The power of Lego is only revealed after the models have been broken up or tossed, half-finished, into the drawer. You sit down to make something and start digging around in the drawer or container, looking for a particular brick or axle, and the Legos go around in the drawer with a peculiarly loud crunching noise. Sometimes you can’t find the piece you’re looking for, but a gear or a clear orange cone or a little horned helmet catches your eye. Time after time, playing Legos with my kids, I would fall under the spell of that old, familiar crunching. It’s the sound of creativity itself, of the inventive mind at work, making something new out of what you have been given by your culture, what you know you will need to do the job, and what you happen to stumble on along the way.

# posted by Gerry Canavan @ 2:03 PM  |