The musicians are tired, the dancers are tired, but the last song and dance are always the best.

An apt comparison – I don’t think that the Bright Lights Book Project is coming to end, but I am aware that everything comes to an end, even a good evening spent amongst others.

And so, I remember my father, teaching at an alternative high school for teen aged boys that had been expelled from the public high schools. This was in Rochester, NY. For a few years it went quite well. Then it folded. I do not know what the reasons for closing the school actually were. And I don’t know where my father found work after this. What I do know is that I was left with the realization that even the best programs have a shelf life.

So does the BLBP have a shelf life? Of course, it must. Will it then live on after I am no longer involved with it? Probably not in the same way that I’m now envisioning it. And this is okay. But someday, the BLBP doors will close.

I thought this today, as our consultant, Hilary Morgan, met with six of us and talked with us about fundraising. She reminded us of what we all knew, which is that we need to focus on numbers, and also upon making our pitch using examples and money.

I got up and pulled off the wall a flier from Heifer International. This nonprofit organization proports to provide people in rural areas with livestock – donors pay for the cost of the chickens, ducks, heifers, goats, and whatnot. No one paid much attention to me, but I showed them a flier in which livestock were portrayed as criminals; they were in a lineup.

I forgot the name of the lama, so I went to the Heifer International website and sought out the flier. I couldn’t find it. I did find information on their Read and Feed program. Hmm, now maybe we can partner with Kid’s Kupboard and do a Read and Feed fundraising campaign here.

We might, for example, have a day on which children come to the hotel and learn about gardening. Or if Sassy ever has her baby, about goat and livestock care.

I’m good at brainstorming.

I was, during this meeting, contentious. I am contentious a lot these days. I expect from others what I expect of myself – a high degree of commitment. And I get snarky when I don’t get it.

Once again, I never, ever thought that when I grabbed a handful of books from VCRS that all that has happened would happen.

I guess when the opportunity arises, you have to make things happen. Like right now, I am mulling over the idea of going to the Library of Congress and getting some surplus books, which I would bring back to Alaska. The only down part of this is that there would be a few lengthy plane flights.

Maybe Heifer International is in Washington D.C. Just a thought. This is the most disjointed dispatch that I have ever written.

Next: 90. 4/1/25: Range and Domain