Do Something

I know that there are still 46 days until Christmas (not that I've been counting or anything) and I know that Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet. So this blog post is a combination of Thanksgiving and a little food for thought as we enter December. 

My mom told me last week that we're going to be adopting a family for Christmas. At first I was think "aw man, now I won't get as many presents under the tree this year". Making a Christmas list one of my favorite parts. I like putting down all these things that I know I probably won't be getting. I just like giving my parents lots of options. But anyway, so we're adopting a family this holiday. I got to thinking about all of the times I've done the adopt-a-family program in the past.

When I did girl scouts in elementary school we would always adopt a family at Christmas and then raise money to buy them presents. We would have this big get-together where we would all eat snacks and wrap presents for the people that we were donating to. In middle school I did this thing called KAY club, which is an organization where the schools get opportunities to do things in the community. In my seventh grade year we decided to adopt a family, so we did some fundraisers to raise money and bought a bunch of presents. I remember that the moms would always ask for things like dish towels, or cleaning supplies, or clothes for their babies. The kids would ask for clothes and toys. This family that we were shopping for had a little girl and I remember going to Target and getting to pick out adorable little outfits for her. 

My family sat down at lunch and discussed the details of the type of family that we wanted to get matched with. We decided that we wanted to shop for a family of four, two parents and two kids (between the ages of 0 and 10). I'm excited now to be able to shop for these kids because I remember my earlier Christmas years and how much fun it was to unwrap new toys and presents. 

I know this sounds cheesy and redundant, but seriously be thankful for what you have. Our generation is so spoiled (me included) and a lot of people don't know what it's like to feel like you have nothing. I've seen a lot of people who don't have a lot of belongings or money. It's really easy to take advantage of the things that we have and I think it would be a good idea to take a minute and think about how we can help other people in these next few months.

Here's some ideas that I've seen around our community of how we can help people:

• www.youshare.org: This is a thing that my church is promoting. It's an opportunity to get involved with your community and reach out to people who need specific things. People ask for things that they need and people can reply and offer their services, money, items, or their belongings for borrowing. 
• www.jlfh.org/community/giving-back: I'm pretty sure this is the organization that we are adopting a family through. Basically they ask you what type of family you would like to adopt, and they match you with the family that best fits.

• Flint Hills Bread Basket: You can always donate food to the bread basket. I know they also promote extra around Thanksgiving and Christmas time to gather enough food to give people dinners when they can't afford it.

These are just a few options of how you can appreciate what you have, and to give back to the community. If you aren't old enough or don't have a lot of money, there are a bunch of other things you can do. Shoveling driveways (since it's probably going to snow next week) for elderly people who can't do it themselves or just baking cookies or cooking a meal for your neighbors. So take a second, look around your house or your room and see all of the things that you have. Take note of all of the things that you are privileged to have, like your phone, or your iPod, or your computer, or your pet. Your bed, your house, your heater, your shower, the dinner that's sitting in front of you. Now think of all the people who don't get to have these things. It's not hard to give back just a little. So I'm going to do it this holiday season, and I hope you all feel compelled to join me and do something. 

Seizing Opportunities

A couple months ago I emailed the guy who owns the Strecker-Nelson art gallery and asked him if he had any job openings (since I've dreamed about working in a gallery since like, second grade). At first he emailed me back and said that he apologized but he was fully staffed and didn't have any openings. Then he gave me some advice on where to go looking for an art related job. Then, he told me to stop by the gallery sometime and introduce myself. He said that he was happy about my perseverance of working at his gallery and wanted to meet me!

With working at Varney's, I was pretty busy for a while (and also nervous about meeting the owner of the place that I really, really wanted to get a job at), so I sort of put it off for a while. But then I decided to go in and actually introduce myself and maybe ask a few questions about what it takes to run an art gallery. So I called him in October and asked when the best time to come in was. He told me a date that he would be available, and we made arrangements for me to come in and meet him. I drove to the gallery, which is on Poyntz, and timidly walked in the front door (Side note: even though I was so gung-ho about working at this place since forever, I'd never actually been in there before...pathetic right?). So I walked in and the lady behind the counter asked if I needed help with anything, and I told her that I was there to meet Jay Nelson (the owner). She directed me up the stairs, which I didn't even know were a thing. Apparently there are three floors to this place. 

I ventured up the stairs and saw that it was a completely different part of the gallery. There were huge abstracts and portraits on the walls and beautiful ceramics on pedestals. When I got up the stairs I ran into an older lady. I told her I was looking for Jay Nelson, and she introduced me as his wife Barbra and told me that his office was right around the corner. When I walked in and introduced myself I was extremely nervous, just because I'm not that great at talking to people. He greeted me with a warm smile and it instantly made me feel better. He thanked me for emailing him and showing interest in working for him and then explained to me that he was fully staffed, just like he had in the email. I asked him a few questions and he talked to me for a little bit about his gallery. Then he offered me the opportunity to help set up their new opening. The last one was called "Peopled" and featured a lot of portraits (some of them were painted by Joel Dugan, who was one of the professors in the Art Department at Fort Hays). This new opening was going to feature landscapes and abstracts, which I thought was perfect because I love painting landscapes. 

So all of that leads to this past weekend, where I got the opportunity to work at the Strecker-Nelson Art Gallery for three days. I started on Sunday at 9 in the morning; packing away ceramics, learning where everything was stored in the four different floors of the building (three main and one basement floor), and wrapping up paintings to be put away in storage. They fed me lunch, which was beyond kind. I learned about the proper way to do things, lie taking care of artwork. On the first day we worked diligently until 6 and then he told me that he wanted me to come back for the rest of the week.

On Monday I got to the gallery again at 9 in the morning. We worked most of the morning bringing paintings up that were going in the next show and taking paintings and boxes down that needed to be cleared from the room (they have a legitimate shaft elevator in their apartment which is connected to the gallery. It was so cool). I got to learn about the proper way of hanging artwork. The goal is to have the center of the art be 60 inches from the ground, because that's where the average person's eye level is at. 

The next day I had to work at Varney's, so my day started at 9:45, and then I headed over to the gallery at 2 to help them clean. I spent the afternoon cleaning frames, floors, and plants (yes, I cleaned the plants). When we were finally done, most of the paintings had been hung and everything was basically situated. Jay then told me that he wanted me to work the gallery opening on Friday night. So I get to go to my first gallery opening, and not only do I get to be there, I also get to work it!

I'm so happy that I sent that email and had the opportunity to do this. Even thought it was hard work, I had the most fun I've had in a really long time. I finally got the chance to experience working at something that I actually enjoy. I'm really looking forward to this Friday night and I'm super grateful for the compassion of Jay for taking pity on me and letting me work for him for a few days. So my piece of advice for all of you is to find a career that you will really enjoy, pursue your interests, and work hard at it.