Negus 1

Mark Negus

Ms. Bice

English 7H

8/27/2021

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem
solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how
you express your creative side.

I first noticed this hunger when I was about 9; practicing chess from 5:00-7:00 each morning

and spending hours upon hours on a 3D architecture modeling software, building elaborate

models of stadiums and mansions. Fast forward 3 years and I was taking Geometry, the start of

my love for math. I found satisfaction in the shapes and patterns that were somehow connected

through a seemingly invisible web of logic. Soon, I discovered computer programming. Taught

by a hodgepodge of resources, I found the same addictive matter that I had years prior with the

3D software. I spent hours cranking out code, and this new frontier quickly became another way

to scratch my problem-solving itch.

I had been playing at chess tournaments since I was 5. By elementary school I was in the top

100 in the nation for my age. However, it wasn’t until I had a sort of awakening in my

understanding of the game, that I saw it’s true complexity and beauty. I took a step back beyond

my narrow, childish view of simple strategies and chess became yet another way to translate my

ideas into reality.

However, most fundamentally, I had reading. Reading: the holy grail of mental satisfaction. As a

young student who struggled with converting my thoughts and emotions to paper, I felt like I was
 Negus 2

actually more perceptive to the beauty of good writing. I started to see not just the stories

themselves, but how they were told. The art of being able to express complex ideas and

indescribable emotions in a masterful way. The elegance and simplicity of Jane Austen, the raw

language of Cormac Mccarthy, the acute imagery of Charles Dickens.

These creative outlets are like a mental grindstone, gymnasium, and temple for my mind. A well

of creativity for ideas, and the means of making them reality. I won’t pretend I’m especially

talented in any of these areas, I don’t even have much originality to my ideas. What I do have is

an intellectual appetite. I don’t claim to be an artist or critic, but a glutton.