We Rise by Lifting Others

So now there is a reported shortage of Dr. Pepper, can this year get any worse?  I almost hate saying that because we know 2020 is the year of, “You think that was bad, watch this.”

Last week I was positive, but I am aware that I have spent much of the COVID pandemic calling people out and being pretty grouchy.  These have been trying months, and I am not sure when that feeling will go away, especially if Dr. Pepper disappears.  When I graduated from college with my art education degree, I remember 2 words of advice the head of the department gave me.  1. Never stop doing your artwork and 2. Don’t eat in the teacher’s lounge. Not sure I have been great at both those things, but I do realize the lounge comment is a reflection on negativity breeds negativity.  As much as I feel that calling people out is a means to make people be nicer, I realize it can also be seen as a different kind of negativity.  Focusing on the bad is not being kind.  So, with that being said, here is an uplifting bookworm, you deserve it!

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a Morgan County Health Center employee, Stefanie Pryor.  Stefanie had come across a program developed by Alexandra and Scott Eidens, Big Life Journal; “you want your kids to be confident and resilient with high self-esteem and ambition to achieve great things in life. You want them to have a positive outlook on life and try new things… we created the Big Life Journal for our son Mikey so that he can grow up to be a positive, resilient, confident human being who strives to achieve great things in life”. They share their journals through their website, biglifejournal.com. 

Stefanie, along with Dina (Versailles Area Chamber of Commerce), recognize that, although we aren’t literally eating in the teacher’s lounge, we are all feeling the negativity of this year.  They contacted me with the hope of collaborating to uplift our children and our community; of course I was on board. 

We have reached out to area businesses to share in this campaign; We Rise by Lifting Others.  There are 3 parts to the campaign; individual coloring sheets, window displays and sidewalk chalk art. 

  • Coloring sheets can be picked up at the library, health center and chamber.  These are for you to color and hang on your own windows. 
  • Window displays can be picked up at Versailles Total Fitness, Katy Trail Community Health, Preferred Family Health, Morgan County SB40, Burrell Behavioral Health, and the library, health center and chamber.  The window display sheets are for you to take home, color and return to the business to display in their windows.
  • Sidewalk chalk art can be picked up at Versailles Total Fitness, Katy Trail Community Health, Preferred Family Health, Morgan County SB40, V Town Smoothies, Burrell Behavioral Health and yes, you guessed it, the library, health center and chamber. 

This list does not have to end with the above businesses, we would love to see this grow to all parts of our community.  If you are interested in being part of this campaign, please email me at mocolibrary@hotmail.com. 

Tara (Versailles Total Fitness), told me about a time when she was running and came across sidewalk chalk with positive messages and how cool she thought that was; honestly, I can just see her reading it, smiling great big and spending the rest of her run spreading joy to all she met.  That is the idea!  We rise by lifting others.  Positivity breeds positivity. 

I want to leave with this disclaimer; not all teacher’s lounges are bad, I loved my gang at California, we have some great stories to tell and they lifted me up, each day, so that I could face any yucky that came my way.  Naughty kids were my only worries then, 1994 was much easier that 2020.     

Upcoming Events: 8/19 Story Time at 10am, 8/20 OUR Story Time at 4pm and 8/24 Adult Craft at 6:30pm – all events will be shared on Facebook,