Art is necessary for life, but I worry we often get caught up in what happens after we create. Will people like it? Can we sell it? Will it reflect accurately on the self we want it to represent?
What would you create if no one ever saw it? If you didn’t have to do it well, or monetize it, or optimize it for a social media algorithm, or use it to develop some skill to add to your list of skills?
Consider it.
GIVING IT HIS ALL
A difficult medical diagnosis can stop the strongest person in their tracks. When baseball and football coach David Perno learned he had cancer, it brought him down. But it didn’t take him out.
In fact, it lit a fire in him.
“I lived in denial for two weeks. I was like, ‘There ain’t no way,’” he told the AJC. Then, he saw opportunity. “Who knows where this is going to go? And I’ve still got a lot to offer from a coaching standpoint.”
- A former University of Georgia baseball coach, Perno has been coaching the football team at his alma mater, Clarke Central High School, since 2016.
- He started coaching the baseball team in March, even though heknew that his cancer, combined with the double daily workload, would make for a tough road
- He just loves coaching and loves developing the programs where he got his own start.
Perno is now battling cancer in his blood and right lung. He can’t shout much anymore, but that’s led him to a quieter, and oftentimes more effective, form of leadership.
“I’m just having to do it a little different way, but I kind of like it, he says. “Before if you were always chewing them, it’s tough to put down your arm and talk to them because they get in their feelings bad, man. So now, I’m just coming in as the guy that’s loving them, and it’s pretty cool.”
🏈 READ MORE: A very cool look at a day in the life of a man who’s leaving it all on the field
WOODSTOCK SOUTH
Psh, who needs New York when you have North Georgia? Nestled in the mountains, Woodstock Arts is a nonprofit cultural arts center that fosters community through creativity.
The center holds classes, workshops, productions and exhibitions, all driven by an ethos that executive director Christopher Brazelton describes beautifully:
“I think we all have an innate ability to create,” he says.
Connecting art to the people and cultures of the area brings another facet to the mission. The center has special programs for bluegrass music to honor Appalachian traditions, and reaches out to real experiences through art.
“We’ve done theatrical shows with mental health, or we’ve done concerts where we bring in musicians who were through the foster care program,” Brazelton says. “So they work with our foster care students in the community. And then our volunteers end up getting involved in foster care as foster parents or another way.”
🎭 READ MORE: Yes, you can volunteer. Race you to the sign-up page!
SIPS FROM AROUND THE SOUTH
👋🏼 Concord, N.C.: A 4-year-old boy has brought his neighborhood together through sheer force of personality. The boy loves to wave to passersby and, much to the surprise of his mother, started inviting random neighbors to his soccer games, baseball games and even a preschool open house. His open-heartedness has given people a new idea of what community can look like. More from CBS News
💰 Myrtle Beach, S.C.: A Thai restaurant owner found $12,000 stashed in a cabinet left by the previous owner and tracked him down to return it. Turns out, the previous owner is going through serious health issues, and the return of the cash was perfectly timed. More from WMBF
🛝 Atlanta: Atlanta nonprofit Park Pride received a $9.4 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to expand and improve a historic park area in an underresourced neighborhood. Atlanta was one of eight cities chosen and hit the mark because of the robust community work already in place there. More from the AJC
🛟 Lexington, Ky.: “No one was doing anything, so I put on my goggles.” An 11-year-old boy’s heroic instincts helped save a man who nearly drowned in an apartment complex pool. He saw a man underwater in distress and leapt in to try to pull him out. More from Action News 5
TELL US SOMETHING GOOD
Is there a cool event we need to know about? Something great happening in your town? Let us know. This is your space, too. sweettea@ajc.com.
SOUTHERN WISDOM
When you're making content for Black consumers, if you're not rooted in the community, you're assuming what's relevant versus knowing what's relevant.
Longtime Atlanta media company Rolling Out, which focuses on Black culture, has debuted a new record label called Rolling Out Music. The idea is to bring recording opportunities to people who have natural, organic influence in communities. Call it “culture in motion.” Read more here
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