Thursday, April 30, 2015

Rethinking small.

I have a story I sometimes tell myself. It begins, "This town is too small." I dream of faraway places. Of belonging somewhere else.

This morning I attended a breakfast fundraiser for ArtWorks. I piloted the True Body Project with them 10 summers ago. I return to them this summer to help me out with City Silence with a bit of back-end logistics know-how.

I sat at the table with Heather Britt, Julie Sunderland, Victoria Morgan, Ron Lauck, Sara Vance and others. Heather and Julie and I dance together at Heather's DanceFix at the Cincinnati Ballet, with Ron and Victoria and many others. My ex-husband and my son's father, Michael Sharp, danced with the Ballet when I met him. My son was on stage at 3 months old during the party scene in the Nutcracker as "the baby."

We watched Pam Kravetz rev up the crowd and speak on behalf of ArtWorks. We dance with Pam. Plus Pam and I worked together at the Diner. I met her when I came back home to Cincinnati in 2001, when she was my son, Nick Sharp's, project manager for an ArtWorks summer program at Children's Hospital. Pam has supported my projects for years. Sara supports more arts project than I probably even know about and has helped out True Body Project along the way.

We watched Tamara Harkavy talk about the program she has grown. I met Tamara when I moved back from Cleveland and Dale Lamson said, "You two HAVE to meet." A few years later, I helped out with some fundraising at ArtWorks and True Body Project was born, nurtured and sent out into the world. Tamara's husband Matt Kotlarczyk was there too. I had just seen his gorgeous work of art in Scott and Diane Durban's home. I met Diane an hour later to work on the designs for the City Silence t-shirts. I met Scott in the 80s when we worked at Uno's in Clifton. That's where I met Allan Berliant too.

At the ArtWorks event this morning, Mu Sinclaire made a generous matching grant - matching dollar for dollar any donation made at the breakfast. I met Mu when my mother, Sheila Sims, was dating his father-in-law, Bob Orton.  I was in high school and Mu and Robin were living and working on a farm, making a difference on sustaining for the future in an entirely different way.

I could go on and on and on and on. In one and a half hours, I saw no less than 50 people whom I have connected with, worked with, been inspired by, and supported by. 


So I am rethinking my story. 


This small town is filled with people who stay connected to each other and to what matters. We make art. We teach each other's children. We dance together. We invest in a better tomorrow.


That is my kind of small town.





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