TED talk brainstorm

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Just like people creativity comes in many different shapes, sizes, styles and colors; everyone’s different but everyone is creative in their own way. Whether it’s something as complicated as turning an old refrigerator box into a rocket ship or as simple as throwing paint on paper until you see something stick out. Creativity has no boundaries, it simply depends on the way your mind sees the world. It’s not something you buy from the store or copy out of a book, it’s your brains ability to create or do something in its own unique way.

Imagine a world with cats in hats and foxes in socks. Not everyone may know him by his real name but Theodore Geisel is one of the most well known authors in history. Better known as Doctor Seuss, he was a man of sheer brilliance. His books have sold over 222 million copies, almost one eighth of the total estimated sales of The Bible. The Publisher's Weekly list of the top selling children's books of all time included 16 Dr. Seuss titles in the top 100. That means of all the thousands of children’s books out there, 16 of the top 100 ever written were created by Dr. Seuss alone.

Theodore Geisel attended Dartmouth College where he began his writing career for the school’s humor magazine, Jack O Lantern. It wasn’t long before Geisel was promoted to the chief-in editor of the magazine. He was caught throwing a party and drinking in his room with his friends, unfortunately for him this was during prohibition so his punishment was severe. He was forced to resign from all extracurricular activities, including the humor magazine. In order to continue writing for the magazine without the administration knowing he began signing his work with a pen name “Seuss”, which was his mother’s maiden name. It wasn’t until after he graduated that he began using the name “Dr. Seuss” which he continued to use for the remainder of his career.

  Although he’s known as a children’s author, his books are known and loved by people of all ages.  But he was notorious for more than just his clever books and witty rhymes. Each one of his books is an opportunity to learn something. He taught kids it was possible to learn and have fun at the same time. After reading an article by a Life Magazine that was critical of the books schools used to teach reading, Dr. Seuss set about to write a book that would interest children using a less than 400 words. Working from a final list of 236 words, Dr. Seuss completed his book in nine months. Published in 1957; The Cat in the Hat became a bestseller and changed the children’s publishing world forever. 
Before Doctor Seuss and The Cat and The Hat came along, children were taught to read through gruesome textbooks filled with dull activities. He made kids enjoy picking up books through his use of imaginary characters, entertaining verses and fantastical illustrations. Dr. Seuss wasn’t a genius because of the billions of dollars he’s made or the millions of books he’s sold. His genius shines through his use of literature to educate children and ability to make them look forward to picking up their next book.