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Celebrate Creativity

George Bartley

This podcast is a deep dive into the world of creativity - from Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman to understanding the use of basic AI principles in a fun and practical way, as well as some of the greatest historical figures whoever lived, as well as some who never did!

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S6 · E655
Thursday · 20 min
A Fascination with Language
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the second and final episode of Master Shakespeare and myself as we discuss parallelism, and a few other matters. We begin in the Hall of Imagination in a Chicago wax museum at night. Mr. Bartley: Master Shakespeare,There is still another meaning of parallelism that interests me. You and I are separated by more than four centuries. You wrote for the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. I interpret your plays for Deaf audiences in the modern world. Our lives could hardly be more different. Master Shakespeare: And yet here we stand, Master Bartley, engaged in conversation. Mr. Bartley: We share a fascination with language and performance. You took stories from history, legend, poetry, and earlier plays, then transformed them for your audience. An interpreter also begins with an existing work and transforms it into another language for another audience. Master Shakespeare: Are you suggesting, Mr. Bartley, that the playwright and the interpreter follow parallel paths? Mr. Bartley: In certain respects, yes. Neither begins with emptiness. Both begin with material that must be understood, selected, shaped, and finally performed. Master Shakespeare: Yet the interpreter must remain faithful to the play. Mr re. searched translation. Bartley: Faithful, yes—but faithfulness does not mean replacing one word with one sign. That would be like taking your poetry apart brick by brick and then claiming that the pile of bricks is still the house. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E654
Tuesday · 26 min
Words Become Music
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Hall of Imagination for an episode with William Shakespeare called words become music. And here is Master Shakespeare himself as as he explains one of the most commonly used rhetorical devices of them all. Mr. Bartley: Master Shakespeare, there is a word that continues to appear whenever people discuss your writing. That word is “parallelism.” Master Shakespeare: A formidable word, Mr. Bartley. Five syllables marching in formation. Any word of five syllables must surely be either profoundly important or invented merely to frighten schoolchildren. Mr. Bartley: In this case, I believe it may be both. Master Shakespeare: Then we must approach it carefully. What meaning do your scholars give the word? Mr. Bartley: At its simplest, parallelism means placing similar ideas into similar grammatical forms. A writer establishes a pattern, repeats that pattern, and creates a sense of balance. Master Shakespeare: Ah! Then I know the creature, though I may not always have called it by that name. Mr. Bartley: Most writers today use parallelism. You, however, seemed to invite it home, give it supper, and offer it a permanent room. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E653
August 22 · 18 min
WHERE PASSION RULES
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Hall of Imagination - this episode is called Opposites! Tonight’s rhetorical device is antithesis. You might say that the rhetorical device of ANTITHESIS is a perfect “Shakespeare in conversation” device because he loves thinking in opposites. And this episode is going to deal with antithesis or balancing contrasting ideas in parallel structure. Two examples are in Romeo and Juliet with (“O brawling love, O loving hate…”) and then riffing to Hamlet (“To be, or not to be”). By the way, To be, or not to be is also a great example of parallelism. But I digress GEORGE: Master Shakespeare—tell me I’m saying it right: an-TI-thuh-sis. SHAKESPEARE (smiling): Near enough that Heaven will not strike you down. GEORGE: All right, for the listener who doesn’t want a grammar lecture: antithesis is when you place two opposing ideas side by side—often in a balanced structure—so the contrast hits hard. Like: light and darkness, love and hate, life and death. Well let me see let's say give me a famous example one that listeners will recognize Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E652
August 20 · 17 min
Repeating at the Beginning
Send us Fan Mail This podcast is Celebrate Creativity and this series is Hall of Imagination. My name is George Bartley. GEORGE (Host): Now—quick note for listeners: today we’re talking a little bit more about a rhetorical device that Shakespeare would've learned in school. Don’t run away. “Rhetorical device” simply means a tool a writer uses to make language more memorable, more persuasive, more musical—sometimes all at once. Tonight’s tool is called anaphora. GEORGE: Master Shakespeare, are you with us? SHAKESPEARE (warm, amused): Indeed, sir. I am ever at your elbow—though I confess, your age is wondrous. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E651
August 17 · 20 min
Persuasion on the Stage
Send us Fan Mail And this person here must be shakespeare’s teacher.- Hic Latīnē tantum loquimur. Pardon me. I said that we only speak Latin here. But I don't know Latin. Could you speak in English? Well, yes, ordinarily all of the class is communicated using Latin. But I assume I can make one exception for you now since you do seem to be an English speaking person. Thank you very much. But first, I have something that I need to say– This series blends historical research with fiction and imagined conversations. Not a documentary, not advice. Today: the schooling that made Shakespeare’s language possible—and how those rhetorical “moves” show up in the plays like fingerprints. Now Picture it: a grammar school. from at least six o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock at night Monday through Saturday. Repetition that drills itself into the mind. Latin. Translation. Memorization. Imitation. Not because the world is kind, but because the world is competitive. A boy learns to hold language in his mouth like a tool—and to sharpen it. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E650
August 12 · 24 min
One, Two, Three!
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Hall of Imagination–and this is the first in a series of episodes about William Shakespeare. And here we have a wax figure of the BARD himself. And personally, let me say as an actor that I am really excited about the prospect of learning more about what makes William Shakespeare so great! Oh here you are! Mr. Shakespeare, I am really excited about this series of podcast episodes. Now we are not going to begin by interviewing Hamlet… or Juliet… or Lady Macbeth… or Romeo… No. Today, I’m starting with… a town. A town with muddy streets, and church bells, and gossip that travels faster than Wi-Fi ever dreamed of traveling. Because before Shakespeare becomes Shakespeare—the name you’ve heard a thousand times—he is a boy in Stratford-upon-Avon, absorbing the world like a sponge with ambitions. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E649
August 12 · 21 min
Love Me Tender
Send us Fan Mail Mr. Presley, I'd like to begin in Tupelo, move through Sun Records and the explosion of the 1950s, and then spend time with Vegas ., the pills, the isolation, and the wreckage. Mr. Bartley, it seems that you really knew about my life. Mr. Bartley, I was born January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, into poverty and instability. MY twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn. That loss was not an abstract line on a genealogy chart. It marked MY parents, especially MY mother Gladys, and by all accounts left me with a lingering sense of being “the one who lived” and needing somehow to prove worthy of that accident. Mr. Presley, could you describe your life in Tupelo? Mr. Bartley, you might say that our world was modest houses, odd jobs, and the sounds of the rural South. Church was central. Hymns were sung full-throttle, white Southern gospel quartets layering harmony, preachers who treated volume as proof of conviction. Just outside that world, Black congregations where the same God was praised with even greater rhythmic fire; blues guitar lines drifting out of doorways; early country music and sentimental pop on the radio. Mr. Presley, then were you a music prodigy? No, Mr. Bartley, I can't really say that I was. I was shy, deeply bonded to my mother, uneasy about money and status, and often embarrassed. But I listened. I soaked up voices and styles. You might say that the vulnerability that later made me easy to manage also made me unusually open as a young artist: a receiver before I was ever a transmitter. That is an interesting way, Mr. Presley, of putting it. Mr. Bartley, in 1948 the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, chasing work and stability. My family landed in public housing projects—tight spaces, thin walls, and a city thumping with music. What would you say was the effect, Mr. Presley, of Memphis upon you? AH, Mr. Bartley, Memphis put me closer to Beale Street: Black blues, rhythm & blues, club bands who could make small rooms lift off the floor. I could hear - and feel - that edge, the swing, the looseness. Memphis also gave me access to a mix of radio stations and record shops that didn’t respect tidy genre borders. I could take in country ballads, white gospel, Black gospel, blues, sentimental pop—sometimes within a single afternoon. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E648
August 11 · 24 min
Rock’s First Guitar Hero
Send us Fan Mail Permit me to tell a very short story about something that really happened. Years ago, I saw Chuck Berry live at the Paramount Theatre in Manhattan. I later learned that a few years after that, the Paramount Theater was completely shut down. Anyway, that night Chuck Berry was on a bill with The Animals and The Dixie Cups—a lineup that already told you how fast the musical world was changing. The British Invasion bands were arriving with their sharp suits and American R&B records tucked under their arms. In fact, the animals had the number one song in the country with the house of the rising Sun. And there were girl groups with immaculate harmonies. The Dixie Cups had the number two song in the country with chapel of love. Here was a crowd already fluent in the new language of pop. And then one of rock's pioneers - Chuck Berry - walked onstage. No elaborate light show, no army of amplifiers, no sentimental introduction. Just that stance, that sly half-smile, and a guitar tone as clean and cutting as a bell. You could feel the air in the room shift. Whether the audience could have put it into words or not, they were looking at the source material—the man whose songs and style had already soaked into the bones of the acts beside him on the poster. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E647
August 9 · 18 min
Allegations
Send us Fan Mail I'd like to begin the final part of this two part series regarding Michael Jackson by looking at late 1993. Yes, Mr. Bartley, in 1993, I proposed to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, over the phone. We were married in La Vega, Dominican Republic, in May of 1994 by civil judge Hugo Francisco Álvarez Pérez. I would imagine that the tabloid media would have a field day with that marriage! They certainly did! In fact the tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a publicity stunt intended to deflect attention from sexual abuse allegations and to boost Presley's career as a singer. Unfortunately, marriage ended little more than a year later, and we separated in December of 1995. What were Lisa Marie Presley’s reasons for the divorce? Mr. Bartley, she cited "irreconcilable differences" when filing for divorce the following month and sought only to reclaim her maiden name. Michael, did you ever see her again? Lisa Marie later said that we had attempted to reconcile intermittently for four years after our divorce, traveling internationally to be together, but to no success. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E646
August 5 · 20 min
Becoming the King of Pop
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the hall of imagination, and I can't believe what I'm seeing. This is the first time that I have ever seen a wax figure who is now deceased that I saw in real life. Yes, I am Michael Jackson, and you say that you have seen me before? Yes, I saw you with your brothers at a concert in Washington DC. AH, Mr. Bartley, I believe that I remember that concert very well. And Michael, if I may call you that–this is really strange–as of talking to wax figures and hearing them respond is not strange enough - but in your case I saw you during your earthly life. Well, Mr. Bartley, Let’s have some fun… or at least, let’s start there. Michael, could you tell us about your very beginnings–back to the Gary Indiana days.? Yes Mr. Bartley. If you were talking about my life, it definitely does begin in fun–think of me as a kid in a tiny house in Gary, Indiana, singing my little lungs out, dancing like someone my age, trying to be heard over brothers, siblings, and the general chaos that you might find in a big family. But it doesn’t end in fun. You might say, Michael, that you are a tragic warning about what happens when intense fame collide with a fragile human body and mind. Why don't you start by telling us about your early years? Certainly Mr. Bartley. I was born August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana—a working-class steel town in the Midwest. I was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family, packed into a small house where money was tight, tempers could be hot, and music was both escape and opportunity. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E645
August 4 · 3 min
Pineapple Promo
Send us Fan Mail Christ said to feed the hungry, not to give them food poisoning! This will all make sense in September. You see, In early September, I'll be sharing a special series called The 2000 Pound Pineapple. I am announcing it now because the events that comprise The 2000 Pound Pineapple are taking place right now, and should be over by September. I wanna be able to look at them in perspective. No, it's not about tropical fruit. It's about a very real experience that completely changed my daily routine and taught me lessons about patience, recovery, perspective, and finding humor – And there is a great deal of humor– in situations that certainly didn't seem funny at the time The series is based on real events, but it isn't simply a story about an injury. It's about what happens when life unexpectedly forces us to slow down. It is about discovering that creativity doesn't disappear during difficult times—it often becomes even more important. Again, There will be plenty of humor along the way, because sometimes the best way to understand a challenging experience is to laugh at the surprising moments that accompany it. There will also be honest reflections on frustration, perseverance, and the importance of allowing both our bodies and our minds the time they need to heal. If you've ever had your plans suddenly interrupted by life, I think you'll recognize a little of yourself in these episodes. So join me in early September for The 2000 Pound Pineapple—a true story about an unexpected adventure, told with humor, honesty, and the belief that even life's detours can become sources of creativity and GROWTH. Sometimes the most unexpected experiences become the ones that teach us the most. Until then, this is George Bartley thanking you for listening to the hall of imagination – a part of Celebrate Creativity - which I plan to continue as usual. I’ll see you next time. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E644
August 4 · 24 min
Being Alive!
Send us Fan Mail In the previous episode, we walked with Walt Whitman down the open roads of America, hearing the chorus of ordinary lives. Whitman’s poetry celebrated the sweep of America, the chorus of countless lives, and the boundless possibilities of freedom. Across the ocean and slightly later in time, Dostoevsky turned his gaze inward, exploring the shadowed recesses of the human heart. Whereas Whitman’s lines embraced the world, Dostoevsky’s narratives probe the tensions, doubts, and moral struggles that define our inner lives. In moving from Whitman to Dostoevsky, we travel from the expansive optimism of a young nation to the intense psychological and ethical landscapes of nineteenth-century Russia—a shift that reminds us just how varied, yet universally human, the work of great writers can be. And right now, I am standing in front of a wax figure of FYODOR Dostoevsky-or at least that's what the title on the nameplate here says. Yes, Mr. Barley, I am most definitely Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Some might call me one of the towering figures of 19th-century literature. I was Born in Moscow into a middle-class family, AND faced hardship early: my mother died when I was young, and my father was a rather strict and harsh figure. I originally trained as an engineer, but my passion for literature led me to the literary scene in St. Petersburg. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E643
August 3 · 27 min
I Contain Multitudes!
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Hall of Imagination. - in your previous episode I mentioned my suspicions that I would be having some more episodes dealing with Walt Whitman very soon. Well that time has come, and I'd love to talk a little bit more with the wax figure of Walt Whitman Walt, are you prepared to speak to me tonight?\ Certainly George, you know it can get rather boring up here on this pedestal and I welcome the chance to just simply communicate with someone who is appreciative. Well Walt, you can certainly put me in that category. I would like to ask you if you had just one thing to say or tell the listener who listening to this podcast what would it be? George, I would like to believe that my writing helped to capture and define the spirit of the growing United States during the challenging 1800s - and yes they were most definitely challenging times. I would like to think that I had a bold and unusual way of writing that created a new artistic style for America. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E642
August 1 · 23 min
Just Call Me Walt
Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the hall of imagination. Tonight I was looking up at the wax figure of the writer Walt Whitman– And I was not surprised in the least when he looked down at me and began speaking. George, I was most commonly known as "Walt" among friends, family, and in much of my correspondence, rather than as "Mr. Whitman." My parents shortened my given name from Walter to Walt when I was born, and used this familiar form throughout my life. As a poet, I believe I embraced a democratic and accessible persona, and the informal "Walt" aligns with that approach. However, in public and formal settings—especially as I gained fame—I was often referred to as "Mr. Whitman" or by various honorifics such as "the Bard of Democracy". In my later early years in Camden, New Jersey, I was generally called "Mr. Whitman" by the press and new acquaintances, but those who knew me well continued to use "Walt". Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E641
July 30 · 22 min
Milton
Send us Fan Mail Hello this is George Bartley, and I was walking through the wax museum when I ran across the figure of John Milton. Naturally I had to stop, and I watched him as he came to life and began speaking. Mr. Milton, this is indeed an honor! Do you mind if I speak with you tonight? Certainly not. I would definitely appreciate the company. And and what is your name? My name is George Bartley, and I was in English and drama major in college–SO THE English major part of me is quite humbled to speak with you. AH, Mr. Bartley, then I would be most obliged to satisfy you with an account of my life. I grew up with privilege, expectation, and a mind hungry for knowledge. My father, a scrivener, provided tutors, music lessons, and an education that he hoped would prepare me for greatness. You might say that from an early age, I believed that I was destined for fame, or even immortality. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E640
July 26 · 22 min
The Golden Key
Send us Fan Mail In the previous episode, I talked about an exhibit of the inklings– Token, Williams, and Barfield. But I would like to devote this entire episode to an individual who is arguably the most well-known of the inklings–CS Lewis. Mr. Lewis, how do you believe the inklings influenced you as a writer. Ah, Mr. Bartley, I began as a rationalist atheist, but the Inklings helped me blend logic, imagination, and faith. The result was stories that enchant across generations, such as The Chronicles of Narnia and essays that provoke thought I wanted to show that fantasy could carry deep moral and spiritual truths, and that literature could entertain while transforming the mind and heart. I would like to think that I did not just write books– I crafted worlds, ideas, and moral truths that continue to inspire readers to imagine, believe, and wonder.” Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E639
July 24 · 24 min
What Were the Inklings?
Send us Fan Mail What Were the Inklings? Today’s episode deals with four people instead of one individual. They are often classified as one group because they were a band of university friends who argued, challenged, and inspired each other—the Inklings.” You see, the Inklings were largely a group of Oxford professors, writers, and thinkers who met to read aloud, debate, and challenge one another. First, I'd like to concentrate on Mr. CS Lewis. Is what I have been saying a fair way to express it. Yes Mr. Bartley, when you and your audience think of me today, you probably often picture The Chronicles of Narnia, or my rational, graceful Christian apologetics. But to really understand me, you need to see me inside a unique circle of writers and thinkers: the Inklings—a group that met in Oxford in the 1930s and ’40s to read aloud, critique, and sometimes spar over each other’s works. That is why this episode is about the group called the inklings And Mr. Bartley, I do believe that my love of myth, the study of language, its history, and how it shapes thought—shaped the group’s imagination. JRR Tolkien didn’t just make up languages for fun; he spent hours analyzing old tongues to make Elvish and other Middle-earth languages feel authentic. He spent so long lecturing me on the difference between a fairytale and a proper myth that I joked that I might need a dictionary just to keep up! Then there was Charles Williams, a poet, novelist, and theologian with a mystical streak that pushed me to explore the spiritual depths of story. Williams could be so intense that the others sometimes left a meeting feeling like they’d just survived a philosophical thunderstorm—but I secretly loved the challenge. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E638
July 23 · 20 min
Guttenberg
Send us Fan Mail I sincerely hope that you are enjoying the episodes that make up the Hall of Imagination. A wax museum is a wonderful metaphor. During the day, the figures are silent exhibits. At night, they become people again. That gives me tremendous freedom to let them explain themselves, argue, laugh, and even admit uncertainty—all while hopefully making it clear to my audience that they're listening to a dramatization grounded in history. After I had finished talking with the inventor of paper in the previous episode, I came face-to-face with a wax figure of a man who is often called the inventor of printing–JOHANN GUTENBERG–not surprisingly, my first remark was you must be the inventor of printing–I have spoken with an individual who is often said to be the inventor of paper– But, from what I understand you are the inventor of the movable press. Guttenberg: That is only partially true. One must note that I developed the first method of using movable type and the printing press in such a way that a great deal of written material could be printed with speed and accuracy. Compare this to the scribe or monk– However well intentioned–could not transcribe written communication at the speed of a machine– And that machine was the printing press–a machine that used movable type. And although there was a form of movable type used in China and Korea, it never came into general use until relatively recent times. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E637
July 21 · 26 min
Freedom!
Send us Fan Mail Mr. Douglas, I think it would be very interesting for our listeners if you could relate the part of your life when you finally succeeded in making your escape from slavery. But before narrating any of the peculiar circumstances, I deem it proper to make known my intention not to state all the facts connected with the transaction. My reasons for pursuing this course may be understood from the following: First, were I to give a minute statement of all the facts, it is not only possible, but quite probable, that others would thereby be involved in the most embarrassing difficulties. Secondly, such a statement would most undoubtedly induce greater vigilance on the part of slaveholders than has existed heretofore among them; which would, of course, be the means of guarding a door whereby some dear brother bondman might escape his galling chains. I deeply regret the necessity that impels me to suppress any thing of importance connected with my experience in slavery. It would afford me great pleasure indeed, as well as materially add to the interest of my narrative, were I at liberty to gratify a curiosity, which I know exists in the minds of many, by an accurate statement of all the facts pertaining to my most fortunate escape. But I must deprive myself of this pleasure, and the curious of the gratification which such a statement would afford. I would allow myself to suffer under the greatest imputations which evil-minded men might suggest, rather than exculpate myself, and thereby run the hazard of closing the slightest avenue by which a brother slave might clear himself of the chains and fetters of slavery. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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S6 · E636
July 18 · 23 min
Baltimore
Send us Fan Mail Could you describe your voyage to Baltimore? Frederick Douglas: We sailed out of Miles River for Baltimore on a Saturday morning. I remember only the day of the week, for at that time I had no knowledge of the days of the month, nor the months of the year. On setting sail, I walked aft, and gave to Colonel Lloyd’s plantation what I hoped would be the last look. I then spent the remainder of the day in looking ahead, interesting myself in what was in the distance rather than in things near by or behind. Support the show Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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