Lemonade for Sale: $10

My sister and I were those kids on our block who often had a table set up on the curbside when the weather was nice outside. Most of the time it was lemonade or some low-sugar fruity drink, but sometimes we went through our rooms and decided to sell things we no longer played with. My sister's claim to fame was that she sold a Troll doll to Derek Harper, who lived down the street. He said it was going to be one of his daughter's birthday presents. We'd perch on on the top of our brick mail box, flagging down the traffic that consisted of a sole car, creeping down the hill, about one for every 7 minutes that passed.

I began babysitting when I was 13 years old. By the time I could drive, I was booking jobs weekends in advance. I'd glance ahead in my planner, realizing that I had jobs lined up each day of the weekend, for the next 2 or 3 weeks. All of a sudden, as I'm typing this, it makes perfect sense! My dating life was obsolete, but I was making bank and got amazing grades throughout all of HS! I had unknowingly developed the habit of multitasking at a very early age, as well as entrepreneurship. Families could depend on me to take care of their kids and their houses and I began to build a reputation as one of those sitters who would tidy the house and wash dishes after the kids went to bed, thus was recommended to friends of existing clients. I remember one Christmas, I bought a stack of blank rectangular magnets and designed a logo on Windows "Paint" program with my name and phone number and job title: Babysitter. After I printed them off, cut them out and adhered the paper to the magnets, I personalized each and every one of them with multi-colored stamps, then gave them out to my client base. I learned from my father that if you develop good business relationships, it's important to recognize them and let them know they're recognized; that the appreciation is mutual.

Now, as an adult and someone who has suddenly found themselves interested in building a reputation in the creative arts industry, I am pulling out those habits developed as a teenager. So far, the repertoire consists of fused glass pieces of jewelry, uniquely designed racks upon which to display your jewelry, collaged light covers, re-used vintage house window glass paintings, and the piece I'm most proud of, my very first poem chapterbook, "The Toothbrush Tales, Vol. I". It's a collection of 10 origi

nal typewritten poems and collaged artwork. I don't have a steady income at the moment, so this is the beginning of my livelihood as a visual and literary artist. I'm calling the idea "Totem Tokens", because it's a hodgepodge of creations and each area represents a different aspect of areas of life. I'm hoping that there might be a duel-purpose token that can offer something to anyone.

Asheville and Memphis have been very productive points of travel. I found an instant community on the Warren Wilson campus in the woods and entered as a traveler and left as a perspective student for the only graduate program offered: An MFA in creative writing. Go figure that I was plopped onto a campus, in the middle of nature, with one of the best writing programs in the country. It was only natural that I'd get inspired to complete the chapbook, I guess.

I caught my first Craigslist ride share to Memphis, to visit my sister. It wouldn't have been possible without my friends from WWC, though, who helped me with meals, a warm place to stay, use of computers, and a ride into town. My ride share was this woman who needed to get home to see to her ailing mother, with the help from her siblings. The situation seemed familiar to what my own mother and her siblings may have experienced, only a couple of months prior, with Nana. My new friend and I cheered each other on, as we spoke similar views about our society; the need to share what we've already got and bartering our services, while reluctantly agreeing that one still has to try to earn money, even though money itself can truly be the evil root of everything.

Something we didn't have in common, though, was the fact that she'd grown up 3 decades earlier, in the deep south. One where she recalls classmates spitting on her chairs before sitting down to try to focus on the day's lessons. One where she remembers being "taught" by means of staring at the backside of her teacher because he had divided the class by race and directed his topics to only the white students. One where she was the first of five total black students to graduate from the de-segregated high school in Batesville, MS in 1969, only to receive her first reunion announcement 40 years later, after Obama obtained office.

In Memphis, my sister and I visited and talked about our plan to reunite the family by relocating us all to Eugene, OR, in 2-4 years. I hope everyone realizes by now that if it's a "plan" I'm a part of, it's going to happen... :) We went on a hike in the Shelby Forest State Park near her house, and I went on runs and set up the Totem Tokens Facebook page and attempted an Etsy account, not to mention, watched a bunch of Netflix. It was awesome.

I'm plotting my next move, that involves touching base in OK for a couple of days before heading off to Dallas, spending Thanksgiving in Norman and continuing travels to points west. The winds are picking up; clinging leaves are becoming chameleons on their branches, at which point they'll be released to the rest of the world. I'll happily continue to join those leaves on their journey.