So welcome to the 10 a.m. session of Big Talk from Small Libraries. For those of you just joining us, welcome. We are recording the whole day. If you're unable to join us for every the whole day, you'll be able to watch recordings afterwards. And right now, we are going to go out to play. Learn about library playgrounds and how you can incorporate those into your library. Dana Ratliff-Warren is here from the Tremble County Public Library in Kentucky, Bedford, Kentucky, and their population surf. This is actually one of the, I think you are the one with the highest population surf we have today. I'm just scanning through. Yes. And it's only a whopping 8,800. Is that still correct? Yes. Yeah. So much below our limit of libraries or our presenters being 10,000 FTE or population served. So I'll just hand it over to you to tell us about how we can use library playgrounds at our libraries. Awesome. I just want to thank Krista for putting this together and the Nebraska Library Commission and ARSL. These opportunities to share ideas and help each other is pretty amazing. So thank you for all your hard work. You're welcome. We're happy to have you and everyone here today. Yeah. I'm really excited to share some ideas with you today about a playground project we did a couple of years ago. Just to start off, our library was built in September of 2011. It's a fairly new library, but we've been around for 30 plus years. It's a very small community. About $8,500 community members that we serve. The population, we have two cities in our county, Milton and Bedford. We are in the county seat, which is Bedford. So it's a beautiful community, very warm and welcoming. And our library is, I think it reflects our community. It's just a beautiful library and a beautiful space for people to come and use it and enjoy it. So we're seeing a lot of different trends with libraries. And they're creating flexible community spaces. Some of the things that we're seeing in Kentucky, you guys might be seeing them in your libraries as well. But we're seeing libraries try to help meet other needs other than education and literacy. So seeing libraries put together food and hygiene product pantries. They're serving as warming and cooling shelters. Seeing coffee shops and delis pop up in some of the larger libraries. But also in smaller libraries, maybe coffee corners. Also seeing different partnerships being built with businesses. The Warren County Public Library has partnered with a sports and tennis facility. And they put a small library in their facilities with a few books and some computers. And that's been a very positive partnership for them. Some of the things that we're doing is we have created some digital branches. We put a small computer lab with access to Wi-Fi and some books and things at our Milton City Hall. And at the Trimble County Park, we just finished a project putting some computers and some Wi-Fi access at a tri-action community center building there at the county park. So we're seeing these libraries really meet the challenges of their communities and really being flexible with the services they provide. Where movement in libraries has also been around for quite a while, I think. Because we realize that learning is really important. But our physical bodies are important as well. If we are healthy, then we're more apt to be open to learning. We understand that our children ages three to five, they need to be active throughout the day. And for those of you who are parents of three to five years old, five-year-olds, you're going to be worn out by the end of the day. They are just a lot of fun and very energetic. They need movement. And then for parents who have older children ages six through 17, they're not quite as active. But they still need quite a bit of activity during the day. And then I have three teens in my household right now. I wish that they would be a lot more active at times, especially with cleaning their rooms. But it's important, even throughout our lives. We see that for adults, we need movement. We need to have intense physical activity. And we need to have some strength activity as well. So these are just some fun things that we've done inside our library to encourage kids to come in and move and play and hopscotch rugs and little tiles that have, we call them lava tiles, when you step on them, the composition and color changes. And we also add a lot more toys and gadgets that encourage them to participate in an imaginative play. We're also seeing with adults. We have yoga classes. We have some libraries are offering Tai Chi, line dancing. So movement for adults is also a trend in our libraries. So it kind of makes sense that that would extend to our outside of our libraries as well. And playgrounds are very valuable. They provide opportunities for kids to practice social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills. On a playground, if you sit and watch children, you're constantly see them making new friends, helping each other, sharing, taking turns, and interacting with one another. And we've seen a different clientele come into the library since we've built the playground. And it's interesting to see that families that don't usually come to the library, they're taking advantage of our pavilion or our playground, and they come inside for a drink and use the bathroom. And then they see our bulletin boards in the foyer, and oh man, the library's doing some really cool program. Let's come and come back and enjoy those. And a lot of times they'll come into the front desk to ask questions, start checking out movies and books and things that help their families. Another thing that it has provided is that it has helped us to increase space for our programs. So when COVID hit, like for most of you, you guys were hit with a lot of restrictions, a lot of shutdowns. Our Kentucky was very conservative and very strict about libraries closing. We had to get very creative. And then when we started opening up our building for access, we still were very limited to how many people could come in and how many could gather. So having that outdoor library space would have been very, very helpful during COVID. And I wish we had done this project a lot sooner. But going forward, we have this amazing outdoor space with a pavilion and a playground that we can integrate into other programming opportunities. So, and please interrupt me if you guys have questions or comments. I'm free to, I'm flexible with that. So... Yeah, yeah, anybody, yeah. Whenever you all have questions, you don't have to wait till the end of a presenter session. No, go ahead and type in whenever you think of something they don't want you to forget. Yeah. And if it's appropriate, I'll jump in. Please interrupt, Pristit, if there's a comment. So I'll have a slide out of order. Sorry, guys. So that was a movement about adults, movement for adults. But so we have a pretty open-ended library mission and purpose statement. We connect our community with knowledge and experiences inspiring creativity and discovery. That's pretty open-ended, I think. Another thing is, oh, I just lost my screen there. All right, guys. Our purpose statement is that we try to enrich lives and build community and prepare for an ever-changing future. And those, you know, so if somebody ever questions, well, why would you build a playground? That's not what libraries do, you know? We can go to this mission statement and these purpose statements and say, you know, yeah, we do, because this is, we try to enrich lives and build community. And the playground does that. So, you know, with any project that you do, you're gonna have to try to gain support for your project. And we took a really hard look at our community and said, you know, do we really need another playground in our community? And the answer at that time was yes. We only had two playgrounds that were available to the public access and both of those playgrounds at the time were in disrepair. One was subject to flooding annually and the city of Milton had just didn't have the resources to keep up with it. And the other one was at a county park which had, it has lived its life. Let's just say that it was worn out and it needed to be updated and repaired. So that was one of our things we looked at. You know, yes, there is a need. There's a community need for this. We also surveyed our community to gauge the interest and acceptance of this project. So there was lots of that. Not everybody agreed with us. I think we had about 70% of the people that took the survey agreed that yes, this would be a good use of library funds. And the rest, you know, they questioned some things like, you know, I think that it will just be subject to a lot of vandalism. People will take care of it. And yes, that is a valid concern, right? Some of our school playgrounds that are open, they do get vandalized occasionally and that's a concern for any playground. But our attitude was, you know, why, but why would we hold back this resource for 80% of the population? And, you know, we have a minority of 5% of the people who are gonna come in and use the land. So in the playground. So, but we listened to concerns and we tried to resolve them as best as we could. So we talked to community leaders in our partnering organizations to see, you know, what do you think this is a good idea? What do you think about this? And we had a pretty favorable response. And of course we had every board member in favor of this project before moving forward. There was nobody in disagreement that this was a project that we shouldn't pursue. I am always important. Yep. So I know that small libraries, budgeting and funding for projects is huge. It's a huge concern. And fortunately we are well-funded. We had been saving money for the project. So that was not an obstacle that we really had to overcome. But it does, it's helpful to look at the numbers. I don't think that you're gonna be able to put in a playground that's big enough or worth anything. You know, you're gonna start out at about $40,000 for the project. And that was about two years ago. So funding and pricing might've changed since then. We're seeing a price of steel and shipping costs have really drastically increased over the past couple of years.  But there are funding opportunities out there. There are grants. I didn't have time to look up specific grants, but you can reach out to your local school districts. They have a lot of connections that may help libraries as well with grants. We have a very supportive economic center. We have some businesses and individuals who are very generous. And we had quite a few donations to help out with the project as well. And then you could also look into lowering costs. So you might have some piece of land that might need some leveling or prepared before the project and the playground can be installed. You can reach out to your county highway department to see if they can help out with some of the leveling and the groundwork that needs to be done. You can also, with installation of the playground, you can use volunteers from the community to help install that. And what you would want to ask for then is a certified project manager from the vendor that will lead the project and make sure that it's installed correctly. You can save yourself probably about eight to $10,000 just with having volunteers help out. You can also with the maintenance and inspections afterwards. After you get the playground installed, you can work with your local park authorities or your county officials to see if they can help with some of the maintenance costs or some of the inspections. Our big deal was not really the money part for us. It was just finding somebody who could do these small jobs and repair playground if we needed it to be repaired. So we started out with forming a playground committee. We had four staff members who were really interested in working on the project and all of our board members also provided input. So, and we started, we knew nothing about playgrounds at all. So we decided to just start out by researching designs and different services. And we needed to learn more about requirements for inspections and certifications. There's a manual that's produced by the Consumer Product Safety Commissions. It's called the Public Playground Safety Handbook. It's a little bit outdated. It's from 2015, but it does provide a lot of information, anything that you needed to know or really it could answer a lot of questions about you, any questions you have about the project. So I would start there first. There are a lot of certifications or a lot of information about requirements for playgrounds. So that handbook is very helpful. One thing that you wanna look for when you're looking at playgrounds and vendors that you see some of this language that I have on the slide. So you wanna make sure that you see ASTM and that stands for the American Society for Testing Materials. They help set safety and performance standards for equipment and services. So that's important to look for. You're gonna also look for, as this vendor part of IPMA, IPMA stands for International Playground Equipment Manufacturers Association. It's a professional organization that really prides itself on making sure that its members are following these safety guidelines and certifications. When you have your playground inspected, you wanna make sure that that inspector has a license, it's called a CPSI. And that's a special license that they have to get some training for. So we also looked at the American Disabilities Act compliance and see if we could make our playground have open access to all people with different abilities. This is not required, but it is nice. It makes your project a lot more complicated, had a lot more expensive. So we were able to do some small things, but not everything that we wanted to do. I need to get a drink real quick. Yeah, that's okay. Because actually I have a question here that actually relates potentially to what you have here about the certifications and that inspection too. Cause I wanted to know, how did you deal with liability concerns? That is always what comes up when we talk about this kind of thing in our libraries and outdoor spaces. Is that what this inspecting would? So yeah, the inspection does make sure that the equipment is installed properly. So that is a good thing. You want that to happen. Liability is a concern. And that was one of the things that the board members were a little bit concerned about taking on this project. And we reached out to our insurance company, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later, but and talk, what is our liability? Is it going to cost an arm and a leg to ensure the playground? And it increased our insurance costs by about $500 a year. But that included the cost of ensuring the equipment itself, but also that liability coverage. And honestly, we're required, I think to keep one million to two million of liability insurance without the playground. And so yeah, it didn't really infect our insurance. But yes, there's going to be some liability. There always is, whether you're having yoga or you could be just having a story walk outside and somebody trips and then all of a sudden you're liable for them because they're part of your program. So that's a good question. Was there anything else? Not just yet, that will do. Go ahead. So the committee had a lot of decisions to make. What kind of materials do we want this to be made out of? What do we want it to look like? There's lots of options, metal, wood, there's recycled plastic lumber. We looked at lots of different surfacing options. You have the lower end costs, which would be wood chips, which is not just wood mulch that you can get from Lowe's, it's actually an IPA certified quality grade. There's the rubber chips, there's rubber tiles and there's grass turf. All of these are options you'll have to make a decision on. The turf is the most expensive and it can add a lot of money to your project. You're going to look at how large of a structure do we have space for. What features does your play system have? Do you want lots of activity panels on it? How many slides do you want? Those kinds of things. And then there's always the fun extras like the spring riders and the balance beams and stepping stones, you've got spinners and swings. So there's a lot of decisions that go into designing a playground. So we came up with a wish list. We were of the mindset of like, okay, we might not be able to afford this but we're going to go big. We're going to just dream big and this is what we want. We wanted a playground that was fairly large that would accommodate ages five to 12. We wanted to have at least four slides on the structure. One needed to be a twisty slide and we didn't want the tube slides. We felt like that created too many spaces for kids to hide and get into trouble. We wanted at least one climbing wall on our structure and other activity panels. We also wanted some swing sets. We wanted a disc swing set and a swing for other toddlers and we also wanted as many extras as we could fit in that space. So we had a pretty healthy budget to work with so we dreamed big on that. So this is what the land looks like before we started the project. And before we could really do anything we needed to make sure that we have enough space for the system that we wanted. You can't tell from this picture but the land was fairly sloped. So don't let that deter you from a project. It does cost money to get level but if you've got some land and it's kind of not perfectly leveled it can be leveled and it takes some work and money but you'll get there. You see we had to level this area out. This is behind our property. We have a shed here and this our back parking lot. We had to put some drainage pipes so that it would flow out away from the playground. We had to put in two of those. So this is an aerial shot of what the ground looked like after we did the excavation work. We did use a local excavator. We decided not to use the highway department. We felt like there was just too much work to be done and we wanted to make sure that it was done correctly. So we had to put in this rock kind of a berm area that you shape around the playground. This area, the tip up in this triangle piece up here that is still fairly sloped and so any water runoff comes from that area and then goes around the playground. It's not how we wanted it to look. We wanted everything underground but it was what we could, the excavator could do for us. So, and then we had a, this square area over here is a, it's in preparation for our pavilion, the concrete for the pavilion. So once you know your land and you get the size, how big a play system you can put in, you're gonna wanna start putting those, that wish list in writing. And you're gonna wanna look at your policies for purchasing. Our library had adopted the model for procurement policy from the state of Kentucky. So that required us to do sealed bids for any purchases over 30,000 and this definitely was a project that was gonna be over that amount. So you need to make sure that you're following your purchase guidelines that is set by your library and your state, that's really important. So when we, something that really helped us too is that when we, to get organized for bid requests, we would put together a document and in that document you wanna include several things. So the first thing you wanna talk about is your scope of project. And you're gonna make a brief statement that something like this, like the project consists of the design, procurement and installation of a playground system that meets or exceeds all current federal guidelines and standards. You wanna use that language right off the bat. You're gonna ask for that manufacturer warranty and you want the providers to make sure they provide liability insurance certificates and references for your project. The next section in your document that you're gonna prepare, do you wanna put the design guidelines and play system specifications? So this is where you really wanna have your wish list really solid and all of those decisions made.  If you're gonna have any shades, those are pretty costly, but if you want some shade, you can request quotes for that. We also wanted lots of seating in our playground. Our board was pretty out of it. There's never enough benches, right?  So we have about eight benches in our park. And we also, for our pavilion, we requested quotes for eight foot picnic tables. So the next section of your document, you're gonna talk about assembly and installation and what you want from a supplier. So this is the decision you're gonna have to make. Are you gonna use volunteers to help install or do you want them to do the labor? This is where you would talk about that. We went with, we wanted a direct supervision from the manufacturer and we wanted them to be certified and we wanted them to do all the labor as well. At the time, our community, those two other playgrounds that were in disrepair, all of our resources for volunteers were tied up with fixing those other playgrounds. So everybody had the same idea at the same time. So we felt like it would extend our community members too much if we asked them to help with this project. So we were fortunate enough to have the money to pay for it to be done. You also wanna make sure that after the installation is done, you have them to provide an inspection. So make sure that it's properly installed. If they don't have an inspector on site, then you can ask for help locating one and I'm scheduling one for you. And then the last two sections you wanna include in that document for request for bids, you're gonna ask for warranty information that you want that not only the information from your, for the equipment itself, but any installation warranty that the supplier may provide. Yeah, you also, again, it may seem overkill, but you're gonna ask for compliance. You want all of your equipment to meet or exceed all federal CPSC, ASTM, and IPVAC guidelines. And you want them to actually provide that compliance with documentation. So are we doing, do we have any questions, Krista? Well, let's see here, just, we do. Oh, and you already had mentioned this one thing that I was gonna just bring it up now since you're talking about doing the quote and what you were setting up for it. You're doing an outdoor playground. Did you, oh, make sure it was adaptive for children with all abilities. You had talked about the ADA earlier, correct? Yeah, so that, we looked into that we did not have enough land or room to put in the, like a lot of the ramps instead of the stairs. So we didn't, we couldn't do that part. We are trying to increase accessibility to the playground though, right now we're putting in a sidewalk that gradually slopes down. And so it makes it more accessible to strollers and wheelchairs. So it will at least be able to enter the playground but it'll be difficult to play on the playground itself which we regret, we hate that but you can only do what you can do, right? That ADA guidelines, it is great if you can do them but it's not required, especially with a small library. So you're probably gonna have our time meeting those standards, so. Sure, sure, but doing what you can is as much as you can. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, go ahead. All right, so we, our policy was that we had to give about four weeks for bids to come in before we could start evaluating quotes. And we did have to reach out to vendors to get quotes because this is kind of a specialized build, right? No, most, they're not a lot of playground companies around looking at paper, local papers to find bids and jobs. So we did reach out to several and we had one surprise vendor that put in a quote that we were pretty impressed with. So once you get those quotes, you're gonna look at it really closely and did they meet all your needs and your specifications? We had one quote that was so poorly done that we're like, oh, if they're gonna not do the work on the front end, what is the final product going to be? And just from their quote, we just decided not to work with that company. So price is always a big deal.  We compared warranty information, not all warranties are the same or created equal. So make sure that you're really understanding that. And certification was a big deal for us. We wanna make sure that we're complying with all safety guidelines. So we also looked at the quality of the product and the longevity of it that was important for us. We didn't wanna have a lot of maintenance. We didn't wanna have to make a lot of repairs. We were concerned a little bit with metal playgrounds that they tend to rust and the joints tend to come loose frequently. So that was a big thing for us. And of course, aesthetics, you want it to look great. Like you want kids to be attracted to your playground and wanna come play. So those were things that we looked at. We ended up going with a vendor named Platopia and we loved that they were in Kentucky. They specialized in recycled plastic playgrounds and this is the system that they quoted for us. There's a different angle. It had a lot of fun activity panels. We'd love the shades on the top. It had, it doesn't show it here on this one but we added some slides to it, a twisty slide. And it met all of our requirements that we wanted. So and aesthetically, the board really liked that the wood look kind of went with the front of our library. It kind of extended that aesthetic quality that we wanted to keep as well. So you're gonna order your playground and during the pandemic, it took us six months to get that built. So I don't know what the timeline is right now on playgrounds where they're at with that but you're gonna have quite a bit of weight. They just don't keep those things in stock. So we had six months to just kind of anticipate the project. But while we were waiting, we got our playground rules together. We talked about, what do we want? Are the types of behaviors we wanna see on the playground and age groups that we wanna serve? Is it gonna be open to the public all the time or is it just going to be open during the library hours? That's a decision that you and your board members can make. Definitely want a state that you want supervision of children under a certain age. I definitely addressed tobacco, alcohol and drug use. If there's any other activities you don't want on your playground such as dogs, skateboards, bicycles. I think that helps to make those statements to encourage people to use the playground safely at their own risk. So. Someone actually has a question that just popped up here that you might be getting into it. How do you enforce these rules? Like I was actually wondering about the whole hours that it's open. Is it fenced in some way or is it? So our actual, we originally thought, we'll just have it open during library hours and we'll lock the gate to the playground afterwards. And we wanted to make sure that it was open on the weekends when we weren't open because we do want this to be part of the community. And we just thought, well, we'll leave it open and we'll watch if we have any misbehavior, we have any vandalism, then we'll start locking things up. And so far, we haven't had that happen. As far as, how do you, you can't. There isn't any public playground that you can keep all of the picture, everybody's complying to all these rules. There isn't. Like you put somebody on duty there to sit there and watch the entire time. Yeah, there's no way. But you do post these rules and you do do diligence, right? And so that, you know, if you are ever in a lawsuit or anything, like these are rules that are posted. You know, this is what they're asked to do. They weren't in compliance with those rules. So we also have security cameras up in that area. I was gonna ask about that, yeah. Yeah, so if there's any, an injury or a report of improper use, we can bring that up and that footage up and look and you know, if, like any other library services, if somebody's abusing the, you know, the library or they have inappropriate behavior, then ask them, you know, you're not able to use this service. So yeah, I mean, that is a liability. You know, not everybody's comfortable with that risk. So you definitely have to be all on board with that for sure. Is there any others? I think we'll go back to this one question that did just come up here because someone wants to know, oh, so you said that you did leave it open. Do you still have this sign that says only open during library hours or did you change that? We didn't. We did change it. We figured that if we ever did have to lock it up, but the signs there, so. But otherwise it's open and people can come in and yeah. But so let's know, how did you learn or know about all of the necessary certifications that you needed that all of that, you sound very knowledgeable in this area?  Right. Well, it was, we did a lot of research online, but we also, one of the vendors that we talked with was very good about educating us.  So that was very helpful right there. All right, go ahead. All right, I'm trying to think here where we left off. I think we covered everything here. And also another thing while you can do while you're wait, are you going to want a fence for that property? If so, you know, start talking about fences, what kind and how high do you want it and what's the purpose it's going to serve? You want to keep people out or in or what kind of materials you need to use and color. And that's a whole other topic right there, right? You know, how to build a fence for your library playground. You can also, again, talk to your insurance company, get them prepared for the project, let them know, you know, this is the quote we received, this is the projected cost and make sure that, you know, you have those documents right prepared so that when you do get to the project is finally done, your insurance is ready to go. It's just, it's going so. And then the big day comes, you know, you've been preparing for this for months and really getting excited about it and that big day comes, you get the call from the vendor and they're ready to install, that's a fun day and you want to make sure that you can be present for your installations. I know that that is sometimes hard because contractors don't always show up when they're supposed to. We've had that happen a couple of times where they got pulled into different projects or it ended up raining and, you know, and then trying to schedule around staff vacations it was kind of hectic. But you want to, when you start installing you want to make sure that you're reviewing those specifications with your installers because they're not in on the project from day one. They basically are helping get your equipment transported to your site and they get basically a map. You know, this is what it's going to look like. So they're not privy to those conversations that you're having with sales people. So it's really important that you, you know, you're there and you can talk about placement of the library playground. Is it going to be positioned correctly on the land that you have? Where is it going to be facing? We ran into an issue where they positioned the playground too close to the pavilion area which caused some issues with our fence gates opening. We had to actually change the direction of our fence gates, how they opened because the playground was positioned too closely to a little slope that we have on our playground. So those are some things that I wish I would have done looking back. So definitely try to be there if you can. And then after your installation make sure that, again, like make sure that you have that inspection done and they provide you with the paperwork because I could see, you know, installers getting in a hurry to finish up the job and then not providing that and just leaving. And make sure that you keep all those certifications on file for your insurance company just for your reference. And then ask for the warranty, not only for the equipment itself but for any installation that warranty information that they offered, that's, it's good to have that on hand.  So, so I guess we're, you know, this is our completed project. This is our pavilion. We went with just a metal building. It cost around $18,000. The wood, a wood structure we would have loved to have but it was $10,000 more. So this is the back when it was first finished, the grass didn't have time to get to grow up. So it's a little ratty look in there but this is the final, what it looks like. You notice we did put in a black fence that was more ornamental than anything but our board was really wanting to keep kids from just running into that rock area and down the hill and they wanted to make sure that they were safe as possible. This is just, this last fall, this is another side view of it. You notice our, the structure has quite a few play panels that are, invite kids to play and climb and it was just a lot of fun. A lot of fun things to do. We did include some shades and a lot of seating area for our parents, our grandparents who bring their kids to the park.  They really enjoy those, the kids do. These two pieces I probably wouldn't do again. I wouldn't recommend the balance beam for the money and the cost is not really big enough.  They still manage to do it. So I probably wouldn't have, I would have gone with different activities than these two probably. And then we did get our disc swing installed. We didn't have enough room to have a second swing bay there. So, but this is a really popular item. The kids really love this. So, so you can see we also chose to do the wood mulch and we originally wanted the rubber mulch and the Platopia, our vendor who supplied this system to us, they talked us into it and they said that number one the kids will throw the rubber mulch and they do, you'll be clean up, yeah. And for some reason they will not. They won't throw the wood chips as much as they would do the rubber. And we haven't, we haven't had any problem with the kids throwing it outside of the play area. They said that it, you know you have to replace wood and rubber mulch at the same rate. So there's not a huge cost saving there and it was just more environmentally friendly. So they also suggested we put, I don't know if you can see the black mats underneath the disc swing there. Those, you know how it's, playgrounds like there's area of use that gets really just kind of pitted and these black mats are supposed to help keep the mulch in place. So you're not getting those divots in your land, lettuce limes and everything. So, so here's the breakdown of all of the costs on our project. Excavation was about 10,000 by ground was 100,000. That was more than we wanted to spend but with the costs of everything rising we didn't really have a choice in that. And we really didn't want to back down on the project and not install everything that we wanted because we knew that it was a lot of work and we just wanted to get it done all at once. Our pavilion, like I said, was about 18 to 20. The fence that we put in was 8,000 and our sidewalk is going to cost about four grand. So it's about a $140,000 project. So it's not cheap at all for sure. And it took us about two years to do it from the time of planning to, you know purchasing and get it installed. It's not a very quick project. I was thinking it would take six to nine months Nope. So and then once you get your project done you want to party because it's a big deal. It's a lot of work, a lot of fun. I learned a lot, but a lot of work. And we had an open house and we invited our board members. We had, you know city mayors there the fiscal court judge magistrates. We had invited, you know special families that make sure we had kids there for photos. We were afraid that people wouldn't show up for it. Right afterwards we had our summer reading open house as well. So that kind of helped as well to get people there. And we just had a lot of fun. One thing that we did do is we created a plaque that thanked all of the board members who were involved in the project. Because it took so long we had some board members that moved off the board. We also, we lost a board member unfortunately during the process to COVID. And it was kind of just a great way to honor them and him for the work that he did on the project as well. So, but that was it. That was the end of my presentation. If you guys have any more questions I'll be happy to stick around. Yeah, we definitely do. Yeah. So go ahead and leave that slide up there while we go through the questions we have here. Yeah, thank you so much. This was another great presentation of course. Like, you know, seeing this being done and through this in the library's point of view. I know there's been playgrounds near libraries but not necessarily done by the library just maybe coincidence of where it is. So yes, we do have some questions that came in. If anyone does have any other questions go ahead and get them entered type into the question section and I'll grab them from here. So one big question, I think I'll start with this one. Like, how did you find the time to do all of this? All the prep work you're talking about and everything that needed to be done and how much help did you have with the research like work and everything? This person says most of their work they do it themselves the minimal help from board members. So curious how you were able to do this. Did your board help with some of the, or other staff? I had four other staff members help with the research work. Yeah, so yes, but it is a lot of work as a director. It's almost like you're doing a building project or a renovation project and I've done both. So it is extra work.  So yes, I would say we had a very supportive board member, Dudley Lush, he helps out a lot with building projects and he has a background in history in that. So he was a great resource to bounce ideas off and help make decisions as far as, especially with the excavation part of the process. He had a real handle on what needed to be done. So yeah, our board, although, you know, we did bring a lot of the ideas to our board. The board was very instrumental in making final decisions, which was helpful, you know, so. Great, okay. And you mentioned grants. Did you apply for grants for this particular project? We did not. We thought about it and we felt like we had enough saved to do the project. And could justify the expenditure, you know, with how frugal we had been through the years. We also felt like if we had applied for grant, it would have set the project back a year or two because, you know, grant processes are pretty timely. So. So we did not. Okay, great, let's see. In, oh, here's a good question. In what ways did you survey your community? You said you reached out to see what the community, how did you do that, gather that information? So we surveyed our internally in the library. We had a laptop at the front desk where we invited people to fill out a survey on what types of things, you know, how we'd use the space, what kinds of projects that they would be interested in. And the playground was on that list of, hey, you know, would you be interested in the library building and playground? We also reached out, we did a survey online through social media and advertised that link for the survey. And we tried to encourage people to fill out the survey by offering a gift card, you know, like a drawing for those, you know, if you were to fill out the survey, you're entered into a drawing for a 25-year-old card. So yeah, getting feedback from the public outside of the library is sometimes hard and challenging. I think one thing that I really try to do though, is I try to be part of other community groups like Rotary, Trimble Care, other organizations where I'm with other leaders quite a bit. So I have these just natural opportunities that come up to have these conversations. So that's helpful as well. Always be doing your elevator pitch everywhere you go. Ever though, I'm in bed of the library, yeah. Someone does want to know if you could go back and show us the pictures of the playground and it's finished stage again. Just want to see if that looks again, yeah. So there's our disc swing. I don't know if I'm going too fast. This is just a little spinner, a set spinner and a balance beam. Not my favorite, but you live in there, right? Yeah. Spring riders, these are a lot of fun to kids like that. Yeah, some adults like them as well, but should not. We have the sitting area. We have six other benches around the parameter as well. So in the shades, you do not have to remove them during the wind. We haven't had any problems with it. They're pretty sturdy. I was concerned about that, but... And they are under warranty and also covered by insurance if they ever do get damaged. So these are some of the activity panels. There's quite a few other activity panels like the produce stand. There's one panel that's on the picture of it where one child stands on one end and it can yell and talk through the tube and another person on the other side. You can hear them. And then here's another view. That's nice. You have a picture of everything together. Nice. Yeah. All right. So while we have this one, someone was questioning about that. You talked about the liability and the sign and the fencing and everything. And you mentioned that the sign says only open during library hours, but you decided to leave it quote unquote open anytime just to be more open to community and we'll see how it goes. And you want to know if that would have any issues with liability. You have a sign that says only open to library hours, but you leave the gate open. Looking at this fence, they could just climb over it anyways. So I wonder if that's even... You've got the insurance and if someone comes in there and something happens, you've got that insurance coverage, correct? I mean, nine cents and somebody climbing over the fence or walking through the gate at an off hour. That's what the insurance is for. So you know that manual that I talked about, the federal agency that produced it, they cover a lot of the safety and liability and issues. That would be good resource for you to answer a lot of your questions because I'm not an expert and I really don't want to tell you something that's not accurate. You know, we understood that the fence, our purpose for the fence was to keep littles in. We didn't want to keep your... Yeah, yeah. If we wanted to keep everybody out, we would have built an eight to 10 foot fence. You know, and the cost of the project would have been twice as much. And so, you know, the board just decided that, yeah, this is what we want. You know, we just need to keep people, our littles in so that they're safe. You know, if somebody really wants to get in there, like you said, they're going to get in there. They're going to climb. Yeah. Yeah. We have a reading guard that has a 10 to 12 foot brick wall and, you know, kids still are able to climb over that wall and get in the reading garden after hours. You know, you do what you can on your part and make sure that you're insurance as well is good. And honestly, that's all you can do. Counties or, you know, county parks, they have the same liability with our parks. Many of them, them aren't fenced. Many of them closed off. So. Absolutely. I'm going to have to, I think, do this the last few questions here so we can get into our next session, but there's one I did want to ask about this. So if anyone does want to reach out to me, you can reach out to her at her library. If you have other questions, anything you want to discuss with her about it. Actually, one thing you're just saying, they wonder if you had any problems with parks and rec. You said your parks and rec department worked with you on this. Correct. They were supportive of it. Honestly. No, I made that suggestion. Like you could work with your parks and rec. Did you have anything to say about you, the library doing this then? Or at the time the, the park and rec board wasn't established. They were. Well, they, they were trying to get members to, to, you know, get the committee going again. So no, they did not have any. Any input on there, but I do know another library who had. In the town. In the state of Kentucky. We kind of had that situation where, you know, you know, you know, in the state of Kentucky who kind of had that situation where the park and recs built a playground right next to their property. And they worked together to maintain that. And they actually library pays to maintain it. And then the park and rec committee, they provide the late, you know, the person to, to actually do the labor. Okay. Definitely work together if you have one. So let's do this last question. Do you ever use the playground for potential library activities? Like doing story hour there. Some are reading anything like that, or do you just library use it for any kind of programming related? We do. So we have that. We have programs out there and it's great. It's just like a natural progression from, okay, I'm done with my arts and crafts. And while you're waiting for something to dry, you know, they go out and play. You know, there's so many fun things you can do out on the playground. You can use it like a Nerf war area.  Definitely you can do a lot of like games with like tag. You know, all the fun stuff that we did in the 80s, you freeze tag and all these, you know, still the flag and all these fun little things. Definitely. You can use that area. You know, it's great it's fenced, right? So you're not going to lose anybody down, you know, in the road or the parking lot. Yeah. Yeah, we have. We have a pretty large homeschool group that comes. We host some of their, their events. And, you know, it's just kind of a natural progression too. They come in, they play video games inside and socialize and do some library activities inside. And then on the great days and when it's nice, they, you know, it's just an extension of the library and they go out and they fly before they go home. So you have kids that are families that are there for like two hours, just playing it and taking care, you know, advantage of services. So it's been really, it's really been great. Awesome. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for the presentation. This is great. And I was saying, yeah, congratulations to you on your community. This is a great service for them all. Thank you. So thank you so much.


This is Ronald Coleman inviting you to join Mrs. Coleman and me to the next half hour when our sponsors, the brewers of Schlitz beer, present the Halls of Ivy. The people are doing all over the country. As for Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Schlitz tastes so good to so many people that it's the largest selling beer in America. It has to be fine to be first. Music is in the air of Ivy too. Oh, go on, Toddy. You can make it. I don't want to make it, Vicki. I want to lose it. That musical phrase has been haunting me, trailing through my consciousness like a broken garter. Yeah, I know how it feels. That's why they said you run through your mind. If you just walked, you would catch up with it and kill it. I believe it's from a current digi called the Tennessee Walks. Correct. Two-box favorite. It is. Well, I just set myself up against the popular taste. I've always contended that the popular songs of a nation reflected its current subconscious mood. Now they sound the surface temperament. It's an interesting theory, Doctor. Can you back it up? Certainly. Do you realize that 87 and two-thirds percent of our population is subject to the impact of a current popular melody? Of these people, 48 and one-sixth percent do not realize that the mood induced by this certain tune is reflected in their day-to-day actions, and a 13.7 percent parcel tone depth that it doesn't matter. Oh, why did you find all that out? Where do you get the statistics?  Oh, yes, you're any statistic. The fact that in a loud, firm tone becomes, for the sake of debate, an immediate truth almost never challenged, particularly if the decimal point is yours to create. There's only about a decimal point which seems to indicate the most pain-staking research, and few doubting Thomas' will be unmanly enough to question it. We are a nation of efficiency worshipers, and statistics, but where did this start? Joke boxes, folk songs, decimal points, statistics. Like a man on his way to Alcatraz, you can get a long way from home with one cent. Need observation. Well, thank you, thank you, yes. Did you ever stop to think that 29.4 percent of my conversation was made up of need observation? That 16.9 was composed of complimentary remarks about you, 46.11, not rehearsal chatter, and 13.2 pure nonsense. At the total of 105.61 percent. You're getting some outside help. I give up now. Let's go back and get a jukebox some more. Every day, make a folk song, not go on from there. Well, I've been toying with the theory, and considering that the debate is merely with myself, I haven't talked with statistics. The theory that the current wave of popular music, hillbillies, gradances, waltzes, and reels is highly significant. It's a reaching back for reassurance, a fight from the harsh possibilities of our atomic future. It's rather sad in a way, but then a lot of folk songs are said. They reflect the melancholy spirit of a passive resistance to fate. Even the gaer and more sprightly tunes. You know where someone is going, somewhere with a banjo on his knee, and is it a basically sad song? How am I supposed to have a concession authority on popular music? I'm very welcome. I'm willing to drop the subject here. But if Madame Hoptener sings for Tennessee Waltz at her concert tomorrow night, we can start all over again. Well, the doubt that she will. Well, we've set a pretty high standard with our Ivy Music Concert Series. Pipets, Rubenstein, Marion Anderson, Deadegorsky, Madame Hoptener. You know, a very impressive list of... Of course, forget Tennessee, here's Mississippi. That'll be Calhoun Daddy with the eggs. Well, hi, folks. Hello, Calhoun. Hi, Calhoun. I just come visit you. Well, just for a minute or two, I'm kind of rushed this morning, Dr. Hall. What, an early morning class? No, sir. An early morning, why? I was out getting my eggs this morning about 6 o'clock, and I turned around and there was Lori cleaning up from the book of Mississippi and looking pretty as a peach tree in the rain. Oh. Your wife's here, Ivy? Yes, ma'am. Oh, that's terrific. From over in Egypt brought her up. Egypt? That's a town in Chickasaw County. Oh, oh. All right. I hope you'll bring her over to see us while she's here, Calhoun. Well, I sure would like to, Doc, but she's only going to be staying two, three days. Seems to get right back to her church work. Lori's got a conscience like a probe bumped on its nest. Oh, dear. It's more like a concert. And, sad, do we have an engagement. But we're free tonight, aren't we, William? We are, yes, we are. Well, why don't you and Lori come over for dinner? Oh, Ms. Hall. Lori would be tickled, thinkin' of pink-eyed pigs. Well, I got to hustle that. Oh, by the way, Doc, many happy returns of the day. Well, thank you, but it's nothing like that. Well, to this week, a friend of yours reminds gonna be 387 years old for the mutual friend. Oh, of course, William Shakespeare. Yeah, yeah, it's his anniversary week. And I just feel like congratulatin' everybody.  Now, are your rights, Calhoun? The tribute is due. It's not of an age, but for all time, as his friend Ben Johnson said, my Shakespeare rise. Now, are the monuments within a tomb and are the rides still while I booked us live and we have wits to read and prayers to give? 387 years old, still goin' strong. Do you think what them Elizabethans would've done if they'd known about vitamins? Well, they'll buy, folks, and I'll tell Lori, it's Doc Hall. Oh, Mr. Wellmer, I'll see you later, Paul. Yeah, we'll celebrate the birthday tonight, Calhoun. Morning, Mr. Wellmer, and so long, Mr. Wellmer. Yeah. Birthday. This evening? This evening. That's what I came to tell you about. This evening. Then there will be a 730. In fact, I, what did it, a last minute of the race, but that's why I'm inviting you personally. She wasn't expected until tomorrow morning that she ride besides the noon. That's why I'm giving her dinner. But Mr. Wellmer had some difficulty in persuading her. She wanted to bed at the wall. She had to... However, I did finally convince her that it was the least she could, I mean, please, to do. I expect you and Mrs. Hall to be there. But, Mr. Wellmer, what is this, Doctor Hall? That, until far, you have neglected to identify the she in your invitation. And furthermore, I'm afraid we have an engagement for this evening. Mrs. Gaby is here from Cebu, going to the city. Madam Hopner is here from Vienna, Austria. Oh, Madam Hopner. Oh, and this is to be a semi-official affair. Ah, Victoria, I don't think that Gaby's on mind if we change our... Did you say Gaby? Yes. Well, now, I say, well, in that case, I'll extend your regrets to Madam Hopner. I trust you have an enjoyable evening. Goodbye. And I'll be delighted to find my own way out. Yes, but, Mr. Wellmer, if you wait, I just... Mr. Wellmer's invitations must be me out of bad check, so you really bounce, don't they? I've never seen one who's drawn with such dexterity. I wonder how one so slight of mind could have mastered such sleight of hand. I was trying to tell him that we should rearrange our plans.  And as President of Ivy, you probably should go to that dinner. Yeah, that's what I was about to tell Mr. Wellman. I sometimes feel he doesn't like us. I've never known anything so magnificently neutral. Dr. Hall, Ms. Hall, this here's my wife, Lori. Mrs. Gaddy. Oh, I'm so glad to meet you. Come in, Mrs. Gaddy. How are you? Oh, please, just call me, Lori. I'll be looking over Miss Shorty to see who you're talking to. I'm real pleased to meet you. Well, now, here, let me have your coat. Oh, well, what's this, Carol? Oh, Ms. Hall, Lori's been fussing all the way over here because I brought her a guitar. I wanted a thing for you. She is a regular mockingbird. Oh. Let her tell whom they want to hear me. Because they're folks who can appreciate good things. Now, sit down, Lori, and tell me, how's the baby? Oh, little Willie's just as bright as a starry night in the Ponywoods, Miss Hall. Just wait till you sing. Lori brought me that mask.  That is Willie Todd Hunter Gaddy. Oh, he's a doll. Looks like you. Look. Looks thoughtful. Well, to that age, they tell me I resembled nothing so much as a wax doll with criminal instincts. That's all going to dinner. Yes, yes, and afterward, Lori, we'd love to hear you sing, although we have no established policy of making our guests sing for their lover. Down to the holler of the boys all holler, the boys all holler. Jeb Jones daughter with the low neck collar. She can't cook, she can't sew. She roams the woods like a yearling doe. One, two, three, you can follow me. And Jeb Jones daughter to the sycamore tree. I got a fever in my bones.  Got a fever in my bones for the no cap doll of old Jeb Jones. Love is sweet and shy. Don't need to ask which one is best. Take a good look and you know the rest. I do the life to her. Please do your heart like a sizzle down bird. Kiss her once, tell her no more. Tomorrow comes and you're knocking out her door. Oh, I got a fever in my fever in my sister's song. Thank you, Calhoun, for bringing her guitar along tonight. But you never told a showboy for such an artist. Oh, she sings real sweet now, she does. With you out the year in the kitchen at breakfast time. Oh, five children join, and you can still sing at breakfast. Anyway, I think he very, very quiet in his home. And that's for my mama. She always said singing was much better than talking. You never get into any arguments that way.  Yes, she was right, too. Take any four men, no matter what. Calhoun Duggery, they have planned for each other. Organize them into a barbershop quartet and you have some kind of harmony. But with Calhoun's empty of Duggery. You know, it's the next time the board of government... Oh, hey, Doc, you got company. Well, it's unexpected. Excuse me, I'll see you later. Good evening, Doc. Mr. Merryweather, come in. So your lights on, so I thought I'd be the first to bear tidings of mixed horror and hilarity. One, if by land, and two, if by wellman. Whatever it is, come in. Oh, Mr. Merryweather, nothing could be nice. And you know Calhoun Gaddy, don't you? Who doesn't? How are you, Gaddy? Oh, proud is a spotted problem, Mr. Merryweather. I want you to make my wife glory. It's a pleasure, Mrs. Gaddy. Howdy, Mr. Merryweather. Dr. Hall, you must have known what was going to happen at Wellman's Wingding tonight, and that's why you ducked it. Oh, does anything ever happen at Mr. Wellman's Wingding? Nothing good. Just listen. First, there were eggs stuffed with caviar. Pink caviar. But it was in the middle of the Schnitzelala Holstein that the guest of honor turned a hunter's green and fled from the table. Yep, parents sent out an emergency call for Hippocrates, Vespasian, Pasteur, Lister, Osler, the Mayo Brothers, and Flossy Nightingale. Madam Huffman should have been forewarned about Mr. Wellman's banquets. He has the gastronomic judgment of the nearsighted goats. And they're very queasy, queasy. That means it is Mr. Wellman. He don't know his grits or his bravery here at the front. Oh, of course. Well now, how about her concert tomorrow night, Mr. Merryweather? Oh, I guess you pulled through. Just a touch of domain. What about the rest of the guest? Waiting with fear and trembling. I feel as though I'm living on bar of time. You just sit here and think sweet thoughts. Glory is a special favor to Mr. Merryweather. Won't you sing the rock candy mountain? Now, someday remind me to remove the door shut. It would save us a lot of time. Why, Mr. Merryweather? Yes, ma'am, back again on the slightest pretext. You don't need any commanding. Well, hello, doctor. Have you heard the latest about La Hofna? Oh, I haven't been able to break through Wellman's wall of silence yet. Well, get this. Wellman, in honest remorse, tried to make amends to his guests and send her a lavish floral piece this morning. He meant well that much, I concede. Bless his bullet-proof little heart. Whenever anyone says he meant well, that means he's meant a mess of things. Very concisely stated, ma'am. He couldn't have known, that Madam Hofna has an allergy to gardenia as a violent one. And now her sinuses are so badly affected, she won't be able to sing tonight. That nose-gay of his didn't make hers very. Yes, you know what I mean. Well, can we postpone the concert a day or two? No, there's the rub. She'll do back in New York at the Met. If she hasn't recovered by next week, Rudolph Bing may sue us. Or Clarence will cast me to get a replacement. On such short notice, who could we get? Taddy, do you remember what we were saying about folk songs? Uh-huh. Do you suppose Glory could do it? Glory. Calvoon Gaddy's wife? Uh-huh. Say, I'll go for that, doc. Do you think she can fill the shoes of a big opera singer? I think she wears a smaller size. The most thing is an artist, too. Yes, certainly. Just to mention, too, John Jacob Niles and Burl Ives can draw 3,500 people into any auditorium in the country. It's certainly okay with me, but... What about the Ivy Music Society? Well, that's your department, so you'll make arrangements on that end.  Uh-huh. Mention the blue-tailed fly to him and he'll be waiting with a swathe. Well, I don't think Clarence is going to have much to say for a few days. Say, what are we going to call this girl? We'll let you the maiden name, Glory Goliathly. Glory Goliathly. Hallelujah. Ever since it may sound, I'd say that if Hawthorne and I hadn't lost the power, we'd never have the glory. The horn she's changing her dress in the back. Ms. Hall, you should have singed, Glory, when I told her.  She's been fussing to wear that there party dress ever since she got it for Aunt Effie's funeral.  Oh, you look just plain delicious. Hey, all right, Ms. Hall, it's real saddened. Yeah, it's lovely, Glory. Lovely. Uh, what do you think, William? Me? Oh, ah, yes. Well, I, uh... Yes, yes, it is saddened. And then bold. Glory, you as fluffed up as a new busted cotton ball. Now, do you know, Calhoun, I don't think it does justice to Glory. Don't you like it, Ms. Hall? Well, it's not bad. It's just that it takes away from you.  Oh, stage? Well, those are just miraculous clothes. The simpler the dress, the more appropriate for your folk balance. Just a guitar, a girl, and her song. But, Dr. Hall, you don't want me to sing them old things for all those people? That was my idea. What did you all have in mind? Oh, I've been practicing up all afternoon on some real good tunes. I thought I'd begin with, baby, it's cold outside. Baby, it's... Well, then I could sing La Vie en Rose, and maybe end with, um, I love you truly. Yeah, Glory, eh, if you don't mind a suggestion. I think all those are fine, but they're a little too familiar. I liked the songs you sang for us last night, and I'm sure the audience would love them too. They're just heavy on this whole. I like them, but they're so old. They're never lasting in you, Glory. I have no objection to popular songs, but they march in and march out with the hit parade. Your songs started somewhere beyond memory, and they never die. Oh, Dr. Wright, sugarfoot, you know Dernwell, you learned them from your mom, and she learned them from her mom, and she learned them playing back for anybody was born. When the only guitar was on wind through the cap, they... Well, if you all think so, I don't mind. I just thought you wanted me to put on a show. Last night, Glory, you told us that you sing for only one reason, because you like to. That's the best reason, and that's why your singing makes others happy. Happiness is contagious, and if the virus is ever isolated, it'll probably be music. So, just sing that way tonight, and he'll all be a show. More attention for a moment. I look out to announce that due to an unfortunate sudden illness, Madame Latte-Hutner cannot appear tonight. However, we... we are going to hear another artist this evening, a folk singer. All great masters drew deeply from the treasury of folk music. As Vaughan Williams, the great British composer, has put it, at the root of the musical quality of a nation lies the natural music, or simplest and clearest manifestation as the folks are. And where can we look? Sure, a proof that our art is living than in that music which has for generations voiced the spiritual lungs of our people. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to present Miss Glory Gorlite. Did you enjoy the concert? Yes, I did. It was different, but I never thought I'd do well. Yes, I did. She's on the road to New York. And I mean, she's gone. No, that is, she's left. Well, it was regrettable to Mr. Wellman. Yes, yes, well, it was very unfortunate, but as it turned out, I see, Dr. Horl, everything turns out to the best. The music society came through in the crisis. Ivy can be proud.  And I can be proud. Such a brilliant surprise. Congratulations, Clarence. No matter what, I really did nothing, but I do feel that after such a tragedy, and by the way, I'm suing the grocer who's only that heavy heart. But this young lady who replaced our celebrity deserves the highest praise. I'm just on my way to pay my respects. Where is she? Miss Glory. Mr. Wellman, I'm glad to introduce you to her. You know her, Dr. Horl? Yes, I do. This way, Mr. Wellman. Thank you, Miss Wellman. Yeah, thank you. Excuse me, Calvary. Glory. I don't believe you've met the chairman of our board of governors. This is Mr. Clarence Wellman. Howdy, Mr. Wellman. Mr. Wellman, this is Miss... Young lady, you were magnificent. You saved the day. There we were. I'm the halls of the dilemma. Mr. Wellman, what is it? I don't believe you've got the name. This is Mrs. Gathe. How do you do, Mrs. Gathe? Mrs. Gathe? Mrs. Gathe? Mrs. Calvary Gathe. Mrs. Calvary Gathe? Mrs. Calvary? Well, yes, I... Well, naturally I... He's a fast man with five children. Congratulations, Mrs. Gathe. Good night. Oh, my... When did that girl mind that she could make a career out of her singing? Why should it? She has a career already. Yeah, she has her name in life as a wife and mother.  Oh, darling, darling. I didn't give up a thing. In fact, I'm currently appearing in my greatest vehicle called Teacher's Pet and Beautifully, which has looked due for a very long time.


It's hard to know the age of our people when we are so easily captivated by events that have logical explanations. This would suggest that our minds have a memory of more prosperous times and in turn, we expect more than what can actually be achieved. It is not that we are primitive in the today and now because we are not. Our mental capacity has kept us at the top of the Earth's food chain, yet we expect to visit other worlds and meet new civilizations. The human mind stretches further into history that it will allow us to remember and the thought here is, do we really know our own minds? Maybe for our own protection, our minds have shed memories, cut them loose like baggage that was only weighing us down. The trauma from cataclysmic events is very real in every human's mind. It is a collective trauma and this makes us a collective species. Now what we mean is that the thought of God or in some traditions, the many gods visiting us Earthlings in a divine intervention in whatever circumstances is widely accepted as events that have happened in this sense. Some of us look for the answers we are told are true when our faith is tested. Things like Rold Dahl depict the BFG and his intellectual offerings relating to the deeper thinking process and the photographer Tamas Ladany offered the citizens of the city of Vesprem the chance to send their imaginative spurts into overdrive in 2014. Back in 2014, the photographer set a scene that would seem straight out of the film like the day the Earth stood still, a stunning apparition of a seemingly giant figure in the distance that is either menacing in its presence or defensive when the citizens sleep. Cunningly named the specter of Vesprem, the photograph was inspired by the eerie and misty setting of the city dwellings, a beautiful image that shows the vulnerability of civilization on the Eden that is planet Earth. How was it done? We hear you ask. Well, wait till you hear this. The photographer explains that the image and scenario were taken from the top of a 20 story building with the rising sun directly at his back. The special geometry suggests this is an example of an atmospheric phenomenon called the glory or sometimes the specter of the brakin. Also seen from mountain tops and airplanes when looking opposite the sun. This dramatic apparition is the observer's shadow on clouds or fog, the small droplets of water scattering light back towards the sun through complex internal reflections. Careful night sky watchers can also encounter this specter's analog in astronomy, a brightening of zodiacal light opposite the sun known as the Gagonshine, which is a faint diffuse brightening along the elliptic directly opposite or counter the sun. At local midnight, 1am daylight savings time, the counter glow appears as a round to oval path of light around 8 to 10 degrees across within the zodiac constellation crossing the southern meridian at that time. You can see it an hour or two earlier or later, but it's highest and easiest to spot during the midnight hour. As with the brighter cousin the zodiacal light, we're seeing sunlight reflected off dust ejected by comets and released during asteroid crack ups. The greater part of it is concentrated in the plane of the solar system, the reason both phenomena are centered on the elliptic, home to the planets, moon and sun. Sunlight scattered forward off dust in the direction of the sun creates the zodiacal light. Back scattered light from dust directly opposite the sun towards the asteroid belt gives us the Gagonshine. It lies opposite the sun much like a full moon or planet at opposition, sunlight strikes the dust particles square on. All the tiny shadows cast are hidden behind each and every grain so they don't subtract from the belt's brightness, creating a brighter spot in the sky. The moon experiences a similar bump in brightness at the time of full phase, astronomers call it the opposition effect. We also see the same phenomenon as a halo of light around our heads when looking at smooth or regularly textured ground with the sun at our back. And that is basically what is happening in this photograph and we thought you guys might find that interesting and a nice change of pace. This is all from us for the moment but we will be back just shortly with more content that is shining a light on the history of civilization as we know it. Please put your comments below and as always, thank you for watching.


everybody. Welcome back to SOTRIC Atlanta. Of course, my name is Bryce. This is our next installment of the Hathor Material, which is the book that was written by Tom Kenyon. We are almost at the end of this book. Today is also the very last day of our 60-day shadow work challenge. Good job, you guys. I am so proud of each and every one of you. Winners will be selected soon for all the prizes, and yeah, we'll be doing some upcoming episodes with some of our participants, all that kind of stuff. I do have the next challenge in the works right now. We're going to give it about a month or so to let everything integrate into your system, and then we're going to do what we call a 10-day intensive shadow work challenge, but I will give more details about that the closer we get to doing that 10-day intensive. Again, as I've said, as Amy has also said, we want to very much make sure that you give yourself time to integrate everything you've worked through over these last 60 days. That does not mean you stop exercising. That does not mean you stop journaling. It just means you pull back the intensity a little bit, not with the exercise, not with, you know, the meditation, but just with the subject matter at hand, maybe just journal stuff about your day now, not looking deeply at your traumas for a little bit, just to kind of let things unravel, but keep up the good work, keep up the exercise, keep up the meditation, keep up the cold showers, keep up the epsom salt, hot baths at night, oil bathing, everything, keep it up.  You know more about yourself, and so you can make better decisions when it comes to your own path and your own journey. All right, now let's get back into the addendum of the Hathor material. Today we are starting with healers and healing. Last week we spoke a lot about sound healing and sound vibration. Very interesting. And this week we're going to jump off with healers and healing. Healers need to be aware that there is a danger when working with other people's energy. An improperly purified teacher who works with someone who is ill may actually feel depleted after working with such a person and or he or she may later have a healing crisis to face. Absolutely. As an Ashtanga teacher, that's something that's important for me to do as well. I know many Ashtanga teachers who have their own little rituals to try to seal off their energy. So when they put their hands on their students to help them, they're not picking up empathically, picking up the energy from the student that their work remains their work. This is also why for most yoga teachers in traditional yoga, I don't know about the contemporary yoga, but in traditional yoga, we are taught to take care of our practice before we teach our students so that we can balance ourselves and ground ourselves before being a vessel or a tool to the people that we're trying to help support through their own practice. So it's super important to have that spiritual hygiene. Absolutely. A healer may discover to his or her dismay that after he or she has brought through healing energies for another person, the healer's own cause may be depleted, although he or she may not feel the results immediately. The reason for this disparity has to do with the healer's own level of awareness and the source of energy that he or she is using to heal. Interesting. We've been speaking a lot about organic portals, and we've said over and over and over again that your job is not to fix anybody. If somebody is draining your energy, your job is to put up a boundary. We have been taught by the controllers in our churches and our schools that to be a good person, you need to be self-sacrificing. But according to all the spiritual material, to be self-sacrificing is to be of the darkness, is satanic. And so, yes, you have to be very, very aware of your own energy. I say this all the time. It's a very famous quote. You could lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Your job as a healer is simply just to lead that horse to water. Whether that horse drinks or not is up to the horse. If you're a Reiki practitioner, the Reiki is not even going to work on the subject unless the subject is open to the healing. If you're a yoga teacher, the same thing. The yoga teacher cannot do the work for the student. All the yoga teacher can do is provide the template of the work. You cannot save anybody, right? If there is a relationship that you have in your life that is toxic, and you think for some reason you can save that person or change that person, you are sorely mistaken. The only person that that is affecting is you. It's draining, it's an energy vampire. It's draining you of your cause, of your life force. And your responsibility on the path of the light of the good is to preserve that. It's like in an airplane. When oxygen mass drops, they tell you to put it on yourself first before you put it on somebody else. When a person is in need of energy, there is a level of self not necessarily conscious. That pulls energy from whomever and whatever is available. If you are a healer and you are with someone who is in need of a type of energy that you have, he or she will pull it from you either consciously or unconsciously. Again, that goes back to a lot of the organic portal discussions that we have where they literally so organic portals. If you missed those discussions, I will put them down in the description box below. But organic portals don't have their upper four chakras. It stops at Manipura. And so they have to mimic you in order to feel an emotional center.  So that's called an energy vampire. Be aware of this. Be very, very aware of this. We are speaking about the vital energy, the Prana, which is held by your cause, the spiritual twin of your physical body. When energy fields are interconnected, there are strands sent from the person who needs energy to the one who has energy. The needy one pulls energy like water from a well. And this is usually an unconscious act because it occurs at another level of the self. Indeed, this is the true symbolic meaning of the word vampire. All right, there we go. I just said that before reading it. You can be vampire of your energy. And we're not talking about sucking someone's blood, although those vampires exist too. We're talking about pulling someone's vital energy from his or her car. That's so important. Please, I think it's get kind of chill bumps that the organic portal information came up as we're getting to this information. So you're hearing this from multiple, multiple sources. Again, I'm going to repeat. Martyrdom is not good. Martyrdom is an act of selfishness. It's an act of satanic abuse. Protect yourself. If you are not energetically prepared and don't understand the phenomenon, you can be with someone who is physically and or emotionally depleted or psychologically disturbed. And after you leave him or her, you will feel depleted yourself. We've all been there. Ding, ding, ding. Knowledge is power and knowledge protects. Now you know. This is one reason why some nurses, doctors and other health care givers often feel drained and yoga teachers and Reiki healers. They are frequently surrounded by the sick who drain their cough for healing emergency. Transfusions of energy, not just blood, are possible. The controllers know this. The bad guys all know this. So this is the first level of understanding regarding your energy. It is a vitality that can be pulled or drained by another person. And that is ultimately what they're trying to do, right? That is ultimately what they want. They want your soul. They want your energetic energy. And I, studying the organic portal phenomenon, I had a remembrance of something that happened when I was a high schooler, when I was in youth group, when I was a teenager. And they had this big like program at our church. And it was the I am third program. And so we all got these posters. We got these t shirts that said I am third. And it had this like these numbers. One, two, three, God first, other second, you third. That is the most satanic poster and teachings you can teach a child. But we know that the churches are owned by the cabal. We know that the Christian churches are actually satanic like that. We know that, right? They're 501c3s. They're controlled by the Satanist. I mean, follow the money. Look, if you look at the seminary schools, follow the money who funds the seminary schools, the same people who fund the media, the same people. Okay, so from a very young age, they have tried to warp and twist what empathy actually is. Because remember, the darkness can't create anything. It can only steal and invert. So they took this idea of empathy of having compassion for another person, having love for another person.  That is a negative polarity. So that is going to be a very hard, deep programming for a lot of people to work through. I know a lot of people had mentioned that. So basically, if that's something you struggle with, like not giving of yourself too much, then what you struggle with are boundaries. And so what you need to learn now is how to put up healthy boundaries. And people in your life who are healthy-minded will respect those boundaries. All right. If you are not aware of your call and how life force energy is being extracted from you, then you may suddenly feel as if the plug has been pulled and there is no energy left in the body. If this occurs, you must go off and replenish it. I also have this phenomenon happen to me when I'm in a location and on the earth that is very demonic. So if I'm in a location like a town where there's a lot of really dark energy, I get drained. I get drained like that big time in Rome, Georgia. I have a really hard time being in Rome, Georgia, because I get so drained that I can hardly keep my eyes open because it is very much in my opinion from what I understand allegedly I have to say full of satanic people. In fact, I know for a fact there are more satanic. That's a cluster of satanic activity. I know that because I've researched it. The cluster of controller activity is very wealthy town. There's also when I was in Putnam, Connecticut, same thing. I had a really hard time keeping myself balanced in Putnam, Connecticut. So there's certain places on the earth that are going to do that as well where there's a lot of congested, maybe demonic activity happening. Doesn't mean those places can't be purified. Absolutely they can because again the darkness cannot create. Only the light can't. And so over time we can go through and purify and cleanse the nature. But at this point, because there is so much satanic activity going on, for me it's best just to avoid those areas at this time in the timeline. All right. Returning to the topic of healers. Energy depletion can also occur due to subtle emotional flows within a person's emotional body. These emotional flows are affected by the healer's thoughts and feelings about the person being healed. These emotional flows can also be the result of the healer's agenda. For example, when a healer is trying to force a healing through his or her own will, he can't force anybody. And I feel that way. Like if I have a student that I really don't like, I tend to want to persuade that student to go to another teacher because it's not fair.  If you're in the shawla with Shirat and your sister, you are not allowed to be anywhere near your spouse. You can't adjust them. You can't teach them. You're really not supposed to be teaching friends either.  It's not healthy to then be their teacher and their healer. You need to probably, it's like in the medical world. Like I know with my family all being doctors, I know that no family member of mine who's a doctor can do a surgery on me or can treat me in a clinic. There's an ethical, a moral and ethical dilemma there. They don't like for you to treat or family members. You have to refer your family members to another doctor. All right. That makes sense, right? We need, so if you have someone come to you and you can keep that boundary of just knowing what their issue is and not being invested in them as a person, you yourself are a better conduit for healing because there is no emotional investment. That's why we're therapists. That's why therapy, when you go to your therapist, you need to go to someone who doesn't know you outside of the therapy room because they can be objective and they can really, really do what's right for you without being emotionally invested in you. I hope that makes sense. If you are sending energy from yourself and draining your own vitality, then you are in trouble because you personally have only a limited amount of energy that is available to you until you replenish it. If you are clear that you are a channel for healing and not the source of it, then that healing energy simply flows through you and not from you. So this is big in the Reiki world, right? My friend Emmy, who's a Reiki healer, Reiki comes through her. It's not of her. Does that make sense?  If it flows through you without the blockages of limited motives, this purity will reduce much of the fatigue and exhaustion that some healers are experiencing. Another issue is being clear about your own call in your own life war so that you can sense when your energy is being drawn from you. Unfortunately, most humans are not aware when their energy is being vampired or pulled from them until after the fact until they are exhausted. And those sensations of knowing when energy is in the process of being pulled comes from the subtle body response, which is another reason, just the long list of reasons why everybody should be exercising, right? When we first start an exercise routine, we understand our gross body, which is, oh, my hamstrings hurt, my biceps are sore, I'm getting out of breath. That's a gross body response. But over time, you start to understand your body in a more complex way. You start to feel subtle body responses. You start to feel the internal pulling up of the belly. You start to feel exactly where energy is moving. It's not just a, oh, my God, I can't breathe. I'm running my heart beating really fast or, oh, my God, this is burning my hamstrings or my quadriceps. No, you start to be able to tap past that, past the burning sensation of the muscles into a subtle body response. And that information that you learn from exercising will then breathe into the rest of your life where you will start to feel it. And you will notice it and tap into it. If you're in a situation or with a person that you feel is draining your energy, you will start to subtly feel that before it's too late so that you can remove yourself from the situation. And as you guys remember who've been going through this book for a while with me, the half oars also have spoken multiple times about the need for physical exercise. They flat out said in a couple of sections, if you are not exercising, you're not going to ascend. Simple as that. And there's literally no excuses for anyone, literally no excuses. Alright, so and that's why it's not only, the exercise is not only moving your energy, it's unsticking your values, your energetic pathways, it's pumping your blood, your sacred DNA to heal yourself. But it's also teaching you things about your physical body's responses. And your physical body, although your physical body is not your soul, it's the property, it's the nature of you, it's the Shakti, it's the expression of the soul. But in that, even though the body is not your soul, it is here as your vehicle. It's like when you're driving your car, your check engine light comes on. And you see your check engine light, you know something's not right, you got to go fix it. When you're able to tap into subtle body responses, when you're able to exercise and really feel and ground into your body, you will understand things on a clearer perspective in the spiritual world. For me personally, I will never go to a healer who's overweight. I just won't. And that's not me, I'm not judging them for being overweight, because that's just an imbalance they have. And I have the tendency to go underweight. So, but what I'm looking at is somebody who's not exercising.  That's my boundary. When I look for healers, I look for people that I know, that I absolutely know are working on themselves too. You can tell when someone's exercising, you can tell by just seeing their body, by seeing the condition of their skin, by seeing the condition of the clarity of their eyes, you can tell that about people. The body doesn't lie. The mind lies, the ego lies, but the body doesn't. And that is why, and that is why I think the controllers have manipulated exercise so much.  Listen, I'm the least, when it comes to sports, I'm very coordinated. That's my Vata Pitta, but I'm not competitive. Exercise for me is a way to flush my energy. It's a way to ground myself. It's a way to heal myself. It's a way to get to know myself, right? That's what that is for me. It's part of my sadhana. Sadhana is my devotional practice. It's part of my time with God. Exercise is not about fitting into a pair of skinny jeans or being an athletic frat boy. No, it's about getting into yourself. And they talk about that a lot in this book. This is all throughout Eastern philosophy. Obviously, the yoga sutras speak of this. A lot of the old Vedic texts speak of this. A lot of these ancient religions forced their participants to do some sort of physical movement. And I guarantee you in ancient Egypt, they were not trying to look good in a bathing suit. It wasn't about impressing somebody else with their six-pack. It was about knowing their body. Don't you find it peculiar that in many churches, people are drastically overweight? I've yet to meet one person who is drastically overweight who's happy. Just something to think about. All right. We suggest a simple method for protecting yourself when healing another person. You simply focus some part of your attention on your chronic tube that goes through the center of your body as discussed earlier. That's sushumna, the chronic tube. We talk about that a lot on my channel. If you're ever practiced traditional yoga, you know sushumna is why we engage the bundas to lock the energy within the tube that carries kundalini or Christ consciousness. This tube connects you to both the celestial realms and to earth. Yes. By this, we mean you can draw from both celestial and terrestrial prana. And by connecting these two subtle energies through your body, omnipresent healing energy will more fully move through you and you will at the same time be more grounded, balanced, and aware. Yes, they spoke about that earlier. If you're not grounded, if you're spending all your time up here trying to like not be on earth, you ain't going to ascend. You came to earth to be a human. Get into your body. Madeleine and her missing gospel, which I've always point by care because it's back here. She talks about that. You cannot ascend. It's not possible for you to ascend unless you descend first. You didn't come into your body for shits and giggles. You came into your body for a reason, for an experience to learn. This is earth school. You got to participate. If you go to school, actual school and you don't participate, you're not going to pass, are you? Common sense. You got to participate in earth school. Get into your body. Get to know yourself. Stop projecting. Pull yourself in. Figure yourself out. That's why you came to earth school. Alright. As a healer, you need to cultivate an awareness of your car, your own vitality. I just said that, didn't I? It is possible, by the way, for a person to pull another individual's energy, even if he or she is not within the proximity of the other person physically, it can be done from thousands of miles away. Yes, because energy is not bound to time or location. Have you ever just been like doing the dishes and all of a sudden you think of somebody that you've known that lives like in another country? It's an energetic pull. Prana is not the subtlest energy, even though it is subtler than physical matter. There are energies that have an even subtler vibration than prana and these energies have more powerful healing properties. The higher you ascend in vibration, the closer you will get to source and all that is, where you can draw from those most subtle energies. The purer you are, the more powerful your healing results will be. Also, the purer you are, the more organic portals and narcissists are going to target you, which for me, I've been targeted a lot by organic portals and narcissists and coven members. So I know I'm over the target. So thanks guys. What the devil will use for bad, God will use for good. That's kind of a week to me and not to me that I must be doing something right. A healer's mastery evolves. As a healer's mastery evolves, he or she reaches a point where it is possible to dissolve an energetic block or dissolve a crystallized pattern through skillful manipulation of energy. This level of mastery is a natural development. However, there is a fine line between seeing the need for change and forcing that change. That's what I was saying with the values. The values are pathways in the body that you cannot see on an MRI. They're energetic pathways and that's what gets stuck and even an exercise will also clear the physical pathways but it also more importantly changes the energetic patterns and pathways. We talk about that a lot in Ashtanga. There are patterns that you have developed in your life and some of those patterns cannot be broken unless you consciously come in and do the alchemy of the practice to change those patterns. The healer must ascertain whether the type of time is right for the change or not. In the final analysis, the choice for this change must come from the one being healed and not from the healer. Healers who impose their will unto others will find that such manipulations are ultimately ineffective no matter how skillfully applied. Yes because you can only bring a horse to water. You can't make the horse drink. You've got to let that horse decide if it wants to drink or not. Healers must also understand that they often attract to themselves clients who reflect their own psycho-spiritual issues. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! The man in the mirror right there. So in the process of healing and being a conduit for higher energies, the healer is also a learner. If the healer remains humble and open to their clients as reflections of their own process, they can grow even more in self-awareness and compassion. Finally, healers need to be clear that others have a right to suffer. Do not impose your timetables onto another. Grant the space and the grace for others to move into greater awareness at their own speed. That is one of the most profound statements. I'm going to read that again. Finally, healers need to be clear that others have a right to suffer. Suffering is necessary. It's real. That's the friction. I see this a lot and I know I'm not a parent. I'm an aunt. I have a nephew and two nieces and God knows I will do anything to try to help their life. I would love to take their pain on for them, but trying to take your child's pain on for them is not helping them. They have a right to suffer. That's what's going to give them wisdom. So if you try to take that suffering away from somebody else, you are taking away their experience to ascend, to gain wisdom. We don't want to intentionally inflict pain and suffering onto somebody else, but our own personal suffering usually comes from our own thoughts and our own mind, the Yoga Chitra Pratina Rodha. Somebody could have their boyfriend cheat on them and not take it as personally as somebody else. It's about that person's perception. So we have to allow people the right to go into their own hell, to descend into that because pain is real. Pain is real. Do not take away somebody else's right to suffer. That is one of the most powerful lines spoken in this whole book. You have to let them be on their journey. You trying to take away their right to suffer is putting you on a selfish path, which is service to self. If they ask you for help, if they come to you humbly and want help, give them help, but understand that they have to go through the process themselves. That's their prerogative. That's why they came here to earth. Don't take that away from them. Do not try to interrupt somebody else's karma. That's their work, their karma. All right. Regarding the use of psychology for healing. Psychology for the most part aims at getting humans to adjust to their society in a way that creates a little difficulty for individuals as possible. So the basic vision or goal is simply one of adaptation, but this adaptation to a society that is essentially oppressive in regard to human potential. The human being has far greater potential for expression as well as emotional and mental experience that is conceived by most psychologists. Except for I had a really great, my trauma therapist was amazing because she used a lot of the yogic principles with me. So we can't, I've said this before and Catherine says to Edward says this on her channel, you can't tar everyone with the same feather, right? You can't generalize. Many psychologies deal with the areas of consciousness that are language based, which requires much talking and very little time is focused on resolving fundamental energy issues unless you go to a trauma therapist. They use a lot of, you go through talk therapy at first, but then they do like EMDR, all sorts of practices that help shift the energy through the physical body into the subtle body. He might have written this book though before EMDR was a thing. I don't know. Everything is held emotionally in the body and the subtle fields is disordered, such as pain or trauma has an energetic component. Therefore you can talk and talk, but nothing will fundamentally change because the energies of the situation have not been addressed. So I talk therapy along with exercise is very beneficial. If individuals working in this field wish to expand themselves and their repertoire to become more effective at healing work, they should include the energetics of emotional and mental states and their methodology so that the energies of repressed emotions and beliefs are addressed more directly with their client. Exactly EMDR. So I'm thinking that Tom Kenyon probably channeled this book before things like EMDR were around. When the energetics of a situation are addressed, the trauma as well as the discomfort are resolved. Both the nervous system and the behavior can then come back into a state of equilibrium and balance. This brings an increase of wellness in the individual. Even worse is the use of drugs to suppress the energetics of emotion. I absolutely agree with this. There's a relationship between brain chemistry, emotions, thought forms and beliefs, but the science of pharmacology on the earth is in its infancy. No, pharmacology, that's just sorcery. They know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing. You don't believe me ask the big wigs, the 1% why their kids aren't getting zapped or taking that they know what they're doing. The methods you now use to control brain chemistry are like using a club to hit and nap. Shock treatment and such applications are devastating to the individual's energy field. It's the person's nervous system.  We don't use shock treatment anymore. I don't know what he channeled this book, but I don't know how many people here are still doing lobotomy. Furthermore, shock treatments can create rips and tears in the subtle body. Since the calm body can be damaged by these procedures, shock treatment is a very poor treatment modality. When there is a bolus or surge of energy in the brain via shock treatment, it's as if an explosion has gone off in the brain and the nervous system comes back to a different type of equilibrium than it possessed before.  In the coming decades, sounds and electromagnetism will also be used in treatments of emotional and mental problems. There's an editor's note here. If you are taking psychotropic drugs or other prescription medications for psychological addition, it is not advised to stop taking your medication without speaking to a qualified mental health professional. I'm glad they said that. I have suggested people have asked me how to come off of medications and I have suggested going to an Ayurvedic doctor. Depression is very real. Anxiety disorders are very real. So are the drugs you're on for them and you don't want to add even more shock to your system just by going cold turkey. You need to be with a trusted, a trusted medical professional that will honor and respect your choices and help you course correct in a very healthy way that's not going to damage you or put you into more trauma. Ayurvedic doctors can do that. If you have a good therapist, they can do that for you. So yes, do not quit cold turkey. All right, you guys, I was going to go a little bit further today, but that was a really heavy topic and something's telling me to cut it there for today. Again, I'm going to put the episodes for the organic portals down in the description box. I really, really, really liked what they had to say. Again, remember, everybody has the right to suffer. Really just work on yourself, protect your energy, work on your boundaries. And I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day.