WELLNESS & WELL-BEING
with people was reinforcing research that’s being done in the St. Louis
region. Sometimes, I look at the body of work as qualitative studies, and
we’re gathering data about any number of issues that continue to affect
where we live. I may ask the questions, but people choose the topics
that speak to larger issues affecting our region, like poverty, inequity
and race relations.
Q: What are the details of the new book?
Drew: It will be a curated hardcover book. We just wrapped up a
successful Kickstarter campaign, and we’re still fundraising to meet our
budget. While we’re building the book, people can pre-order a copy
on the website. Once the book is out, we plan to have it available in
libraries, bookstores and other local retail shops.
Q: How were you able to choose who to include in the book of
250 stories? What did you base your selections on?
Drew: That’s been the most difficult part! Luckily, we have a stellar
designing, and some other surprises. Originally, we were going to
lump the stories into different topics since the body of work already
represents an array of diversity across any number of issues: age, race,
gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status and health, for example.
As we started to narrow the stories down and organize them, we
realized there were more nuances and layers to each one, and that how
the stories play with the ones before and after them matters. On social
media, we share totally different stories back-to-back, and that’s fine. But
for the book, we had to create a narrative arc that also takes into account
how the placement and layout feed off of one another page after page.
In the end, we’ll include a spectrum of stories that invite readers to
question their stereotypes, judgments and the things they may consider
facts, while empowering them to have a conversation with a stranger or
two on the street, or at the very least, take the time to look up and say, “Hi.
How are you doing?”
team of local talent that we recruited to help us with the editing,
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY
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