I’ve been inspired this week by this article about a group on Facebook called ICT Area Rocks! Two women have found a creative way to help the kids stay busy this summer, spreading kindness around our community. They work with their children to paint small rocks with words of kindness, characters, Wichita icons or whatever the rock inspires, along with the hashtag #ictarearocks. Then they hide them in public places, such as city parks, for others to find. According to the group, the rocks are for people to keep, rehide or replace with one of their own creations. They encourage people to take a picture of the rock they found to share on social media with the same hashtag. It’s like a year-round Easter egg hunt! I love that they are encouraging children to be creative, physically active, spreading the love and inspiring community pride. How smart is that? What great leadership for the youth of our city.
It’s exciting to see so many people expressing their love of Wichita and taking ownership for what they want our city to become. There are many examples of how people are showing their pride. I believe we are more motivated to support local businesses, especially the ones that celebrate the diversity of our city. I’ve enjoyed watching lots of people support these businesses, like Le Monde and Juarez Bakery, that were targets of hateful criticism. I love the Avenue Arts Days project, an initiative of the Douglas Design District, to paint Wichita-centric murals on buildings and structures along Douglas. There has been a huge resurgence in the popularity of the Wichita flag, and you can find locally designed merchandise all over town representing our love of Wichita.
Wichita is for Lovers shirt by our patron, Lucinda's
I remember when I was younger, it WAS NOT COOL to think Wichita as anything other than a place to escape. I’ve been lucky to have always been part of a crowd that appreciates our city’s unique place in the world. What I love the most about living in Wichita are the opportunities I’ve had to work on amazing, creative projects with amazing, creative people, who care about making our community better. We have a lot of awesome things going on here! Perhaps it’s easier to see the impact of our actions here than it would be in bigger cities, and putting the work into making Wichita a better place to live is worth the effort. There are a lot of people who believe the same. I’m proud that the Finishing School for Modern Women is part of that.
I love that together, we are carving out an identity as a community of kindness. We should take pride in that. Expressing love and kindness to ourselves and others is how we evolve as a society and how we can make Wichita better. Wichita is for lovers.
Now get out there and get rocking!
Headmistress Jill