FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
rori.eddie.herbison
Welcome Back, Readers to
Delta Arts Alliance's second issue of its electronic newsletter,
FROM THE MIDDLE.
We had a first last night, FROM OUR PLACE IN THE MIDDLE of town.
The Delta Arts Alliance After-School Programs had its first field trip, or "ROAD TRIP," as my fearsome foursome excitedly called it.
Our aspiring writers, Zeeanita Thames, Mariane Powell, Emma Spinks and Neely Anderson rode east to Greenwood with their Storytellers Instructor, Courtney Warren to meet children's author of Glory Be and Cleveland native, Augusta Scattergood.
The girls admittedly, their words, "geek-ed out at meeting a famous author" and "felt nervous, at first."
But nerves settled and anxiousness dissipated, and then the questions started to flow.
Ms. Gusty was bombarded by our curious scribes' questions, beginning with, "How did you think of your characters?" down to the nitty-gritty, "How did you find your agent and how do you publish your book?"
And, Mr. Jamie at Turnrow Books could not have been more accommodating. He greeted all four girls at the door and made them "feel so welcomed. It was like they were waiting by the door all day waiting for us to come. It was so cool, Ms. Rori."
When I saw Courtney's headlights pull up at the Ellis, I would be less than truthful if I didn't say I sighed a bit of relief. Although I did have a Board Meeting that night that had just concluded thirty minutes earlier, Courtney was still onto me. "Are you waiting up?"
I was half-waiting up. I am a mom. I worry. And, I was half-waiting to hear the stories.
The girls
busted through my office door, almost trying to squeeze through altogether instantaneously.
Before I could open my mouth, in unison, I heard, "Thank you, Ms. Rori. Thank you, so much, Ms. Rori."
Now, if you know me and know how I am with these "kids" (all the participants in our after-school programming become our "kids," myself and the instructors, included) you would know how quick they are to get to my heart. That chorus of "Thank You" made me fight back some tears, because those girls don't need to be thanking me.
I need to be thanking them. I can look at all four and see parts of myself in them. I was the kid that got excited to go to the bookstore. I was the kid with glasses who played sports and wrote for fun - aghast, for FUN! I was the kid who carried the notebook and wrote and wrote and wrote.
They are breathing this world in deep and putting it back out in their writing. They are falling deeper and deeper in love with words and they are beginning to understand the power, the weight, the potential words have. They are our next generation of great writers.
Thank me...Thank you, Emma. Thank you, Mariane. Thank you, Zee. Thank you, Neely.
Thank you for being pumped to meet authors, nervous to meet writers, excited to be at a book signing.
Thank you for hearing us when we say you can write anything and be anywhere. Words will take you there.
Thank you for hearing me when I look at you and say, "I am proud of you."
I AM proud of you. I am proud of you and the way you represented your families and your Delta Arts Alliance family.
Yesterday may have been a first, but it was not a last.
So, now let me direct the another deserved Thank You to you - our members, our patrons, our supporters, our champions. You deserved that chorus of cheery Thank You's from four super excited, incredibly talented young ladies.
You made last night possible. You make all the nights here at Delta Arts Alliance possible.
So, Thank You. Thank You So Very Much!
MIGHTY THANKS to you all for your continued support of the Delta Arts Alliance.
-rori
Front: L. to R. Neely Anderson, Emma Spinks, Mariane Powell with Author Augusta Scattergood.
