I've returned, but am not yet back...

We’re back from our trek across Colorado and its amazing, stunningly beautiful national parks, which for most of our trip were semi-closed. (Visitor’s centers, gift shops, and some parts of each park were closed. Roads were open. Apparently during the last shutdown, all the rangers stayed home and the American people trashed the parks in their absence, so this time there’s a skeleton crew keeping tabs on things.)

Anyway, today I want to promote Backstreet Community Arts here in Newnan. It was founded eight years ago by the incredible Kim Ramey with the stated purpose of “Art Saves Lives.” (I’m wearing the t-shirt even as I type this.) It is a completely free art studio, open to anyone who walks through the door, especially those members of the community who are marginalized.

We — I coach a writers group there on Tuesday mornings — often get referrals from drug court, family court, the VA, etc., and anecdotal evidence from these orgs suggests that those who choose Backstreet as part of their community service recover at higher rates than those who, for example, pick up trash on the side of the road.

No one should be surprised at this. Art does save lives, and what Backstreet does is provide anyone who walks through the door the gift and the challenge of creativity. For free.

Here are the current classes being offered:

To read more about the classes and Backstreet in general, head over to Backstreet and check it out. Also, in the above photo, you can see the first issue of our & Zine, along with the call for entries for our second issue. It’s shaping up to be a hit in the community.

Art saves lives.