Eheh, woops; I mean good morning, Chattanooga! Sorry, I been listenin’ to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series lately on Meemaw’s Kindle.

Anyway, it is OFFICIALLY Summer Break, and we’ve got all sortsa shenanigans to get into with this week’s issue.

Let's get into it, buckaroos!

As always, we’ve added a fresh track to this week’s issue purely for vibes as you read. Click the radio below before ya start reading if you wanna listen!

This week’s Front Porch Partner is Go-to-Millions. They ain’t local-local, but every lil’ click sends $1.31 jinglin’ straight into the Chattynooga piggy bank. No forms or fuss, just a quick tap that helps keep this porch swing rockin’ and the stories flowin’.

So if you’ve got half a second between sips of coffee, give it a click and consider it your good deed for the day. Appreciate ya, neighbor.

Alright Go-to-Millions, take ‘er away!

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If ya know me, I’ll admit that I ain't a fancy art museum kinda fella. Meemaw took me to the Hunter once, and I spent the whole time tryin' not to munch on my bag of Doritos too loud.

That said, there's a different kinda art show right here in Chattanooga that don't make you feel like you gotta tiptoe and admire quietly while quietly whispering under yer breath, “Ahh yes, Indubitably.” In fact, they want you to admire and ask questions! That’s ‘cause it’s being put on by our fantasmic friends at The AIM Center! This week, these good folks are throwin' open the doors for an art showcase that'll make your heart do a little skip.

Member artists are bringin' their very best pieces that they’ve been creatin’ within the Clubhouse’s art studio so that you can walk right up, talk to folks, and even take a piece home with you if somethin' catches your eye.

The AIM Center — that stands for Achievement, Independence, and Motivation — is a nonprofit that helps adults around Chattanooga (and all over the world!) live full, productive lives while learnin’ how to wrangle in and manage mental illness.

Their Applied Arts program gives folks a chance to say somethin' through paintin' and makin' things that words sometimes just can't express. The greatest thing happens in that studio when members enter: all the hard things that pile on top of a person just... drift away, if only for awhile.

The showcase is free and open to the public, light refreshments'll be provided, and donations are always welcome to keep the good work goin'.

This is Mental Health Awareness Month, after all, and what better way to honor that than by showin' up and sayin', “I see you bud, and I think what’cha made sure is beautiful.”

All across Hamilton County, folks have been puttin' on them big floppy hats and walkin' across stages. And I mean all kinds of folks: Little kindergartners who learned to read whole entire sentences. Middle schoolers who survived the beginnin’ of becomin’ a teenager that nobody warns you about. High schoolers who have been through a thang or two. And even grown-up folks, who’ve been workin' and raisin' kids and losin' sleep and still showed up to class anyway, all the way up to the kind with the fancy robes and the floppy hat with the string hangin' off it. Folks call it a doctorate, I call it a super duper learner.

I’ll admit, as someone whose preferred headwear is a teapot, the hat does look a little silly and the robe in this weather doesn’t help either. But every single person wearin' one earned the right to look a little silly and a little sweaty.

Growin' is hard, y'all. I don't care if you're five years old and just figured out that letters make sounds, or you're forty-seven and just proved to yourself you could finish what you started — that walk across the stage is you tellin' the whole world: It was hard, and I did it anyway.

Meemaw always says the bravest thing a person can do is keep on learnin'. I used to think she meant book learnin', and figured I’d just be a sack of rocks all my days. But now, I think now she might mean somethin' bigger than that:

Learnin' how to keep goin', who you are, and that you're worth the effort to invest in yourself.

If somebody hollered your name real loud in the bleachers, or you just cried happy tears in the parking lot by yerself and used the diploma as a tissue:

You did it pal, and I’m real proud of ya.

Well folks, school is officially out for summer, and boy, is it gonna be a hot one!

Seriously. We’ve got high temperatures in the 90s this week. THE NINETIES. It’s entirely too hot and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.

There is a tiny sliver of good news in the middle of the heat, though. Since they know we’re all melting away in the sun already, the good people at the City of Chattanooga’s Parks and Outdoors department did us a solid. The Coolidge Park Fountains are on for the summer!

If it’s gonna be this hot, you better believe I’ll be at the coolest splash pad in town. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Bubby wears his sunscreen!

Ope, here I am airin’ out my dirty laundry. Anyway pals, however you're showin' up in the community this week, we're right here with ya, neighbor.

Now go hug somebody, eat somethin' good, and don't forget to holler at a graduate.

— Bubby & Clementine