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“Find the good and praise it.”
Hello again!
I hope you’re having a great week so far!
National Parks Week begins this Saturday, April 20!
Do YOU have a favorite national park?
I’ve never been to a national park that I didn’t enjoy—I love our national parks system!—but Zion National Park is at the top of my list of favorites:
Like libraries, which we celebrated last week (see comments below), our national parks are also “magical” places, to quote Positive Vibes member and librarian Pam Baird. See more about the Great Outdoors below!
And thank you to all the new subscribers who’ve joined the Positive Vibes community in the last week! See below for some links to the highlights you may have missed over the past year.
Cheers,
Yasmine
For New Subscribers
Here are some links to prior issues you may have missed—some of the best ones 😉 :
Why Positive Vibes? (How this newsletter got its start)
A Very Good Year (Contains many of the highlights of the journey for Walk through Fire: The Train Disaster that Changed America in the year of its release, 2023)
May the Road Rise Up to Meet You (St. Patrick’s Day 2024, with an excerpt from my upcoming novel, The View from the Cliffs)
You can find all the archived issues of Positive Vibes here. (Scroll down on that page after clicking on the link.)
What I’m Feeling Good About
I was on Jeremy McFarlin’s “Football Is Family” podcast to talk about … no, not football, but the Waverly Train Disaster and my book, Walk through Fire :
I also attended the Bells Bend Outdoor Recreation Festival in Davidson County, TN, this past weekend, and got some great information on both our state and national parks!
One of the fantastic new initiatives is Healthy Parks Healthy Person, a partnership between the Tennessee State Parks and the Tennessee Department of Health. It’s designed to get more people active outdoors, and you can earn points daily toward some cool rewards! I’ve already signed up via the web browser option myself, and have 55 points as of today!
The program is FREE, and can be accessed here:
My dog was as excited as I was to find out about the Healthy Parks Healthy Person program! Shown here with program director Stacey Levine.
At the Rec Festival, I also received a wonderful overview of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is part of our National Parks system:
Rangers Tandi and Tommy of the National Park Service, who gave me an overview of the Natchez Trace Parkway
The Natchez Trace Parkway is full of natural beauty and history—including the final resting place of legendary explorer Meriwether Lewis! In fact, it’s been called a “Drive through 10,000 Years of History.” You can learn more here:
What You’re Feeling Good About
I was delighted to receive many responses to last week’s newsletter, including your favorite library memories.
Here are what some Positive Vibes members had to say:
Brian, who is an archivist, wrote, “My favorite library—like you—would be the one from my childhood in Sperry, Oklahoma. The building that I went to is no longer used as a the library (it has since been moved into a much larger building down the street), but my memories about that place (and the books therein) are STRONG. :-) But you know I’ve worked in every kind of library there is—academic and public. As well as the State Libraries and Archives for Florida, Georgia, and Kingsport, Tennessee. I’ve even written a screenplay set in an archives/library.”
Vicki, who is a medical librarian, shared the following: “My oldest library memory is from when I was around 7 or 8. I was already comfortable there so I had been in many times before this memory. I can remember how exciting it was for me being in 3rd grade, but look at me! I’m borrowing books from the 6th grade shelf!”
And in a comment on Facebook, Pam—who was my high school librarian at Waverly Central High School—wrote:
"Libraries have been a huge part of my whole life. When I was a very young child, we lived right by a railroad track. On the other side was our small, one-room town library. One of my earliest memories is walking with Mother over that track and pulling my wagon so I could fill it with books from the "liberry." I loved that place and thought it was magical. Later, I rode my bicycle there and filled up my basket with books to read every week. In college at UT Martin, my student aide assignment was to work in the big, beautiful library-with a fireplace! Eventually, I became librarian at fabulous WCHS in Waverly, TN and was also a member of a small book club that read and discussed over 255 books in 25 years. After retirement, I began editing books, and as years passed, I admit to adding a computer tablet as a reading source because of the ability to adjust the print size. Books and libraries-it's been a wonderful journey!”
All of the above images are digital art I created—look for these images and more in one of the 2025 calendars that will be available this fall!
(This section is where I’ll be featuring good news, tips, and bits of wisdom from readers—so please reply to this email and share some with me! It can be anything, big or small. Whatever you’re feeling good about.)
More Good News
On Saturday, April 20, you can get free admission to our national parks, as part of National Parks Week!
It’s still National Humor Month, so if you missed last week’s video, here’s a complete clip of Cookie Monster in the library—I laugh out loud every time I watch it:
And these young ballerinas set a new world record:
Pawsitive Vibes
You all know I love and admire the work that therapy dogs and service dogs do for us. Here’s a great therapy-dog story:
Got a pet pic you’d like to share? Please feel free to reply to this email!
Riddle Me This
What is lighter than a feather, yet even the strongest person can’t hold it for 5 minutes?
Answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
For Your Playlist
Well, you can’t go wrong with “Sunshine” in the name of your band …
Here’s the link if you’re on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/37d8O4cIq36tssCoJnhJxg?si=c54d0ab400804a9f
Last Word
The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.
Tell a Friend!
Know anyone who would enjoy this newsletter? Send them the link to subscribe for free: https://yasmine-ali-author.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Fan Mail Address
How to get a signed bookplate sticker: see the intro to this post.
Answer to the riddle: Your breath.