A holiday, local, state, and national, to recognize the end of slavey and the accomplishments of all African Americans.

Locally, there was a celebration in the Palmer town square. I was at the dentist’s when horses were ridden into the pavilion area and a proclamation was made. I am sorry I missed this.

I should have rescheduled the dentist appointment. But well, it was a big day in dental history. I had two of three implants put in place this morning. I now have just one left. This will be “implanted” in August. I did not see the tool that the dentist used – it was like a rachet. And at one point there was a series of clicks, which meant that it had snapped into place. I do my best to come across as low maintenance – it’s hard because I do not like having dental work done.

Bea, a Bright Lights Book Project board member/volunteer, set up the events table and was soon joined by Pam, another volunteer. Bea set up at 10 a.m. and Pam joined her at 12:30 p.m. I got there at 1 p.m.

Pam at Juneteenth

There was a music stage, a local group, Kombucha 230, was playing. And under the pavilion there was a snack table. In front of this was an area for vendors. To the right of the Bright Lights Book Project table was a family selling locally made root beer and kombucha out of their converted blue and white Volkswagen van. To the left of the Bright Lights Project table was a young fellow selling copies of his book. His family was there with Harlan.

Harlan is a gentle, unassuming, quiet, and incredibly modest 17 year old, someone who most must like immediately. I looked at his second book, which he wrote and designed and formatted. I was very impressed. In fact, I was so impressed that I hailed down Jacob Mann, the Frontiersman newspaper reporter, and pointing to the family said, “here’s your real story.”

Jacob knelt next to Harlan’s chair and talked with him and with his family for at least a half an hour. I suspect that this is going to be a really good story.

This, I thought, as I watched the interview progress, is for the Bright Lights Book Project, all about making connections. I had this great idea – I would like for Harlan to do a reading/autograph signing at our new site, that is if it ever gets organized.

What with Juneteenth and distributing, I didn’t get much work done inside. It seems, right now, like a task that’s going to take more time and effort than I have to give.

I also saw my friend Timothy, who’d walked a considerable ways to check out the new distribution site. The event site was diagonally across the street, so rather than have Timothy do extra walking, I instead showed him photos of the inside area on my camera.

Back to work cleaning and stamping tomorrow. I must learn to pace myself – the question is, how does one do this?

Next: 169. 6/20/23: Rainy Solstice Coming Right Up