CynthiaParkhill

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Bullying: Trump would be ‘bystander’ in schoolyard, celebrating violence against journalist

As someone who works toward a school and social climate where bullying is eliminated, I want to talk about comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he spoke admiringly of a Montana congressional candidate who “body-slammed” a reporter.

Reverse-applique on this year’s ArtWalk T-shirt

Cynthia M. Parkhill in sunflower-patterned newsboy hat and white ArtWalk T-shirt with cartoon picture of blue narwhal singing into microphone with spotlights shining on it. Fabric squares are visible along the sleeves, shoulders, and front neckline of the shirt, arranged in recurring sequence of black print on white, blue print on yellow, white print on black, dark blue against light blue, and solid green cutwork lace.

One of the ways that our generous community supports Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts is the sponsoring of T-shirts for students and staff for the annual ArtWalk fundraiser. This year’s fundraiser took place last Friday, and here I am wearing my shirt. I spent the weekend customizing it with reverse-applique along the sleeves, shoulders, and front neckline. I used patterned fabrics in the white, black, yellow, and blue of the T-shirt’s Narwhal design, plus I threw in some squares in green cutwork fabric because it’s my favorite color. Got a lot of appreciative reactions when I wore it to school today.

Monday, October 8, 2018

Illinois libraries, ‘inclusive workspaces for individuals with autism’

Appreciation to the Skokie Public Library and the Midlothian Public Library in Illinois, which have “positioned themselves as inclusive workspaces for individuals with autism.” The upcoming annual conference of the Illinois Library Association has a “Libraries: All Inclusive” theme (Oct. 9 to 11, 2018), and among presenters, two staff members from the aforementioned libraries “will share their employment experiences.” Speaking as an aspiring librarian who is on the autism spectrum, I find the library environment to be an ideal match for my autistic strengths. Dare I hope this conversation reaches a national platform at an upcoming meeting of the American Library Association? Here’s Special Needs and Inclusive Library Services (SNAILS) with an overview of programs related to accessibility at the ILA conference.

Submitted via social media to the American Library Association

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Staff picture for 2018-2019 school year

Off to the start of a great new year at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, and here is my official staff photo for the year, which was taken by MugsyClicks.

Completed work on the hat and blouse just in time for school-picture day; I assembled them from quilting fabric in school colors of black, white, and gold.

‘Art Walk’ T-shirt with reverse-applique

Burgundy T-shirt with yellow-gold, spiral-curved, 'Yellow-Brick-Road' design. Along the curve of the road are written the words, 'There's no place like home.' The words, 'Artwalk 2017-2018' are in the design's lower right. The front neck of the shirt has X-shaped slash openings through which fabric in white-on-black curly-que pattern is visible. Black ribbon patterned with white musical score runs along the sleeves and shoulder seams of the shirt.

Over the summer I was given a stash of unused quilting fabric, and a lot of it was in official colors for Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. (Those colors are black, white, and gold.) Here’s the shirt for last year’s “Art Walk” fundraiser, embellished with reverse-applique along the neck, and ribbon accents along the shoulder seams and sleeves. Lookin’ forward to this year’s fundraiser; students are collecting pledges.