Hope is the thing that keeps us moving forward - believing with every fiber of our being that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. However, that hopefulness requires not only patience - but also hard work filled with good intentions.

Hope is not the sustainer, yet it is the thing that gets us through dark moments. It allows us to visualize the dreams that will come our way.

It's the real day-to-day slog and mental resolve (doing all the good work without considering the reward) - brightened by occasional pops of delight (enough to keep us going) - doing the heavy lifting and manifesting our hopes into reality.

After a rough year, DRC is thankfully experiencing one of those bright moments of optimism. I will be able to document the evolving layers of detail here in the next few weeks.

But for now, know that while the "hope is still hoping," we are doing our jobs, maintaining our authenticity and transparency, counting all the blessings with deep gratitude while staying focused on the future to help as many kiddos find a safe, educational home that serves them (and their families) best.

There is still time to register for the last week of the Summer Program 9/26 - 30. Plenty of fun was had this past week!

Our first day back for the 24/25 academic year is Sept. 9th. We are going to be hopping with a full roster of kiddos. If you or your child feel that DRC would fit their needs - please get in touch. We are dedicated to helping any child who needs us.

There is no way I could ever do what I do without all the tricks and strategies I have spent a lifetime developing. At this point in my life, if it weren't for all of those hacks, I would be absolutely and irrevocably lost - a newly identified (acknowledged) neurodivergent, certified  basket-case.

To be clear, I have always been neuro-spicy, but it wasn't until two years ago (at the age of 57 1/2) that I finally learned enough about it to understand that it explained the weird, super creative, hyper-sensory, clumsy, socially awkward, and learning difference (all the "dys's") traits within me - that fought for recognition for all those years.

Back to a few of the hacks -

• Because of my issues with object permanence (if it is not in my line of vision, in my mind, it does not exist), I have open shelving at home, and everything at the Center is either labeled (folks think the labels are for the kids - ha, little do they know...) or in an open file holder on a shelf in my office. The file cabinet is where things go to die - never to be found again.
• Everything, and I mean everything(!), has a home and goes back to it as soon as I am done. If there is a question about where something is, I remember to look in its home first because it has become an unconscious habit to put things away. I usually don’t remember doing it.
• At heart, I am a minimalist - too much "stuff" means it can easily descend into disorganized chaos.
• Deadlines are my friends - I never met one I didn't like. (Artificial ones work great too!)
• And to go along with that, early morning is when I can accomplish a day's worth of tasks in only a few hours - don't get in the way! The afternoon is nap time - my brain turns off for the day - (if only DRC kids were on board).
• To combat time blindness - in my head, I work backward from when I have to be somewhere or do something - to ensure I am always on time, if not early. Being late means someone would have to wait for me. (Cringe!) I also have the memory of a gnat so Google Calendar is a lifesaver on a few counts! As soon as I promise to do something - it goes directly into my calendar.
• I love the challenge of looking at problems from different angles and brainstorming ideas that don't seem obvious at first and quietly implementing them with little fuss -understanding nothing is ever finished - it can always be revised or scrapped altogether.  Because mistakes will be made or another better idea will come along.
  
• Related - when the creative spark strikes - I pounce on it. (That is where the dopamine lives.) Sometimes, I need a jump start. But even then, all it usually takes is sitting in front of the laptop - with an open project on Canva or Grammarly and a random idea.
• I have limited social energy on a good day and even less on a "bad" day. I have learned to say "no" to group activities or functions when I know it will put me over my threshold to a place of being overwhelmed, cranky, and exhausted. Mainly because it is usually loud, there is lots of visual stimulation (which makes me get tunnel vision), so many smells (no one ever really talks about the olfactory deluge), and to top it off, small talk is tortuously awkward, especially when the face-blindness "thing" gets me in trouble.

I now realize that before I understood my brain differences, all of these hacks were developed over time so that I could navigate through the world without tipping people off to my weirdness - my "deficits." It was never an option to fail or be noticed.

The backward part of that thinking is that all my weirdness, in reality, is my superpower. If my Fairy Godmother appeared before me and offered a neurotypical brain - I would refuse and run the other way without hesitation.

My neurodivergence makes it possible for me to be unapologetically my creative, problem-solving, quirky (goofy) self. Instead of hiding, I now use the hacks to highlight all that weird awesomeness and accomplish everything I want to do.  In the process, I am normalizing neuro-spiciness so the young people I work with are comfortable being their authentic selves, too.

Note - This post was written a few days before the devastating remnants of TD Debby and resulting flood waters hit the NoCo. Sending out our best to everyone and hoping you are safe and dry. I have not gone into town yet to see how the DRC house fared.  I will keep you all updated here, in next week's post.

I grew up in the very small town of Brasher Falls, where there was no public library until recently - well past my childhood. My only option was the tiny school library - where I was allowed to check out two books each week. I was one of those kids who devoured a single book in hours - two books covered me for a portion of a day - never mind a whole entire week.

Therefore, all three books I owned as a child were in heavy rotation. One after the other, over and over and over again. (It helped that I don't comprehend anything I read; it has always been about the joy of escape and experiencing a story unfold.) Heidi by Johanna Spyri inspired my dream to visit Switzerland one day (no longer an ambition). The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew corroborated my experience as the eldest child (of 4). And The Bobbsey Twins by the Seashore let me dance with the tension of mystery and intrigue without being scared (too much). That and I remember being fascinated by the possibility of having two sets of twins in one family.

I vowed that if I ever had children - they would have as many books as they desired.

And as fortunate would have it, I had two children who adored books as much as me. As toddlers and preschoolers, they were regulars at the Potsdam Library story-time, and every week, we came home with as many books as we could carry.

At the ripe age of three, Kiddo #1’s ambition was to get his own library card. The librarian told him that as soon as he could sign (write) his own name - he could get one. He practiced and practiced, and by the time his fourth birthday rolled around, he indeed had his very own. Then, around the age of ten or eleven, his card expired. He told us it was because he had read every children's & YA book in the Potsdam Library - honestly, it wasn't much of a stretch. Needless to say his sibling, followed in his footsteps.

As tweens & teens, they frequented the Canton Free Library and developed a passion for graphic novels (Usagi Yojimbo, Copper, & Amulet...), plus in Kiddo #2’s case - any story that involved horses. Additionally, they both built valuable relationships with the folks there.

Besides the bags of books from the library each week - once they started pre-school, we ordered from Scholastic, every trip to Massachusetts to visit their cousins' included a stop at Barnes & Noble, and then came Amazon and the ability to buy books anytime they wanted. It is not an exaggeration to say these kiddos had loads and loads of books - in honor of my long-ago promise, they were the one thing we always indulged in. (Bonus - most of those books now reside at Deep Root Center.)

Yes, books have always been the mainstay of libraries for all of us book lovers - but in today's world, they offer so much more. Libraries have evolved with the times to become the true backbone of each community they serve. They are the media, cultural, educational, & community centers. (You can even borrow tools - or, in DRC's case this week - market tents.) Additionally, libraries are acknowledged safe spaces for everyone.

Our librarians and library workers are actual heroes who imagine and then work tirelessly to orchestrate that beautiful cornucopia of offerings for anyone who wishes to partake. To be clear, these are the folks you want on your side when the going gets rough. They know how to get $h!t done - while smiling at you with encouragement the whole time!

Sending out big love to all the libraries and the folks who keep them running! Thank you for always being there for my family and all the DRC Kiddos.

This is an invitation to share your Library Love stories in the comments or with friends. You can also encourage community support for these amazing people and places who are responsible for helping to raise generations of responsible citizens who are excited about learning.

Sadly, due to Friday's extreme weather event, flooding, and concerns about safe travel, we had to cancel the DRC Craft Fair/Family Fun Event scheduled for yesterday. Watch for the rescheduled date - likely this late summer/fall. 

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in planning, lending us tents, and agreeing to participate - we look forward to seeing everyone soon.

To continue the library love theme - huge shouts of thanks to the Massena Library for agreeing to host the DRC Pop-ups every Thursday afternoon beginning Sept. 12th. Click here for more info about the Pop-ups.

Register for Summer Program here. It begins next week!

We, humans, were designed to make judgment calls - it is what kept our early hominid cousins alive. On the plains of Africa thousands of years ago, anything that appeared different was potentially life-threatening.

In our modern world, that instinct has little practical use. So, instead of saving our lives - our judgments about anything that does not fit our worldview are given derogatory labels to separate 'us' from 'them' - to artificially create the 'other.' Because when someone becomes your enemy, it is OK to hurt (hate) them.

As Illinois Governor JB Pritzker famously said during his Northwestern University commencement speech, "Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges."

We no longer need our base instincts of distrust to keep us safe. Humans have advanced, and if our species is going to survive beyond the next hundred years - we need to lead with compassion - it absolutely is the only way forward.

As JB Pritzker said, "The kindest person in the room is often the smartest."

Leading with openness, love, and acceptance is not a weakness - but full-on strength and brilliance.

I would also say that anyone who can't be kind or find compassion within themselves - their judgments are on them and them alone - not the responsibility of the person or group they are denigrating and certainly not of wider society. No one needs to apologize for who they are because someone is critical of something about them - that they likely can't change anyway (skin color, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurological makeup, etc.).

Go - rock your individuality with a quiet humility & confidence that can only inspire those around you.