Monthly Archives: March 2022

If you’re feeling mad, frustrated or nervous, press 1. If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press 2. If you need a pep talk from kindergartners, press 3. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press 4. For encouragement in Spanish, press 5.

Pressing 3 leads to a chorus of kids sounding off a series of uplifting mantras:

“Be grateful for yourself,” offers one student.

“If you’re feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs,” another chimes in.

“Bro, you’re looking great.”

Peptoc, as the free hotline is called, is a project from the students of West Side Elementary, a small school in the town of Healdsburg, Calif.

It was put together with the help of teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss. Martin, who teaches the arts program at the school, says she was inspired by her students’ positive attitudes, despite all they’ve been through — the pandemic, wildfires in the region and just the everyday challenges of being a kid.

“I thought, you know, with this world being as it is, we all really needed to hear from them — their extraordinary advice and their continual joy,” she said.

Martin said she spoke with her class about the idea of art as a kind of social practice, a conversation to contribute to the world — and something we can all learn from.

“Their creativity and resourcefulness is something that we need to emulate, because that level of joy and love and imagination is what’s going to save us in the end,” she said.

Martin says she hopes the hotline will give callers a little respite from whatever it is they’re going through, which — judging from the thousands of calls the hotline gets each day — is quite a lot.

Two days after launching the hotline on Feb. 26, she said they were up to 700 callers per hour.

“That this went viral is really testament that we all still have a lot of healing to do,” she said. “And you know, with the current situation in Ukraine and all of the other terrors and sadness that we all carry, it’s really important that we continue to hold this light.”

She said it’s also a testament to fostering the arts in schools, noting that West Side doesn’t have much of an arts program after a massive budget cut this year.

So the next time you need a little boost, dial Peptoc at 707-998-8410.

To help support the program’s hotline fees, you can click here to donate. Martin said that any surplus funds will go toward the school’s enrichment programs.

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“a joy that is shared is a joy made double.”

-john roy

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credits:

Jessica Martin, Asherah Weiss, West Side Elementary School

NPR, Hiba Ahmad and Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Emma Bowman

Mar9

the end in mind.

Posted on March 9, 2022 by beth

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on the first of three days

of parent-teacher conferences

at the end of just our second family meeting

one of us

(names are unimportant)

closed the conference

with a friendly goodbye –

“have a great weekend!”

only to

glance up

noticing

it was actually

tuesday at 10:02am.

almost there….

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“begin with the end in mind.”

-stephen covey

Mar8

ukraine strong.

Posted on March 8, 2022 by beth

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“you never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”

-bob marley

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image credit: rogue nasa

Mar7

walking sleeping bags.

Posted on March 7, 2022 by beth

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aren’t these just adult snowsuits?

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“let’s spend the weekend pulling out winter clothes we put into storage last weekend.”

-author unknown, could be anyone from michigan

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link for walking sleeping bags: https://amzn.to/3s1FXCA

Mar6

sleds.

Posted on March 6, 2022 by beth

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Community partners bring 1st “Free Sled Library” to Battle Creek.

Jeremy Andrews was enjoying a January vacation with his wife, Erin. The couple, co-owners of Penetrator Events, had just finished rafting along the Sturgeon River when they stumbled upon a unique feature at a local park: a shed with numerous sleds pouring out of it, the words “Sled Library” plastered on the side.

Now, with the help of some community partners, Andrews has brought the concept to the Cereal City, (Battle Creek is the home of Kellog’s Cereal), unveiling the first Free Sled Library, where patrons “borrow a sled, leave a sled,” at Leila Arboretum.

Kids took full advantage of the newly installed sled library Feb. 12 as hundreds poured into the 72-acre park for the annual “Festivus” cardboard sled race.

Steep hills combined with formidable ice claimed at least four of the plastic sleds available for kids that afternoon, but Andrews isn’t deterred. “As long as people donate, I’ll just keep buying sleds,” he said. “The idea is really cool and we’re happy with it.” Andrews has garnered more than $600 in donations since floating the idea out to friends on social media Feb. 2. A second sled library is planned and will debut next winter given the recent warmer temperatures.

Heidi LaGrow, a graphic communications technology instructor at Calhoun Area Career Center, was one of the first people to offer Andrews a helping hand with the project after reading his post on Facebook.

“I thought it was absolutely awesome and a great community event,” LaGrow said. “I reached out to and asked if he had any signage that needed to be done or anything that possibly could be donated by the career center.”

A few of LaGrow’s students offered designs, with Andrews ultimately choosing signage developed by Loretha McDonald, a senior at Battle Creek Central High School.

Kyle Burnett, owner of RB Christian Ironworks, also joined in the effort, designing a “corral” where sleds could be stored. The project served as a great learning experience for some of Burnett’s employees new to fabrication, he said, with the team building the structure in time for its debut at “Festivus” on Feb. 12.

“It’s for a good cause, it helps kids get out there and have fun and it sounded like a great opportunity,” Burnett said. “I really like getting involved in these kind of projects around the community. I’m using this venture as a business owner to just be different, help people and maybe encourage other companies to help the community even more. We can have a lot of influence in the community if we just help.”

LaGrow also connected Andrews with Calhoun Area Career Center’s construction students, who built a second corral for sleds.

“What I like about this is although it appears it was a really easily put together thing, I made a Facebook post, I got people to start donating some dollars and I got a couple partners to give and donate some time and resources, but that’s really the accumulation of about 15 years of relationship building,” Andrews said.

Andrews hopes to add more free sled libraries in the future as donations and support allow. At the very least, there will be two fully-stocked next season, and while some have expressed concerns over sleds being stolen, Andrews’ response remains the same.

“Oh, you mean a kid without a sled has a sled now? Cool, I think we’re set,” he quipped. “I want people to learn how to share, of course. But you know what? If a kid needs a sled and they took one home and now they’ve got a sled, cool. That kid didn’t have a sled and now they have a sled.”

Andrews is accepting donations for the free sled library via Venmo @penetratorevents. For more information, visit penetratorevents.com

“summer is the season of inferior sledding”

-inuit proverb

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source credit: Greyson Steele, Battle Creek Enquirer