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Kerry

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To rest easy, my mother always said she had to see where her babies, no matter how old, laid their heads at night.

With that in mind, Grady and I made a trip to Urbana-Champaign, Illinois to see where son Jack was now living. If you remember the past few months, he graduated from Ohio State University, got married, accepted a new teaching job at Illinois State University, and moved to suburbia.

It may seem too early to start planning for Christmas. But for us retailers, it is late. Most retailers buy their holiday stock in January, with a late fall delivery schedule. Though FAB doesn’t have all its holiday inventory on display yet, we still need to start planning our advertising campaigns, buying ad space, and ordering print material for our December mailers.

Kerry McCoy and French Hill

We’ve had 5 months of a writer’s strike, 2 months of talks with auto workers and, according to CNN on Wednesday, more than 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente walked off the job, marking the largest healthcare worker strike in US history. And don’t forget, the actors are still on strike, and after this week’s brouhaha in Washington, I guess you could say the House of Representatives are too, creating the biggest chaos and a potential government shutdown.

For a person who likes change, I’m in a rut.
FlagandBanner.com is over 45 years old, I’ve been married for over 35, and I’ve lived in the same house for three decades. This rut, I don’t want to change. I love my life. But I would like a new creative project to work on. For me, business is my creative outlet. I like building things and solving problems in groups but only if I have the final say (self-awareness is a virtue).

Excited and shaking in my boots describes how I felt while on my way to Russellville, Arkansas to speak to 400 bright Arkansas Governor’s School students. I didn’t know what to expect. Kids can be a tough audience. But, besides middle-aged men, they are also one of my favorite demographics and, early on in my speech, I told them so; for which I got a round of applause and realized they were going to be a fun group.

Little Rock crime stats 2023 year to date

Problem solving in groups is one of my favorite things to do. I’d like to think I’m good at it and, usually, people like the things they are good at.

When I read about crime in Little Rock, I am baffled; it peeks my problem-solving interest. Why does it continue to get worse rather than better? It makes me want to ask questions.

It is 9:00 AM on Friday, July 7th, 2023, when the well-groomed young man, Mr. Jack McCoy, enters a meeting room in the horticulture department of Ohio State University. Three hours later, this adrenaline-worn student emerges as Dr. Jack McCoy.

I consider myself lucky that I no longer have to travel on holiday weekends. When my kids were young, vacations had to be planned around their school breaks, which always coincided with a holiday. But since then, I’ve avoided those crowded travel times. This is twofold; I’m graciously giving space to families with school time constraints and selfishly circumventing my own stress level brought on from overcrowded airports and delayed flights.

Sometimes I feel like I am shouting (my metaphor for writing) into the wind. Therefore, when I get a reply of any kind on my blog, I like it. It is nice to know people are reading my weekly posts, even if the knowing is sometimes coming from a not-so-nice comment or an unsubscribe.

After losing our Brave Magazine editor to retirement, I wondered if Flag and Banner (FAB) would ever have the chutzpah to publish it again. I say that because making a magazine is hard work, expensive and takes a lot of brain power, thus the editor must be someone with a passion for it, otherwise it becomes something we (the marketing department) collectively put off, and put off, and put off. Which we did for a while. But I am glad to say it is back and we feel like proud papas (or mamas).