I started at the library on November 7th of last year.\u00c2\u00a0 Within a week and a half, I was in charge of a huge after-school program (Harvard has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153early release days\u00e2\u20ac\u009d once or twice a month, and the library usually has programs on those days).\u00c2\u00a0 Over the years, this program has been called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ornament Decorating Workshop\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Claytime\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most popular early release program of the whole year.\u00c2\u00a0 Last year, there were two sessions of thirty kids each, all anxious to paint clay ornaments and coasters.\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of parents attend, too, so the program room was PACKED.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a memory of myself standing by the door, desperately trying to figure out which kids were there and which kids hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shown up, and who might be crashing the party.\u00c2\u00a0 It was, well, awful:\u00c2\u00a0 I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know a soul in Harvard, and no one knew who I was, and chaos reigned.\u00c2\u00a0 The worst part was as the kids finished, because I had to write down what type of ornament the child had painted and a description of the paint job (\u00e2\u20ac\u009dEmily – flamingo – yellow with purple spots\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), a totally necessary step so that the ornaments could be identified after firing.\u00c2\u00a0 And remember, glazes are a different color before firing than they are after firing.\u00c2\u00a0 Was Emily\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flamingo really yellow, or was it brown?\u00c2\u00a0 You try doing that with a mob of thirty kids you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never met before and with glazes you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t identify.<\/p>\n
So, guess what.\u00c2\u00a0 This clay painting workshop is coming up again, on Wednesday.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve changed the name of it to: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Clay Painting Workshop with Fire Your Desire,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for two reasons.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve changed vendors from Claytime of Shrewsbury, very nice people but too far away, to Fire Your Desire of Acton, also extremely nice people, and just around the corner from my house.\u00c2\u00a0 And I did have some complaints last year about this being described as an ornament painting workshop.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll still be painting ornaments, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not necessarily Christmas tree ornaments.\u00c2\u00a0 This workshop is for kids of all beliefs and denominations.<\/p>\n
But what about the chaos?\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still a bit nervous about this event, and truthfully can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait for it to be over, but at least I know a fair portion of the kids and adults who will be attending.\u00c2\u00a0 And Fire Your Desire is making the logistics a lot easier for me; Susan, the owner, is letting me pick up all the paints, ornaments, and other supplies first thing in the morning, so I can take my time getting set up.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll also be sending someone over to help out with the actual workshop.\u00c2\u00a0 Most importantly, Susan provides me with firing slips for all the kids.\u00c2\u00a0 I am SO thrilled about this!\u00c2\u00a0 I can write out the slips ahead of time with each kid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name, and then there is room to jot down what two ornaments the child decorated, with descriptions.\u00c2\u00a0 Much, much easier.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope.<\/p>\n
Just two final notes here:\u00c2\u00a0 a great big thank-you to Susan at Fire Your Desire, since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fabulous to work with AND she cut us a great deal, letting each child paint two ornaments for last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s price for one ornament.\u00c2\u00a0 And a HUGE thank-you to the Friends of the Harvard Public Library for funding this event.\u00c2\u00a0 Too often the generosity of the Friends is under-recognized by program attendees; events like this one are free to all because the Friends work hard to raise funds and then generously give those funds to the library for programming and other uses.\u00c2\u00a0 Without the donation of the Friends, this workshop would cost $5 per child.\u00c2\u00a0 THANK YOU, FRIENDS!!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I started at the library on November 7th of last year.\u00c2\u00a0 Within a week and a half, I was in charge of a huge after-school program (Harvard has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153early release days\u00e2\u20ac\u009d once or twice a month, and the library usually has programs on those days).\u00c2\u00a0 Over the years, this program has been called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ornament Decorating … Continue reading chaos<\/span>