The Gralien Report - Art of the Anomalous: Does Interest in the Unexplained Promote Artistic Abilities?

Micah Hanks has an item on his excellent Gralien Report:The Gralien Report Art of the Anomalous: Does Interest in the Unexplained Promote Artistic Abilities?

I think it does. I've been a creative type since a kid, am now a writer and a painter. I've also had UFO and paranormal experiences since childhood. As has my spouse; also a writer and artist. As well as a musician. We both were reading at a very early age; I was reading by the time I was four. (We repeated first grade but that was due, not to academics -- we both were above our classmates in reading, etc. -- but birthdates and "social developmental" blee blahs.) Both reading above our level, and interested in subjects "normal" kids weren't interested in. Like Micah, interest in UFOs and the paranormal were considered by most as "not healthy."Writes Micah:

Indeed, when I was very young, I found that reading came very easily. Even as early as first and second grade, my teachers expressed to my parents that they were very interested in my ability to comprehend reading material that was several grade levels ahead of my peers. While my teachers found this interesting, I think my parents were thankful, since they had obviously worked very hard to facilitate a good understanding of language, mathematics, science, etc. However, even that far back, I can recall today that I was nonetheless preoccupied, at times, with something else my parents had also instilled in me, though perhaps unintentionally: a fervent interest in strange phenomena.

In fact, I had a few early experiences where teachers advised me (and my parents, to be honest) that this interest in things like UFOs was scientifically unfounded, and maybe even unhealthy. Looking back, I attribute these sorts of attitudes to my eventual pursuit of understanding these mysteries more fully, and thus providing the foundation for all the sort of madness that gets featured here at The Gralien Report on a frequent basis. In other words, when I was young, my early attempts at raging against society’s machine didn’t involve wearing trendy clothing, playing loud rock (okay, there was a good bit of loud rock) or stupid things like vandalism and the general behavior of a lot of today’s youth: instead, I decided to show everyone that there was, in fact, merit to studying UFOs, Bigfoot, and Loch Ness Monsters.