Arts-4-AUSD event

"Mommy!" boing "MommY!" boing "Mommy, LOOK!" boing "Look (boing) what (boing) I MADE!" boing

The pogo-legged filly dances for mom's attention. Mom looks on, content to witness without comment. Boing, boing, the girl keeps calling. I'm shepherding the chalk drawing space at an event to raise awareness for arts in the school curriculum. Our school district has taken several big hits, from all quarters (including losing some children when 400 families got evicted from our low-income housing so an investment group from Florida can paste new facades on buildings that have real, not merely cosmetic, problems). So we're trying to show how important the Arts are in forming people, families, and community.

"Mommy!" boing "Mommy!" boing

I walk over. "What have you drawn?"

"I drew some friends. See? And they're all different colors because that's more interesting."

I ask, "Why is that more interesting?"

"Because then they aren't all the same, but they're still friends. And see, I drew the happy sun and the mad sun, because you need both."

Later when a few Art Cars put in an appearance, I notice that Howrad Vives' car is a jumble of the light and the dark. Pogo-leg girl is clearly wise beyond her years.

I put out a lot of energy at the event. It was only about 5 hours of sustained interaction, plus running up and down stairs and climbing the ladder several times, but it still wore me out. My carrying capacity for this sort of thing needs some more exercise. Which is my way of explaining the earlier lament about how I couldn't stomach combining calories from two of my favorite comestibles.