[1] A graduate of Cornell, in the class of '05, after placing away his diploma where it could not trouble him through suggestiveness, accepted a position with a large manufacturing concern in western Pennsylvania. He was twenty-three years old. He went into the shop to get the practical side of certain theories imposed upon his [2]deviant nature through four long years of study in a mechanical-engineering course. The concern manufactured among other things steam-turbines, and this young man, having demonstrated in school his particular aptitude for thermodynamics—the study of heat and its units in its application to engines, and the like—entered the erecting department. Donning overalls, and with ordinary rule in his hip pocket—as against the slide-rule with which he had worked out his theoretical calculations during his college years[3]—his work was assigned to him as a task by his superiors—shop foremen, assistant superintendent, occasionally an engineer from the office.

This young man did many things. He helped to assemble turbine parts; carried word of petty alterations to the proper official; assisted in the work of making tests[4] , made detailed reports on the machine's performance, screwed up and backed off nuts; in short, got very well acquainted with the steam-turbine as manufactured by this company. [5]He had authored books on such a turbine, and an understanding of the details of this particular type of turbine therefore came easy to him. He worked shop hours, carried his lunch in a box, changed his overalls every Monday like a veteran. Usually his overalls more than needed changing because he was not afraid of the grease and grime with which he came into contact throughout the day. He liked the work and went to it like a dog to a bone. He was applying in a practical way what he had learned in college of a theoretical nature and [6]finding the thing of amazing interest.

He made progress. In time his work was brought to the attention of the chief engineer, and one day, when the president of the company[7] who was also an inventor of national repute and responsible for the design of the turbine being manufactured by the organization wanted to make certain [8]bold changes in the design, the chief engineer sent for the young engineer whose work in college in thermodynamics had won for him certain honors, with the result that our hero found himself presently seated opposite the president at a table in the latter's office, engaged in working out calculations on his slide-rule—calculations beyond the powers of the president, because[9] he was not experienced in the field of turbine engineering. This call was a big advance indeed, for it marked him as a man of promise—a "comer"—in the concern. The president liked the ease with which the young engineer "got" him in the matter of the proposed changes, and quite before either realized it both were talking freely, exchanging ideas, in the field of turbine construction generally. The young man unconsciously was driving home the fact that he was a capable engineer, one who, while still lacking in broad experience, was nevertheless possessed of the proper attitude toward engineering as a whole to compel the interest and attention of his superior.

[10] He eventually was sent out upon the road as an erecting man. In this work he discovered certain operating faults in the design, and, reporting these faults to the home office, observed that not a few were remedied in subsequent designs. He moved about the country from place to place, setting up and operating steam-turbines, until there came the blissful day when he was called back to join the engineering staff in work covering design. Laying aside his overalls, he emerged as a crisp young engineer in a linen collar and nifty cravat—although not till later did he don a cream-colored waistcoat—and thereafter his hours were seven instead of nine. With a desk and a stenographer, he entered upon work of a somewhat statistical character. He followed the designs of rival companies as best he could through their advertising and articles covering their respective designs appearing in the technical journals, and about this time also applied for admission, and was granted it, in the foremost engineering society embracing his particular branch of the profession. [11]Turbine engineering is one of the most demanding fields.

A new study led by UCLA Health scientists shows highly creative people’s brains appear to work differently [12]from other’s, with an atypical approach that makes distant connections more quickly by [13]averting the “hubs” seen in non-creative brains.

Exceptionally creative visual artists and scientists – called “Big C” creative types – volunteered to undergo functional MRI brain imaging, giving researchers in [14] psychiatry, behavioral sciences and psychology a look at how regions of the brain connected and interacted when called upon to perform tasks that put creative thinking to the test.

[15] “The pathways utilized by the average man are more superior than those of creative minds,” said Ariana Anderson, a professor and statistician at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, the lead author of a new article in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. While non-creatives tended to follow the same routes across the brain, the highly creative people made their own roads.

Although the concept of creativity [16] has been studied for decades, little is known about its biological bases, and even less is understood about the brain mechanisms of exceptionally creative people, said senior author Robert Bilder, director of the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity at the Semel Institute. This uniquely designed study included highly creative people representing two different domains of creativity – visual arts and the sciences – and used an IQ-matched comparison group to identify markers of creativity, not just intelligence. The researchers analyzed how connections were made between brain regions globally and locally.

“[17] Phenomenal creativity was associated with more random connectivity at the global scale – a pattern that is less ‘efficient’ but would appear helpful in linking distant brain nodes to each other,” Bilder said. “The patterns in more local brain regions varied, depending on whether people were performing tasks. Surprisingly, Big C creatives had more efficient local processing at rest, but less efficient local connectivity when performing a task demanding ‘thinking outside the box.’”

[18]Using airline route maps for comparison, the researchers said the Big C creatives’ brain activity is akin to skipping flights to connecting hubs to get to a small city.

“In terms of brain connectivity, while everyone else is stuck in a three-hour layover at a major airport, the highly creatives take private planes directly to a distant destination,” Anderson said. “This more random connectivity may be less efficient much of the time, but the architecture enables brain activity to ‘take a road less traveled’ and make novel connections.”

Bilder, who has more than 30 years’ experience researching brain-behavior relations, [19]said “The fact that Big C people had more efficient local brain connectivity, but only under certain conditions, may relate to their expertise. Consistent with some of our prior findings, they may not need to work as hard as other smart people to perform certain creative tasks.”

The artists and scientists in the study were nominated by panels of experts before being validated as exceptional based on objective metrics. The “smart” comparison group was recruited from participants in a previous UCLA study who had agreed to be contacted for possible participation in future studies, and from advertisements in the community for individuals with graduate degrees. [20] The researchers made efforts to ensure that age, sex, race and ethnicity were comparable to those of participants in the Big C groups.

[21] For instance Bilder and Anderson, authors include Kevin Japardi, a data intelligence analyst at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Kendra Knudsen, a researcher in psychology at UCLA; Susan Bookheimer, a researcher in psychiatry, behavioral sciences and psychology at UCLA[22] ;and, Dara Ghahremani, a researcher in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UCLA.

Considering her options after graduation, college student Shauntia Dyson (23) thought about what she might do and decided that she wanted to use her skills to help people struggling with the challenges of poverty. A search for such opportunities led her to the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program. Each VISTA member works full time for one year at a private nonprofit or public agency in a low-income community.

In 2016, Dyson began her VISTA service at the Forsyth Farmers' Market in Savannah, (24) Georgia, where, in exchange for a modest salary and benefits, she supports the organization in its mission of offering locally produced food options to people in the Savannah area. Dyson and (25) their fellow VISTA members, or VISTAs, have made an excellent decision, one that will benefit them now and in the future.

VISTAs' salaries may be low, but the VISTA experience is very rewarding in other ways. The program's dedication to assisting people in need makes the work especially (26) reassuring to those who, like Dyson, find joy in serving and helping others. (27) However, VISTAs' responsibilities tend to be at a higher level than those found in private-sector jobs. VISTAs are typically not hired to offer direct services such as delivering (28) food, rather they use their talents on big­ picture initiatives such as building the capacity and improving the financial health of the organizations that employ them. Dyson enthusiastically (29) explains that: her role at the farmers' market involves, "enhancing the organization's reach and visibility" as well as "increasing and diversifying financial and in-kind resources."

The program also assists VISTAs in (30) preparing for their future careers. A 2015 study asked VISTA alumni to rate the program's success in helping them build various career-specific skills. Five of these skills­ communicating in writing, conducting oneself professionally, working independently, meeting deadlines, and prioritizing tasks-were grouped under the heading "Managing Self and Work." The data are persuasive: (31) 30% of alumni rated VISTA service as having im2roved their management of self and work "somewhat," while a mere 4% said the program improved their skills in this area "very little or not at all."

Additionally, (32) most VISTA alumni surveyed, about three-fourths, agreed or strongly agreed with the claim that VISTA was a worthwhile experience in furthering their professional goals.

By joining VISTA, Shauntia Dyson is following in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of people, over the program's fifty-year history, who (33) are helping improve both their communities and their career prospects. More US students should consider devoting a year as a volunteer in service to America. 

In 2011 residents of the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, turned a vacant local lot into a garden. They maintained the garden for years, beautifying the landscape and reaping fruits and vegetables-until a real estate company purchased the land and ultimately (34) succeeded in evicting the gardeners. After the (35) resident's forced departure, the land returned (36) back to being disused, subject to the slow process of commercial development. 

(37) A plague on many cities are vacant lots. These vacant lots often languish as dumping grounds for litter and waste. As the story of the Crown Heights community garden shows, commercial development may not always garden shows, commercial development may not always be the ideal solution to the problem, since regulations and long application processes can prevent companies from taking action on the plots. Community gardens merit support over uncertain commercial enterprise not only because they can offer a speedier means of revitalizing vacant lots (38) and because they can also bring unique benefits to residents and neighborhoods. 

Free from certain restrictions imposed on developers, individuals can work together and in tandem with local institutions and government to (39) rid vacant lots of soil contaminants that would impede the development of community gardens. A garden in Fairmont, West Virginia, developed in 2013 on a disused piece of land, serves as a prime example. Local business (40) owner, Christa Blais worked with the city to acquire the property, while students at Fairmont State University built a rainwater-collection system and helped design sections of the garden. (41) Although certain gardeners are motivated primarily by a desire for tastier food, the city of Fairmont facilitated the building of a bridge and paved the roads around the garden for easier access. The garden had already begun to flourish by the fall of 2014 when funding for the bridge and other projects (42) were obtained through a national grant awarded in recognition of the garden’s positive impact on the community. 

A community garden can be impactful in ways other than as a means of rapidly beautifying an unsightly lot. The Fairmont garden, for example, provides access to fresh produce, which residents can grow on their own rented plots or cultivate on a shared community plot. (In some neighborhoods, community gardens are crucial in this (43) respect.) The garden also offers students the opportunity to learn about food production, while community members can enjoy the natural beauty of a garden even if they do not have enough yard space to grow their own. Not every vacant lot should be turned into a (44) garden, but organizations such as the National Gardening Association will continue providing resources aimed at ensuring gardens everywhere bear fruit.