The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/961332
C-8 Home Life Wednesday, April 4, 2018 The Press-Dispatch The other night, I attended a brand- ing session for my school district. Yes, branding. A letter went out, addressed to school district "customers" —appar- ently not wanting to offend us by us- ing outdated, totally unhip tradition- al names, e.g., parents and guardians, community members or moms and dads. Yikes. In this customer-directed letter, the process of branding was out- lined. Which makes sense. Perhaps the school district's fancy marketing com- pany feared we would think it was refer- ring to branding our children the way some farmers do cows. Run, kids! Run for your lives! The hot poker with our newly designed, aesthet- ically pleasing and thematically relevant logo that embodies the perfect balance of inclusivity and being above everyone else is coming for you! Run! (Er, excuse me. I mean, "Run, junior customers! ") The letter explained that a new im- age and proper branding could take us to the next level—which, of course, any- one who has seen as many episodes of "Mad Men" as I have could totally un- derstand. And we all saw how the world benefited when Nabisco decided to get rid of that totally creepy Cookie Man and let the deliciousness of Oreos speak for itself. That said, if Don Drap- er taught me anything, it's to be aware that marketing can be little more than lipstick on a pig. It works for Miss Pig- gy, but that's because she is a swine of substance. This was, perhaps, a differ- ent story. My school district is seeking a new image because it has been plagued with problems—serious problems, including a sexual assault at a high school, racism and a shockingly high number of kids who do not meet the statewide expecta- tions. We live in a very di- verse area, and with that comes the challenge of ca- tering to many different communities, cultures and incomes. The challenges are real and difficult and are far from an issue of im- proper branding. The letter stated the marketing company want- ed our help in understand- ing the best parts of the school district so the company could highlight them in its new branding and positioning. I went to the meeting, but not to help create a motto. I went to the meeting to ask questions. When I arrived, I was greeted by the highly paid fancy marketer from the big city. She welcomed us warmly and said she was excited to talk about the school district. Then she gave us all name stickers that wouldn't stick to our clothes and handed out pens and notepads, only to discover there weren't enough to go around. How wonderfully metaphorical. I wanted to see why money was be- ing spent on a marketing company rath- er than brainstorming to come up with solutions and financially supporting our teachers and administrators to en- act these solutions. Remember when it came out that Taco Bell's beef was about 1 percent real meat and 99 percent some weird combo of alien brains, soccer balls and SpongeBob? I was super glad when Taco Bell committed to spending money on making its beef at least most- ly cow instead of simply changing its bell logo to a mesmerizing spiral that would suck you in and hypnotize you in- to thinking that alien soccer sponge is all the rage. I told the marketer that I wanted to ensure that the aspects of our district that we highlighted would be ca- tered to and fostered by new policies. The marketer looked con- fused. "Branding and strate- gic policy aren't in compe- tition," she said. I replied: "No, they shouldn't be in competition. They should be working together, informing each other. You shouldn't just be gathering the thoughts of parents to learn how to sell us some- thing that isn't working. You should hear us and change policies in areas that we think need improvement and then sell us on the fact that you're actually making changes toward what we want." The nice lady from the big city de- cided to stop writing down the things I had to say after that. How ironic when the No. 1 issue most parents brought up was that they feel unheard. For the next 90 minutes, we spoke of the things we love about our school dis- trict, of which there are many. And we spoke about what we would love to see. At the end of the meeting, the market- er asked, "What is one word you would like to define your district? " A parent said, "Community, not cus- tomers." She wrote down just "community." It's a start. Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/katiedid- humor. I had two Easters with my kids over the weekend, and while for some peo- ple that might indicate divorced par- ents, it was actually one at my mom's and one at my aunt's. My mother and her sister are as dif- ferent as Mary and Martha. For example, I have never left my mother's house without a piece of Tup- perware and leftovers. I don't know where she hides the endless supply of to-go containers, but I can only imag- ine there's an entire attic devoted to the things, lined up like soldiers in rows with their lids like caps forward at attention. My mother told me Saturday she actually pre-makes cakes and freezes them just in case of a bake sale—like one of those axes inside glass except it's chocolate cake and would say "in case of emergency—defrost." She assures me this is commonplace among the women of the Owensville church she attends, as if at any mo- ment, someone will send out a mass text along the prayer chain about a problem only a lemon loaf can solve. My aunt, on the other hand, host- ed an Easter dinner Sunday, and when I declined the leftovers, she only said "your loss." My aunt believes in real butter in the mashed potatoes, for example, and that if you're going to buy choco- late, you should buy the good kind. If she makes cake, it's to eat it, but cup- cakes from Sam's Club are the next best thing. Growing up, my aunt would lay out in the yard in her bathing suit and ba- by oil for a half-hour at a time, trying to achieve the perfect brown crispi- ness. I can't smell baby oil without re- membering endless excellent sum- mers of the smell of char- coal warming on the grill, bee stings and my aunt in the pool but avoiding the chlorine, which was bad for her dyed red hair. My aunt was known for one thing in high school. She played the back end of a horse in the North Posey High School pro- duction of Arabian Nights. The front end of the horse was a school track star, and when the horse had to gallop away, the front end of the horse was at such a different speed than the horse's patoot that my aunt was thrown offstage into the au- dience seats and received a hip injury. That's the best story about my aunt in high school, and I heard it not just from her, and my grandpa, but from the high school speech teacher, Mrs. Smith, who had loved having my aunt in class, even if she did cast her as the horse behind. The best story about my mother in school is about the time a boy thought he could touch her on the bus inappro- priately, and she beat him up and got expelled. When she got expelled, my grandpa took her on a little fishing vacation be- cause he thought she'd done the right thing to stand up for herself. My sister and I are not competi- tive—it must skip a generation—but my two boys more than make up for that; they're out to drive each other crazy. A week or so back, Charlie yelled to me that Leo was breathing on him, a complaint that was too petty to address in my mind. "Everybody gets to breathe Charlie," I said as I rounded the corner. "You'll just have to—" And I stopped because there was Leo with his head on his brothers shoul- der, exhaling with what I can only call "malice" into his brother's ear canal. "Leo! " I said, and he jumped. My boys are old hands at being in trouble. He went to his room directly, to wait out his punishment, at which time he would apologize. It wasn't that long ago that, when punished, he came out with a note that dictated his apology. When asked why he wrote his apolo- gy on a Post-It, he said he was afraid he would accidentally apologize for some- thing else bad he did that I didn't know about yet. So I wonder how many Easters we'll be having if the boys continue their constant feuding when they have their children. The more Easters, the better, though. On the meter of "how much candy an adult can steal from an Easter basket without a child noticing," two Easters means two Easter baskets per child, twice the candy and twice the adult candy opportunities. I definitely benefited from this, I think to myself, as I hide several mini-Snickers bar wrappers at the bot- tom of a trash can, then put plastic Eas- ter grass over it to hide it. Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock School customers and school branding Brighter Side by Janice Barniak As different as cake and cheese Continued from page 4 TEEN OWNER: Pickaway County Community Foundation, LLC SALE MANAGER: Brad Horrall, 812-890-8255 AC63001504, AU01005815 ONLINE BIDDING AVAILABLE 8]b_TRcX^]3PcT) Friday, April 6th 10 AM - 12 Noon Meet a Rep at Tract 1 www.schraderauction.com Call for color brochure or visit our website AUCTION LOCATION: Pike County Fair- grounds 4-H Building, 1211 W. St. Rt. 56, Petersburg, IN. Behind Hornady Park. DIRECTIONS: From the jct. of St. Hwy. 56 & St. Hwy. 57 at Petersburg to Tracts: Tract 1: Travel 2.8 miles west on Hwy. 56. Tract 2: Travel 3.7 miles west on Hwy. 56 to Co. Rd. 375W, turn north and travel 1.5 miles. (Property is ¼ mile west). Tract 3: Travel 5.2 miles west on Hwy. 56 to Co. Rd. 500W, turn north .6 miles, turn right then immediately left and proceed 2.5 miles north (watch for signs), turn right & proceed to Tract 3. TRACT DESCRIPTIONS: TRACT 1: 38± ACRES having 34.8 tillable acres, fronting Hwy. 56. TRACT 2: 40± ACRES being all tillable with Armiesburg & Vin- cennes soils. TRACT 3: 77± ACRES being 69 tillable acres with the balance woods. There is approx. 1500' of frontage along White River. 800-451-2709 Lic. #AU10800006 For more information and pictures, go to: johnyrayauction.com or auctionzip.com ID#18773 or call/text Johny Ray at 812-598-3936 Auctioneer note: make sure and save these dates for this once-in-a-life- time event. Two auction rings will be selling each day, so bring a friend. Including tractors, implements, Case IH 2388 combine, gravity wagons, semi trucks and trailers, backhoes, vehicles, utility trailers, mowers and tools. Also featuring 30 plus guns, toy tractor collection (many still in the box), also many pedal tractors and antiques. SATURDAY, JUNE 2 @ 9 A.M. CDT Location: 2146 Maurer Road, Boonville SUNDAY, JUNE 3 @ 11 A.M. CDT Location: 3261 State Road 62, Boonville SATURDAY, JUNE 9 @ 9 A.M. CDT Location: To Be Announced PREVIEW DAY & pre-registration FRIDAY, JUNE 1 from 2-7 p.m. CDT at 3261 SR 62, Boonville Save the Dates Auction Absolute FOUR DAY EVENT ESTATE OF KENNY KLIPPEL REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS Wells Fargo Bank NA, Norwest Bank Minnesota NA, Structured Asset Invest- ment Loan Trust and Ocwen Loan Servic- ing LLC convey to CR 2018 LLC, real es- tate as recorded in Pike County. Terry Traylor and Douglass L. Walters convey to Kim A. Wade, real estate as re- corded in Pike County. LaDanna J. Dick, Suzanna L. Miner and Victor A. Miner convey to Gregory Keith Elenbaas and Victoria N. Elenbaas, real es- tate as recorded in Pike County. Thelma Kellams Revocable Trust con- veys to Clayton M. Sallee, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Thelma Kellams and Mark Goodpasture POA convey to Clayton M. Sallee, real es- tate as recorded in Pike County. Brenda Delapaz Trustee and Ralph J. Schepers Living Trust convey to Craig S. Smith and Kristin G. Smith, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Mark Vaal conveys to Mark Vaal Rent- als LLC, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Glenn Nalley and Jean Nalley convey to Patrick Jochem and Glennda Jochem, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Chase L. Nordhoff and Michaela J. Nor- dhoff convey to Eric G. Murphy and Kris- ti R. Murphy, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Larry E. Hunt and Candice K. Hunt con- vey to Downtown Development Properties LLC, real estate as recorded in Pike Coun- ty. Cassie McDowell conveys to Lana J. Braukhoff, real estate as recorded in Pike County. and chores and the urge to give unsolicited advice. This helps focus the con- versation on listening and hearing what is important to your child. BE REAL Being honest with your teen about how you feel allows them to see your struggles and vulnerable side. If you're afraid your child is going to get in- volved with a crowd that's into risky behaviors, it's okay to let your child know you worry about him and don't want him spending time with peo- ple known to make un- healthy decisions. Don't let fear drive you. If you're too strict and intrusive it can lead to teen rebellion, which isn't good for anyone. Be- ing authentic and vulner- able will make it easier for your teen to show you that side of them, too. VALIDATE YOUR TEEN'S FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Validate your teen by letting them know you understand their feel- ings. Validation does not mean you agree with or condone the behavior but rather means you're not judging. Validating feel- ings allows teens a safe space to open up and al- lows parents to meet teens where they are. The foundation of a healthy parent-teen re- lationship begins with trust, mutual respect, and the ability to pick and choose battles. Figuring out what our "non-nego- tiables" are (such as no drinking or no texting while driving) is a must. Share these with you teen so they know where you stand. Every child needs guidance, especially dur- ing adolescence. Although the adoles- cent years may seem to drag on, they'll be gone in no time. Finding a bal- ance that works for you and your family can make those years enjoyable when it comes to commu- nication and a healthy re- lationship with your teen. This column is contrib- uted by Katie Omohundro, LCSW, school social work- er for Youth First, Inc., a local nonprofit dedicated to strengthening youth and families. Youth First pro- vides 39 Master's level so- cial workers to 59 schools in seven southwestern Indi- ana counties. Over 60,000 youth and families per year are served by Youth First's school social work and af- terschool programs that prevent substance abuse, promote healthy behav- iors, and maximize stu- dent success. PUBLIC AUCTION Saturday, Apr. 14 • 10 a.m. EDT 5 miles east of Petersburg on Hwy. 356 • Otwell To consign or for more information, contact: Hill's Auction Center WM Keith Hill IN #AU01020879 (812) 789-6367 or Jason Keeker (812) 354-2419 Kubota BX1800 compact tractor, 4x4, hydro, w/LA211 loader, 5' belly mower, (1,400 hr.) (nice); Ford 3600 utility tractor w/Freeman loader, diesel, (2,828 hrs.); 1992 - Chevy ext. cab pickup, 4x4, auto, V8, (133,274 actual miles); 1996 - Chevy S10-Blazer, 4x4, auto, 4 door, (load - ed); Yamaha 350 - ATV, 4x4, 4 wheeler, w/racks, (very nice); 6'3 pt. Land Pride finish mower; portable overhead crane w/chain hoist and dolly; Lincoln Arc welder w/ leads; torch set w/gauges and tanks; Hobart 175 wire welder w/cart and tanks; Husky Pro 80 gal. air compres - sor (nice); Craftsman cut off saw; welding cabinet; Ridgid drill press; Rockwell drill press; 2-part washers, Stihl (gas) weedeater; Proto 9-drawer tool cabinet; Snap-on 9-drawer tool cabinet; floor jack (11,000 lbs.) engine hoist and engine stand; Mac tool cabinet; steel work benches (all sizes); grinders; large assortment of nuts and bolts bins; vices; utility carts and cabinets (several); metal - work benches (several); snap-on tools (large selection); large safe; bedroom suite; dinette set; picnic table; swing sets; household furniture; J.D. 20 pedal tractor. TRACTORS - TRUCKS - EQUIPMENT - QUILTS SNAP-ON TOOLS - ATV - HOUSEHOLD - OLD TOYS Auction service hillsauctionservice@outlook.com Owner: Estate of Jack Parsons For complete listing, go to: hillsauctionservice.com Puzzled about what to read? ..and you will have your solution. subscribe to 812-354-8500