By noon – one horse-shaped piñata made out of toilet paper tubes, six handmade envelopes for participants to put their candy into, four tiny prize ribbons, five necklaces with paper cut-out pendants of dogs and eyeballs. I asked her to stop working so that she could do a lesson and she said, “I’m not done yet, sometimes you don’t let me focus, it’s really annoying.”

She was in productivity mode and feeling good. She feels comfortable when she is engaged in creative production. I decided to challenge her a bit and I asked her to find the letters (from a pile of cards on the table) for two four-letter words (‘fast’ and ‘clap’). She did it! She sounded them out slowly and took her time and did it! She felt accomplished.

During our lessons, she is constantly optimizing whatever we are doing or adding a twist to the activity. For example, when asked to write a word she might draw the first letter of the word in a boxy style. Or, she will add a curly tail to an ‘a’. She prefers CAPS over lower-case letters and tries to sneak them in whenever she can. Sometimes she suggests new ways of doing an activity or complete substitutions.

She’s also very protective of her ideas and creations. Earlier this morning, Ella noticed a pile of watercolor paintings she had done a few days ago. She said, “You see these paintings right here? If you see any of these paintings don’t copy them (with the copy machine) and give them away. I want to keep them just for us.” So we discussed the concept of copyright.

I see invention in Ella’s future.

Seems the Sicilians own the copyright to the form of the sonnet (little song) - a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Shakespeare built a career on the sonnet. Ella has been reciting poems lately on the fly. She doesn’t repeat them, and they don’t necessarily rhyme but she says the words in a musical form. I keep meaning to write them down as she says them.

However artists have freely enjoyed the sonnet form without having to pay dues. Fashion industry giants, who are currently working hard to impose a new copyright law on fashion design, might need to be reminded of the fluidity with which the fashion artists invent WITHOUT the constraints of copyright. Either that or Dolce and Gabbana will have to retroactively pay all the Sicilian farmers, housewives, and fishermen for their inspiration.

Distractions/Tangents:

• http://creativecommons.org
• NPR news - Fashion Industry Copes with Designer Knockoffs
  
• Dolce and Gabbana website
• Johanna Blakley’s TED talk about fashion and Intellectual Property