, and benefiting one group over the other, let's look at marijuana for example, how many black and brown individuals are in jail or have been jailed for dealing or the use and now how and who, what individuals are making money off the legalization of it. painful, but not surprising people. I mean, for some people. They might be surprised, but this is how this is like, happens all the time. So after going back to the book after centuries of kidnapping, locking up beating, raping, robbing and killing people in large part on the basis of the human eyes, perception of skin melanin, melanin content. Studying the mechanical nature of melanin, its interactions with light and its movement and production in the body became interesting, only when it seemed necessary for an enhancing the survival of people who don't have a lot of it in their skin. This parallels the violent experiments of 19th century gynecologists, J. Marion Sims, who took an interest in black woman's reproductive systems only because of what they would reveal about how to medically treat white women. Simms is still celebrated in some quarters, even though he effectively tortured black women by cutting them open without anesthesia, arguing that we could not feel pain. The comedian I'm coming out of the book for a second Wanda Sykes, gay African American comedian talks about getting a double mastectomy and one of her stand up shows and she jokes about it but was very serious. Because one of the things she said was when she left the hospital. By the way after her procedure, both of her breasts were removed. They gave her ibuprofen ibuprofen And she's like, really? She addresses it in her skit in a very powerful way, like, Oh, you don't really need anything stronger than that you hear some ibuprofen on your way out. But essentially, this individual did the same. Sims tortured black women by cutting them open without anesthesia, arguing that we could not feel pain. melanin isn't the first sight on black bodies that became curious when it served the health of non black people. And you're like doing what does this have to do with creativity? That's a good question. One. My first thought was, what if the world were different if scientists or any other group or field had mostly black and brown individuals, for one, black woman wouldn't have been cut open without anesthesia? You know, and you're like, well, would have been the same the other way which people have done this to white individuals? I don't know. necessarily, we'll never know. We won't. But the substance used, I'm going back in the book here, actually, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna fast forward a little bit. She talks about an article that she wrote, in terms of how is melanin, you know, what can we use melanin for? To help the world you know, and how, I mean, we don't know essentially, how different things will be used in the world, like who would have thought like, I don't know, when I was a child, I probably didn't think about oh, we can use electricity for cars, you know, like, all these different things that we are using and coming up with, who knows how melanin will be used in the future. And she talks about that, like melanin, may hold the key to delivering our green energy future efficiently. If we make an ethical commitment to using the technology for the greater good, then sadly, such commitments aren't yet a normal part of scientific tradition. You know, so who knows how this might be used? Of course, we may and then I'm going to go back into the book. Of course, we may be wrong about Mellon instruction, perhaps it cannot provide insight into superconductors at all, you know, to how it can be used in these fabulous ways that might help. It may instead be what is called an electric, electronic ionic hybrid conductor, where the key actors are not just electrons, but also ions. So you know, she talks about the science behind it. But she also brings in her humaneness. And what all this means is that melanin, the material that eugenics, eugenicist argued calls to people of African descent to be inherently inferior is also the stuff of Afro futurist techno dreams. There is a very real possibility that our future energy distribution mechanisms, which will help minimize damaging carbon emissions by reducing waste in transporting energy from source to use site will exist because of the melon ated people. Janell Monet called the quote, arc enjoyed, or orchestrated in quote, and maybe that the key to a future where we live more harmoniously with our ecosystem is written into the genetic code of black people. June Jordan did always tell us that, quote, We are the ones we have been waiting for, and quote. So she published an article about this idea, you know, about the idea of melanin being treated, treated as a useful tool. And then people at MIT built these, what I'm going to call smaller structures, or, you know, three dimensional rectangular boxes filled with different colors of melanin, with melanin of different colors. And there was not one group at the time of in this MIT group that was either a black student, postdoctoral researcher or staff and she writes except maybe in all likelihood, the people who clean their workspaces and you're like, what's the big deal there? You know, like, She states. I worried that the essay that this chapter is based on her Sorry, I'm going to go back a few sentences. My heart sank when I read about this, you know, the group at MIT in fact, it was demoralizing. I worried that the essay that this chapter is based on had inspired the work and was reminded of the importance of being conscious of how our proposals might be used. Once they are let loose into the wider world, I did not mean to propose that scientists should consider ideas like buildings literally shrouded in something akin to the skin of black folks. I had hoped to make the case instead that the underexplored realm of melanin science, pointed to a need for science to stop rejecting black people's humanity, including the ways that black scientists can shape actual science. What I really wanted everyone to understand is that black thoughts like Black Lives Matter. In the wake of slavery, black people around the America suffer immensely under anti black racism to lesser and greater degrees depending on the IE melanin content, our DNA is encoded to produce. Remember what I said the lighter you are, you're treated differently compared to the darker you are. The encoding varies for reasons that are not at all random. We know that the majority of black Americans have some European European heritage mostly due to rape and certainly this must generally be true across the two American continents. I am what is called light skinned people often assume that this lightness is simply because my father is a white man, and indeed he is a white ash can not see you. I am light skinned because of who my dad is. Yes, but I am also light skinned because of who my for Mother's rapists were. My mother is not nearly as light as me, but she is also on the lighter end of the spectrum. Our melanin and our lack thereof, tell stories about what ancestors endured. In a different scenario, black people are not material product that can be stripped for parts, but more like the Marvel comic book universe character princess Sheree of Wakanda. She's a black woman who likes tinkering with things and spends and enough time both tinkering and imagining that she comes up with wonderful new inventions and new ways of seeing the world. In a completely different context. And melanin coated coated building sound cool like something black and brown people would think of out of a deep understanding of our skin and the pride in its technological reach. This is substantively different from white people thinking of new ways to use our bodies. I am not the only black scientist who identified with Sheree when the film Black Panther came out. So many of us spent our whole childhood dreaming of becoming her. only to realize that in a white supremacist society, it feels impossible. Sure, he is what happens when indigenous intellectual curiosity is not stifled. America is what happens when it is who it's a lot to take in. But it's all real people. She talks about growing up I watched that I'm going to actually start to go back on paragraph a little bit. Africans were brutally kidnapped, held captive, enslaved, forced to build families and make new generations in captivity. required to enter in new languages and we did. Growing up I watched my mother experienced racism and as her child this became part of my earliest encounters with the world. Later I became a conch. I became conscious of racisms distinct impact on me. Even as colorism literally lightens my load compared to many black people. For people with far more melanin in their skin than me or even my mother, the viciousness of structural racism is more ever present in daily life. The incidences are more frequent, more heightened and more likely to be dangerous. For these reasons, it's tempting to define blackness as a response to the question how badly do white people treat you? It's also tempting to define blackness as coming from suffering as living through suffering as a source of suffering. It's tempting to make blackness and suffering and melanin synonyms. As if that is all we are. But as a community that was forced to construct from fragments in the harshest physical and psychological conditions, we have been intensely creative. Our ancestors never stopped imagining us as free people. And by holding fiercely on to this imagined black future, they ensure that black people like me, would one day be able to look at the stars, not because we are on the run from slave catchers, not because we are trapped in fields. But because we are learned in our first semester as PhD students in astronomy, about how stars are just perpetual nuclear explosions. This is a black magic that as a scientist, I believe in the ancestors made sure that we got here to now where there are new possibilities where we are now able to ask the question, what is the physics of melanin? We now live in a world where black scientists can ask that question and understand in technical detail, how knowing the answer could radically change the world. If you are a teacher, if you were a parent, if you are an adult in some capacity, caring for black and brown children, or any other underrepresented, it's female or a gay child, whatever the case may be, give them space to be creative. Because I think creativity has historically been a luxury. But creativity has always been a part of our DNA. But let's label it and give our kids that space. Because we need more balance, more black, brown women, gay age, gender. Individuals looking at the world and helping us understand in a different way. Something I think, okay, people, accept your sparkle, surrender to it, and allow it to be so until then, keep shining