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• 1 2015-11-17T11:35:41-08:00 Jared Novak 10 plain 2015-11-17T12:37:06-08:00 In this phase of our Civic Imagination convening, we asked participants to conceptualize and nominate a potential civic holiday of their choice. Here is social worker Jared Novak's contribution in his own words:
  
  The idea behind my civic imagination “celebration” is inspired by Reddit Secret Santa. If you are not familiar with the idea the link below is a long drawn out explanation of the idea from its creator. It’s worth a watch and will give you a better sense of my “spinoff” idea.
  
  
  I found that the more creative Reddit Secret Santa gifts were the more inspiring ones. It was amazing to me the way that some people would spend so much time and effort into creating something for a total stranger.  The focus of this idea is to encourage people to be creative, inventive, and artistic. The idea is to put time and effort into making something for someone and to challenge yourself in the process. Hopefully during the process new ideas can be created and/or inspired into something that will lead to a better future for us all. This is still a work in progress and I am trying to think of practical ways to make this work. Below is a post card that has the instructions spelled out. The idea is that a few times a year i.e. December 17^th people can print out a card, create a gift, and then spread creativity anywhere in the world. Lastly the important part is then sharing/tracking what has been created in order to encourage ongoing “celebrating.” I imagine something like a tumblr or a # on twitter would work just fine.
  
  Postcard Front:
  
  Hello my name is (insert social media name, twitter name, nick name, email address, or whatever you are comfortable sharing w/ a random stranger), I have selected you to be my creative buddy (working title). I do not know you, nor have I ever seen you before, but I have spent a lot of time and effort creating something for you, with the hope that you will one day share something you have created with someone else. By no means do you have to accept this gift, however if you do I would like to encourage you to follow the instruction on the back of this post card, so that you may continue to share your creativity with some other lucky stranger.
  
  Thank you and enjoy.
  
  Postcard Back:
   
  1. Challenge yourself to create something i.e. a gift “worth” giving (no price limit, no artistic skills required).
  2. Gifts cannot be harmful or inappropriate in any way, their goal should be to inspire someone else to create and add something to make the world a better place.
  3. Do not wrap your gift.
  4. Give your gift to a total stranger (someone you have never seen before and know nothing about).
  5. Expect nothing in return except the hope that this person accepts your gift in order to then spend some time and effort to create something else to be shared.
  6. If both people are comfortable take a picture and post it (a specified social media website for tracking TBD) if possible tag/link the person who gave you their gift, the new creative buddy, and yourself so you can all see the beautify that each of you have inspired.
  7. Be on your merry way, knowing that you may never see this person again but that you have created something beautiful and hopefully inspired someone else to pass this on too.