Dawn and Ruth are celebrating Easter and swapping stories about Holy Week weather, canceled egg hunts, and Dawn's experience dyeing eggs at a New York community garden that sounds like the perfect "third space,” complete with potlucks, music, and the kind of welcoming energy that makes you want to stay all day.

They're also reintroducing their new Patreon "Created Creative Conversations," themed around "seeds,” because that's how creative ideas actually work. They need nurturing, community, and the right conditions to grow. Join them for $10/month through the show notes.

But the real magic happens when they share clips from past guests about how creativity actually emerges:

Rob Bell describes novel-writing as this beautiful mix of loose direction and surprise—completely different from teaching, where you know where you're headed.

Blessing talks about her "Sparkle Joy in New York City" microgrants, funded by leftover "Christmas Joy" money to spark neighborhood projects. Because sometimes the best ideas come from reimagining what you already have.

Tyra explains how songs emerge while she's practicing—they require quiet focus and the willingness to let something unexpected unfold.

Cathy Pino shares the story of writing "You are the Light of the World" at a stoplight and how community made it something that gets sung widely. Because creativity isn't just about the spark—it's about the people who help it grow.

This episode is for anyone who's ever wondered how ideas actually turn into something real, or who needs reminding that creativity thrives in community, not isolation.

LINKS: Join our Patreon here: patreon.com/u11072417

00:09 Holy Week Weather

01:10 Community Garden Eggs

02:23 Egg Hunt Traditions

03:11 Joining the Garden

05:04 Seeds Theme Patreon

06:46 Rob Bell Writing Flow

10:37 Blessing Microgrants Joy

12:04 Bubbles And Community Pins

12:40 Scaling Micro Grants Citywide

13:13 Funding From Christmas Joy

13:53 Small Money Big Impact

14:48 Songwriting With Tyra

15:33 Tyra Creative Process Deep Dive

21:44 Kathy Pinot Light Of World

25:18 Themes Beginnings And Patreon

Dawn and Ruth dive into spring cleaning, hospitality, and the surprisingly spiritual act of preparing for Holy Week. But this isn't just about vacuuming. They're exploring a beautiful Moravian tradition of cleaning gravestones before Easter, bringing flowers, telling stories about loved ones, and sometimes even worshiping right there in the graveyard.

They share the details of Ruth’s dining room refresh project, Dawn’s aversion to both cleaning and clutter, and coordinating the beautiful chaos of church logistics for Holy Week. This episode is for anyone who's ever felt like spiritual preparation should be more meaningful than just showing up, or who needs permission to find the sacred in the everyday work of making space—literally and figuratively—for what matters most.

LINKS: Join our patreon and let us help you bring your project from idea to implementation: patreon.com/u11072417

00:23 Cleaning and Clutter

01:13 Dining Room Makeover

01:53 Yellow Kitchen Memories

03:01 Moravian Easter Prep

04:55 Decluttering and Toys

07:34 Holy Week Logistics

08:57 Stained Glass Art Project

11:20 Movies and Musicals

12:57 Easter Plans

14:43 Holy Week Encouragement

15:54 Closing and Farewell

If you enjoy Created Creative Podcast, we warmly invite you to become a patron: patreon.com/u11072417 For just $10 a month you can become part of our monthly Created Creative Conversations. Find out more below!

Dawn and Ruth welcome Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Goshen College professor in northern Indiana and Mennonite Church USA member, whose journey from peace education and anti-racism training led her through activism, pastoring, seminary, and into higher education.

Regina's book Resistance, Resilience, and Radical Love: Reflections on Blackness and Teaching Peace tackles something crucial: You can't teach peace without studying violence. And to do that effectively, you have to be "hearable" creating space where students can actually listen and engage without shutting down from trauma.

She's using historical cases like the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 to teach about systemic violence, addressing secondary trauma in the classroom, and navigating the current political pressures around DEI work. Regina defines what it means to "work together for justice" across different professions and commits to creating an accountability plan for her next book on the seasons of activism life.

This conversation is for educators, activists, and anyone wondering how to sustain justice work without burning out, how to teach difficult truths without retraumatizing people, and what it actually takes to be "hearable" in a world that's often too loud or too defensive to listen.

LINKS: We love making this podcast for you and we'd love your support for! patreon.com/u11072417 Join at the $10 level and become part of Created Creative Conversations where you can get support from Dawn and Ruth and other creatives for your own new project! Want to write a book? Dreaming of starting a business? In April our theme is "Seeds of Possibility" and we'll help you get moving!

Find out more about our guest, Regina Shands Stoltzfus: https://www.goshen.edu/academics/faculty/regina-shands-stoltzfus/

00:17 New Tech Week

00:30 Tech Rage Stories

02:28 Get Human Help

02:44 Church Water Timer

03:32 Small Town Singalong

07:30 Meet Regina

08:11 From Activism to Academia

11:16 Teaching in a Red State

13:05 New Book Launch

14:06 Teaching Peace Studies Violence

16:35 Holding Trauma in Class

17:35 Writing Through Sabbatical

20:08 Course Design for Care

21:32 Hearable as Black Professor

23:22 Student Pushback and Growth

25:12 Systemic Violence Rhymes

26:00 Citations Over Opinions

26:15 Fake Historian Cred

26:47 First Solo Book

27:39 Writing Through 2024

29:30 Teaching Under Scrutiny

31:09 Choosing the Right Rooms

32:17 Work Together Justice

34:30 Conflict Skills Everywhere

36:53 Next Book Seasons

38:14 Accountability Mapping Plan

40:40 Memorial Day Deadline