December 2013
The
Bare Hand Collective
H
C B e h T
From the Publisher. The
Bare Hand
H
Collective
create • share • evolve
B C The
with goodwill to all mankind, Tim Robson
Publisher.
Tim Robson
Editor.
Amy Robson
Logos.
May you and yours be blest in this season of festivities and holiday spirit. May you know love and hope intimately. May you have courage and strength if this time of year is challenging for you... and as always Create, Share, and Evolve!
Ben Blauvelt
Contributors. Aaron Rozeboom Autumn Whitaker Eryn Schlote Cassandra Bergh Joe Kern Shawn Smith Jeanne Duffey
Website
Email The BHC - 4176161477
www.barehandcollective.com barehandcollective@gmail.com www.facebook.com/TheBareHandCollective
Sponsorship! Here at The BHC we want to draw young creative professionals to Springfield and Southwest, MO. We strive to do this by drawing attention to the amazing creativity, culture and craft that is the atmoshpere and environment of our cities in The Ozarks.
Get Involved!
If you are a photographer, writer, illustrator, graphic novelist, poet, storyteller, editor, graphic designer, public relations - anything having to do with putting together The BHC and you want to contribute - get in touch through: facebook/TheBareHandCollective or barehandcollective@gmail.com
We are asking you to help by investing in a Sponsorship Space or a Story Ad on your business (1/3 page or full page).
If you know someone that we should do a story on, get us connected through Facebook, email, or phone at 417-616-1477.
Contact us for our Media Kit pricing and to set up an appointment with our sponsorship team. Let’s get our name out there together!
Participate in our live Bare Hand Collective events each month as a creative vendor, performer, short film producer or musician/band. Get in touch through the details above!
14 2013 - 20
FREE for all SRAC members $10 for non-members Artist Membership only $25
Area experts will lecture on trends, best practices, and resources to help the community’s artists and arts organizations to continue to thrive. All events will be held at The Creamery Arts Center (with the exception of the Self-Employment in the Arts Conference). For more information, visit springfieldarts.org or call 417.862.2787.
Legislative Briefing Kyna Iman Wed. Nov. 20 • 4:30pm
Grant Writing for MAC Leslie Forrester & Jill Williams Wed. Nov. 20 • 5:30pm
For the Love of Cities: The Role of the Arts in Building Communities Greg Burris Wed. Dec. 18 • 5:30pm Common Core for Non-Tested Subjects Rebecca Moppin Mon. Jan. 13 • 4:00 - 9:00pm Social Media for the Arts Ron Spigelman Wed. Feb. 19 • 5:30pm Cause Momentum: Crowdfunding Matt Lemmon Wed. Mar. 12 • 5:30pm Self Employment in the Arts Conference at Drury University* Drury University Trustee Science Center Sat. Apr. 5 • All Day Effective Auditions: An Interactive Workshop Rachel Jamieson Wed. Apr. 16 • 5:30pm *Conference at Drury University Trustee Science Center with a separate fee of $30, free for Drury students.
Brought to you by:
With additional support from:
The Art Of Drinking Well For some reason, our culture seems to be addicted to mediocrity. I say this not as one who gaze down on so many commoners from my lofty perch of cultural superiority. No indeed! As I like to say, “It takes one to know one, and I are one.” It hit me hard once again in the middle of a home improvement project a few days back. I headed to the nearest big box store for a package of screws. Given the grossly disproportionate ratio of real estate to personnel, I was left to make my decision based on which product had the most convincing package. I returned home to start my project only to strip out the heads of screw after screw in soft pine. How is it, considering that screws have been around since the first century and mass produced since the late 1700s, that I have just purchased a package of fasteners the heads of which cannot even handle the strength of their own shank? And these were supposed to be the good ones!
Aaron Rozeboom is a Certified
Specialist of Wine working at the Brown Derby Wine Center where he specializes in Old World wines and food pairing.
Regrettably the list does not stop with screws. I am too young to remember these mythical days, but I am told you used be able go into a store and someone with a little skin in the game would show you what you needed. Quality was the default. It was how to distinguish your business. Junk was available to be sure, but you had to look for it. Now it’s the other way around—you can find quality, but it will nearly always be hidden away in some out of the way specialty shop or obscure brand that you have to spend hours researching even to find out about!
aaronr@brownderby.com
This is demonstrably not the fault of the retailer. We still live in a free market, and they sell us what we continue to buy. For some reason in our materialistic society, we would rather have two pieces of junk than one piece of quality. We flock to buy houses that are new but may last a generation at best. We keep cars until the payment on a new one is less than the scheduled maintenance on the “old” one. We buy clothes that last no longer than the trend they reflect. Heck, we even spend hundreds of dollars a year on “fancy” razor cartridges and creams that cost more than the plastic handle they’re attached to, when we could have picked up a metal safety razor, a few 25 cent double-edged blades a brush, and a bar of soap. The result is the same—no whiskers. The difference is that no one wants to save up and buy a tool they can pass down a generation or two. All of this would seemingly drive someone to drinking! You knew I’d get there eventually. The question now is how to avoid the same pitfalls of mediocrity when it comes to selecting your beverage of choice. Fortunately in today’s market there are an enormous number of options and high quality does not always have to be high priced. So how do we find the good stuff without spending hours of research? I’ve mentioned it before, but I cannot emphasize enough the value of having a knowledgeable professional who can learn your tastes, show you the goods, and take you new places when you are ready to move on to the next stop. This saves time and money and prevents every bottle from being a crapshoot. But sometimes we just want to shop on our own. For those times, there are a few tricks you can use to find a great bottle. First, avoid trends. Whether it’s a wine that is marketed by the latest reality TV star, a moonshine that is supposed to be the real deal, a bourbon sought out by all the hillbilly hipsters, a beer with a high enough specific gravity to stand a spoon upright, or a Champagne popularized by the hip-hop crowd, nearly every fashionable beverage is going to disappoint on its own terms. There are plenty of reasons to buy that stuff, but quality is not one of them.
Also, look for brands in your price range that are a little off the beaten path. The items case stacked on the end of an aisle are probably more about profit margin than they are about quality. If you see big signs with celebrity signatures, cardboard cutouts, or merchandising paraphernalia, you are probably not in for a mind-blowing flavor experience. Look instead for bottles from producers who have been around for a while and whose labels are less about advertising and more about fact and tradition. For wine in particular, seek out what are called “second labels.” Second labels are wines made by great producers from younger vines, lesser plots or barrels that are not aged as long as their flagship counterparts. Can’t afford or find the 100-point Spottswoode Cab? Try the Lyndenhurst bottling for a fourth of the price! Also look for established but less famous regions. Cabernets from Lodi and Paso Robles in California or even those from Washington state can offer great value next to the high-value real estate of Napa. Lettie Teague recently published a neat piece in the Wall Street Journal about the value of lesser-known villages around Chateauneuf-du-Pape such as Lirac, Gigondas, Rasteau and Vacqueyras. These wines are under half the price of CdP and can be almost as good. Declassified wines from within these famous regions can be an excellent value as well. For example, I love Barolo from Piedmont Italy, but I can only afford Langhe Nebbiolo most of the time. For a third of the price, these wines are similar in style with the added benefit of not needing to age for years before they are ready to drink. Domaine Charvin makes a glorious Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but at about $90/bottle, it’s a once a year kind of wine. However they also produce a nice Grenache/Merlot blend that is (de)classified as a Vin de Pays. At $12 dollars a bottle, it is a weekday value. Seeking out quality in anything inherently adds to the experience. Sure it takes time, but selecting a good bottle of wine, Scotch or any other beverage is one of those old tenants of social decorum that ought not be lost any more than should having the decency to remove one’s hat indoors. When we know about something, we form an opinion that is not directed by the masses. We become contributors instead of takers, participators rather than spectators, tasters rather than drinkers. If that means drinking twice as well, half as often, both our minds and livers will be the better for it!
By Eryn Schlote As we are in the midst of the busiest, yet most wonderful, time of the year, I find myself pausing to reflect on what is coming to a close. Another year of life has passed by at an ever-growing speed. What did I do to make this year matter? Sitting on the floor, pouring over memories of the past months, I came across something that resonated with the struggles of this Christmas season. I once went on a pilgrimage with ten other ladies. It was a weekend in the middle of a busy semester, but we packed our bags and walked eight miles to a nearby campsite to spend the night in simplicity. After the breath of fresh air from that experience, I wrote this little realization, and then tucked it away among other bits and pieces of my sporadic journaling. It found a home again in my mind as I was reminiscing on the year… “I was ready for something amazing! But nothing happened. I mean nothing. We got there, pitched a tent, and almost all of us took a nap. So I thought about all the things I could be doing if I were back at school, but not out here in the middle of fields as far as the eye could see. Nope. Out here there’s nothing. Thinking about my to-do list quickly got stressful, so I decided to go for a walk (ironic, I know). I found a bike trail and started putting one foot in front of the other. Next thing I knew, I was a mile away from the campsite and possibly going deaf from the wind. I started the trek back, wondering how long I’d been gone, but not really caring. There was nothing I had to be doing. Wait… Nothing. I. Had. To. Be. Doing. I can’t remember the last time I was able to say that. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I let that thought soak in. Nothing was waiting for me back at the tent; no papers to be written, no phone calls to be made. No one expected me to do anything. I had plenty of time to enjoy the evening. There’s another thing I hadn’t said in eons, “plenty of time.” That’s not a phrase you hear coming out of a typical college student’s mouth. But there it was. For the next 48 hours, I had plenty of time. As it turns out, there is a lot more time in a day than I ever knew. The minutes crept by, being filled by my nothingness. Without a watch or any other way to tell time (I tried measuring the sun’s distance to the horizon, but that failed), I felt so free. I never knew that time could be part of the stress of a day. I always thought that the physical things I had to do were the cause of my figurative gray hairs, but not about the actual unit of time. Apparently, there’s a lot more time in a day when you’re not limited by time itself. With the tick-tock echoing through your schedule, you feel the pressure, not necessarily of what you have to do, but of the looming clock that reminds you of your when. Constantly looking forward to what is to come, rather than to what is, diminishes the present. And when the future comes, you’ve already turned your attention to something else further down the road. Before you know it, you’ve missed out on a lot of moments because you wasted your time watching the time.” During such an exciting time of year, there is hardly a moment spent without a thought of the future. You can even buy count-down calendars to mark the days until Christmas. As you’re looking forward to the time with loved ones, don’t miss out on the special memories that can be made right now. Don’t let the looming clock, reminding you of the presents you still need to buy and the vacation days you still need to take, distract from the beautiful gift that each day is in itself.
Eryn Schlote is an artist of all medium- pencil, fabric, letters, movement, food, ears. She loves people
and coffee and conversation. Her journey has absorbed miles upon miles of small town stories and big city headlines, leaving her heart stretched out from sea to sky where there’s always room for one more. She is a lifelong student, an adventure-seeker, and an unashamed empathetic crier. She is a daughter of Grace and a walking work in progress. Share life with her at standingonflowerbeds.wordpress.com.
Enjoy Your Garden and Save the Planet If I could say one thing to gardeners and weekend landscapers alike it would be “Enjoy your gardening and save the planet”. When I drive around Springfield, I see essentially the same landscape everywhere. Some grass, some trees, a bush or two and some flowers. I can’t help but think that there should be more variation based on the variation in people. The other thing I notice is that a lot of this landscaping does not help, or take advantage of the natural processes that a landscape should. I want you to perform a little exercise. Close your eyes and conjure up an image of a landscape or garden that touched your spirit. Try to be in that place again. Don’t worry if the image is hazy or you don’t know the names of the plants. What was it that connected with you? Try to store that picture and the feeling you have. Now ask yourself, does my garden/yard evoke that feeling in me? Your garden could be a place to recharge your spirit and provide respite from this crazy, hectic world. This is the first part of my message, enjoy your gardening. The image you envisioned should be the basis for your landscape design. Could it be that the majority of people that landscape their houses have conjured up a shared vision of the desirable landscape? The more likely explanation is that people are designing their landscape to satisfy something, or someone else. If keeping up with the Jones is your rationale, you are missing out on one of the great gardening joys. The garden is your opportunity to express who you truly are and should be designed so that your being shines through in it. Saving the planet is really just a way of saying that a garden can be ecologically and environmentally balanced. But by no means am I suggesting that every yard needs to be a forest, but what you do in your yard definitely affects your neighbors’ yard, and the environment around your community. If you are motivated by climate change, evaluate ways to mow less and plant an additional small tree. If you don’t think climate change is real, you still might want to save some money. You can do this by fertilizing less and planting perennials that come back year after year. Whatever your metric or motivation, there is a ecologically compatible way to design and maintain your landscape. I believe there must be a reconciliation of mans needs with natures needs. In my grounds management I have to satisfy both ends of the spectrum, developers and treehuggers. The crazy thing is that landscaping can easily do both, but not in the current paradigm. The green industry (seed manufacturers, pesticide manufacturers, irrigation manufacturers, nurseries, etc.) would have you think that they have the answer to your gardening problems. The truth is they are first and foremost interested in the success of their business. Nobody fertilizes Ha Ha Tonka or any other natural ecosystem. But you can’t play baseball in a tall grass prairie. This is where the current landscape paradigm needs adjustment. We can have both a functioning ecosystem and a nice looking yard. This approach can save time, money and labor, and increase satisfaction. If you want to learn more, I will be happy to share ideas. Kind of like a plant exchange. by Joe Kern jfearn@drury.edu 20+ years commercial experience AAS Horticulture Technology International Society Of Arborists Certified Arborist and Municipal Specialist Professional Grounds Management Society Certified Grounds Manager MDA Pesticide Applicator Category 3 & 6 Missouri Extension Master Gardener
Autumnal Poems By Shawn Smith
I The autumn leaves have aged so Bring forth your’ beauty before you go Glory in their final breath Fiery colors alive at death Yellow, orange, and vibrant red The colors that show before they’re dead O, to be like leaves in autumn’s gloom Showing their beauty before the tomb. II Stomp, Crunch! The sound of leaves beneath my feet Stomp, Crunch! The sound of fall; a symphony Stomp, Crunch! The sound of leaves disturbed in sleep Stomp, Crunch! The sound of winter calling me III Autumn leaves fallen, dispersed Enter death as if they’re cursed Raked in tombs they find their rest Disturbed by a child who caused distress Smile on face and full of Joy The leaves become his favorite toy. -The innocence of youthShawn Smith is a local photographer, poet, and musician who loves capturing the moment through photos, prose, or the emotions of song.
Leaves: A Haiku Look, vibrant colors That fall from the trees and die Beauty in the end
December 2013 Calendar of Events December 1, 2013- Discovery Center is a great family oriented attraction for the SW Missouri area. 11 different galleries and over 200 different hands on exhibits are available for family members of all ages. Explore a wide variety of interactive science and culture exhibits, all designed to encourage asking questions, investigating, and learning something new! Discovery Center is located at 438 E St. Louis St. in downtown Springfield with free parking in Discovery Center parking lot located east of the main doors. General Admission is $12.00 adults, $10.00 seniors and $8.00 for children (age 3-15 ) and children 2 & under are free. Operating hours are Tuesday-Thursday 9am-5pm, Friday - Saturday 9am-6pm and Sunday 1-5pm. Check out the current traveling exhibit, Treasure! here until December 31, 2013. This exhibit is locally sponsored by Relics Antique Mall and MSU- Dept of Natural and Applied Science. Pan for gold, shoot a pirate ship, pick a lock and find out what Treasures are in your attic are a few interactives. Check the website at www.discoverycenter.org for upcoming events! Friday, December 20- Science Sprouts 9am-6pm.The 3rd Friday of each month from now till February we invite all young learners up to age 6 to learn, explore and discover a different topic each month. December's theme is Green Holidays. Enjoy story time with Park Central Library 10am & 1pm and a special science demonstration at 11am & 2pm. General Admission applies. Looking for a unique gift for a special person that will last far beyond the holidays? Consider DCS Memberships, gifts for the classroom or your favorite teacher. Consider a Discovery Center gift certificate! Whether it's your child's teacher, a special family in need, grandparents or a co-worker-the possibilities are endless and there's a DCS gift certificate to fit any need! Discovery Center's annual memberships or a certificate for one of our outreach educational programs for schools are unique-the gift of learning is a gift that can last all year long! Purchase memberships on-line or check the website at www.discoverycenter.org or call 417-862-9910. Discovery Center's Gizmos Gadgets and More Gift Shop NOW OPEN - Give the Gift of Learning! Stop by our new stocked gift shop. Locally sponsored by GSC International, a science equipment resource a trusted choice for hands on science and teaching aids, educational equipment and lab supplies. The Discovery Center gift shop has a variety of gift ideas to fit any budget. The gift shop is open during DCS general operating hours. Tuesday, December 24 & Wednesday, December 25- CLOSED for Christmas. Monday, December 30, 2013 - Museum OPEN for the day 9am-5pm. Tuesday, December 31- Museum OPEN for day 9am-5pm. Wednesday, January 1, 2014 - DCS Closed for the Holiday Discovery Center of Springfield is a hands-on interactive science center located at 438 E St. Louis in downtown Springfield, Missouri. Completing an expansion project in September, 2006 to be the 1st LEED Gold Certified building in southwest Missouri. Current Discovery Center hours are Tuesday-Thursday 9am-5pm, Friday- Saturday 9am-6pm, Sunday 1-5pm. Admission is free to members and children 2 & under. $12.00 adults, $10.00 seniors and $8.00 children (3-15).
Jeanne Christakos Duffey
GREEK FESTIVAL BRINGS ‘OPA’ TO COMMUNITY I have lived in Springfield for more than 30 years and during most of that time, when I wanted to get my “fix” of Greek food and dancing, I had to travel to St. Louis to visit my relatives and join in the festivities at the three Greek Orthodox churches in the area. In the past six years or so, I’ve been able to enjoy eating spanakopita, dance the kalamatiano and meet fellow Greeks, and others who appreciate the joy and fun of Greek-American culture, right here in Springfield.
Jeanne Christakos Duffey, a former journalist and public relations professional, grew up in a small Illinois town on a street with a few dozen of her Greek relatives. She’s lived in Springfield, Missouri, since 1979 and is the author of Cook Like A Greek! Traditional family recipes made modern for the Greek in all of us.
“Opa!”, the all-purpose exclamation of delight, can be heard numerous times every fall during the weekend after Labor Day at the Greek Festival held on the parking lot of St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church in southwest Springfield. The small congregation is already planning its seventh event to be held on September 5-7, 2014. This past fall, about 5,000 people passed through the food tent, enjoying a menu of entrees that includes souvlaki (pork or chicken on skewers) and gyros (grilled meat, tomatoes and onions wrapped in warm pita bread with tzatziki, a cucumber/yogurt sauce). We also offer favorite side dishes, pastries and Greek wine, coffee and beer. And then the fun begins. The mesmerizing rhythms of traditional music from the mainland and the islands pulsate and beckon the crowd to join in the native dances of Greece— the sirto, hasapiko, kalamatiano and hasaposerviko. Children wearing traditional Greek costumes perform the yiatros and karagouna and there are special performances of the Zorba dance and original flower and candle dances. Our parish priest, Father Andrew Moore, gives brief overviews of the Orthodox faith in the church sanctuary. The kids love the inflatables, souvenirs and memorabilia from Greece that are for sale in the agora (marketplace). Manoli and Valerie Savennas, the charter sponsors of the Greek Festival, each year donate a one-of-a-kind, handmade 14-karat yellow gold Byzantine cross embedded with precious stones for a raffle. The Greek Festival at the church, 4200 S Holiday Ave., is free and open to the public. We will look forward to seeing you next fall.
Jam Up
Black Berry Ale
www.facebook.com/whiteriverbrewing www.whiteriverbrewingco.com
Cassandra Bergh is an aspiring photographer and writer who's hopes for life are to capture moments that people often miss. Whether it be through words or a snap of a shutter, she loves to surprise people with a different perspective. When Cassandra isn't at work or church you can find her pounding out poems on the keyboard or pondering the mysteries of life while humming to herself happily. In pursuit of finding different perspectives her travels have taken her to Mexico, Guatemala, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. Currently she is working her way towards saving tuition for a Bachelor of Design Degree, majoring in photography in Canada where she lives. You can find Cassandra online at www.miss--perception.tumblr.com.
Putting Christmas in a Box Growing up, Christmas was always a special and magical time of year for my siblings and me. Looking back over the years, I realize that it was never really because of insanely huge gifts or elaborate traditions. Our holidays were always very simple, yet so very memorable. I could go on one of my rants about commercialism, consumerism, or the many other things that I see around as soon as the Christmas music comes on, but I won't. In my short life, I've learned over and over again the ease with which I can become overly-concerned, obsessed even, with the negativities in life, and how we as human beings perpetuate them. When I think about Christmas, I want to focus on the beauty of it. As I have grown older, some things about the holidays have lost their sparkle. That seems to be the way of things as time passes and life becomes more real and less like a dream. Even still, I have so many wonderful memories as a kid about this time of year, and see so much reason for wonder as I get older. Many years, and for most of my childhood, extra money was a luxury and not a common-place thing. There were quite a few years where we didn't have a Christmas tree, and gifts were something that came from friends of our parents or extended family. Extravagance wasn't a regular thing. Having said that, some of my fondest memories come out of a place of complete simplicity. There were some years where we had more than others, where things were 'more exciting' in ways, but I love to remember the really, really basic celebrations the most. Along with that simplicity, I have found abounding generosity. One of my favorite times from Christmas was a particular year when we had a few gifts from grandma, and some very lightly filled stockings. At home we've always opened Christmas presents on Christmas eve, and then stockings on Christmas morning. I think the tradition comes from some of our European heritage back down the family line somewhere, but I digress.
I don't remember many details from that Christmas except for Christmas morning, opening our stockings together. They were completely flat as they hung from their stocking hooks, except for a tiny little bump in the bottom of the toe. Excitedly, I peeked inside my felt stocking and reached deep inside, searching for whatever was hiding at the bottom. I remember pulling out a small little mandarin orange, and as crazy as it may seem, that little piece of fruit was a very sweet gift. Even as a kid I knew that anything that we were given was usually a big deal. I was encouraged to look again, and as I reached to the very end of the toe, I felt a very tiny, delicate chain and pulled it out. I have no idea how much it cost, what it was made of, or where it came from, but for me, it was the most beautiful little necklace in the world. I'm sure my eyes were sparkling as I put it on. There was another Christmas where we couldn't afford a Christmas tree, and didn't have a fake tree at the time. I grew up in a Christian home, so for the lack of a tree we decided to get creative and make a little baby Jesus in a manger. We found one of our smaller tables and created a little scene on top of it, so that there was place for any gifts for things to go underneath. It was different, but I remember having so much fun putting together our little table-top display with my siblings and parents. There was another treeless Christmas, and I remember a neighbor who came by one evening, and had apparently found out that we didn't have a tree. Her and her husband took it upon themselves to find one for us. That night they brought a real tree to our house and that simple act of kindess gave us all so much delight. Over the years, Christmas has taken different turns and appearances, and it has been so much fun. A couple years ago, and for a couple years in a row (because it was so enjoyable) my siblings and I pooled together our bits of money from here and there to give mum and dad a really good Christmas. We actually raised money from friends to help put together a something special for them. Now, I don't know that I recommend begging money off of friends and family to do what you want to do at Christmas, but we did what seemed good to our adolescent brains. The entire two months prior to the holiday were filled with secret scheming, budgeting, shopping trips with limited driver's licenses and exorbitant amounts of anticipation. Seeing mom and dad's surprise on those Christmas Eves and Christmas mornings were a few of the best Christmases of my life. Over the past years, I have had some crazy experiences. They included travelling overseas to Scotland for six months, and then coming home and figuring out what normal life looked like after that. There were so many new ideas, amazing people and adventures across the UK, that the way I thought about things had vastly shifted. The world was no longer a black and white place, people were not 2D and flat Ă&#x;as I had once scripted them and ideas and ways of doing things became as diverse and beautiful as the colors in the rainbow. I think that Christmas can be like that too. There are so many different ways to celebrate it, or other holidays, traditions and special days. Christmases across the years have looked a little different in ways for my family and I. For all of the different expressions and celebrations that appear this time of year, I find wonder, amazement and fascination in all of them.
This Christmas there is so much going on with my family and I, and so many things to plan and save for, we've decided to revert back to many of our past Christmases. There probably won't be much in the way of gifts, but we are going to make extra time to spend together watching movies, cooking, decorating and enjoying each others company while we are all still in the same place. My siblings and I have all spread out across the province and the across the ocean, so to be back together again for a short while has been really amazing, and we want to treasure this time together, especially during the holidays, before we all fly away again.
It looks very different, in a way, for us this year than in the previous crazy years of planning and scheming, but I am so excited for it. It, in all of its simplicity, may create some of the best memories.
I have a tendency to put things into boxes, trying to categorize and understand everything, making sure it is all lined up neatly and figured out. Ironically enough, life has never been like that, and I dare expect that that won't change.
So with life, and for now, with Christmas, I want to do my best to not put this entire season into a box, and look for different and exciting ways to give and receive the festive-joy. There are so many amazing ways to do things, and so many amazing people to do them with. Life tends to be stressful and full of anxiety, so often. I'm so grateful for this extra time each year when there is more focus on the beauty of life, instead of drawing attention to just the hardships and frustrations.
I hope we can all find something beautiful to see. As the holidays get closer and everything that that looks like comes close and into view, hopefully those good things become dear and precious as well.
Unique custom choices to fit any decor. Commercial and Residential Design and Installation Where Quality and Creativity come together.
417-863-9770 | 617 S Pickwick Avenue www.pickwickundergroundframing.com
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Mark Dixon “I’d have to say that my favorite thing about what I do is engaging the public.” Mark Dixon describes himself as a “people person” and he demonstrates his love of the public interaction every day at MaMa Jean’s. Since joining the grocery team at our East Sunshine location, Mark has been seeking out opportunities to serve customers. “It’s fun for me. See, there’s an aspect of my job that anyone could do – I put a product on the shelf, I straighten bags of food – but there’s another aspect to all of it that I really love; if I can demonstrate an act of kindness to someone, it really makes my day.” MaMa Jean’s owners, Susan Farbin and Diana Hicks, approached Mark as they were preparing to open their third location. “They knew me already and I guess they thought I’d be a good person for the job, and I’m grateful.” Perhaps it’s Mark’s history of volunteer service that made his transition into customer service at MaMa Jean’s so natural. Mark has over 35 years of community involvement under his belt including time with the United Way and the board of the Lincoln Cemetery. Since late 2002, Mark has been the president and executive director of the Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Centre. With the help of an Economic Development Initiative Grant, Mark and his board of volunteer staff have been able to renovate the building at 918 E. Calhoun into a community service center. This building serves as a physical space for many community non-profits. Mark’s personal investment in this project comes from a desire to facilitate the resources and to see his own community empowered. Language classes, a computer lab, after school programs and a conference room for presentations are a few of the services made available by this endeavor. This project is so dear to him that he will only work part-time in order to see it succeed. When asked about his favorite product at MaMa Jean’s, Mark takes a moment. For someone who spends his time filling the shelves of a grocery store, picking a favorite item is tough. “I guess I’d have to say Breadsmith’s Power Bread. Have you tried it? It’s loaded with so much good stuff. I like to put a little cream cheese and some fruit spread on a slice of that and MMM! MMM! Delicious!”
Staff Spotlight!