Before long, all the wheat was ground.

“Who will help me bake this into bread?” asked the little red hen.

“Not me!” said the dog.

“Not me!” said the cat.

“Not me!” said the duck.

“I will just have to bake it by myself,” said the little red hen.

READ THE LITTLE RED HEN

Folktales [& folklores] are powerful ways to teach life lessons. I have always subscribed to the tale of The Little Red Hen [Even though my days as a spring chicken are long gone…see, look at me talking like I’m an old goose…but never been a bird brain…. Haha, okay let me stop]. I think it's the whole idea of asking for help, knowing the goal is to create something together, that always hits me [& the disappointment when the need for shared labor is disregarded]. The little red hen had to plant the seed, harvest the wheat, grind it, and make the bread by herself, but in the end, everyone still wanted a piece….& she had to cut that-ish off.

I guess I’m in that season.

I am writing today’s note sitting in /CW Creative Studios + Shop [as you know it] for the last time. Nothing left in the space but the well-curated carpet tiles, an unassuming acrylic floor pour, a misleading paint job, and some electrical upgrades [including a garbage disposal] that I can’t undo. This was clearly not the plan…

Somewhere between a $150,000 small business loan from a CDFI [that only would give me funds to renovate a building I don’t own], guaranteed by a $100,000 local reimbursable grant [that changed my award to $60,000 after I had spent all the money they had legally assigned to me], and the broken labor agreements [to complex to even break down], her I am.

I could go on a rant about how the systems have been working over time and how my impoverished upbringing as a multi-ethnic Black woman in America has been doing me dirty from the jump, but it's really the interpersonal relationships that I was counting on to be there when the times got hard.

I guess that's the lesson. I did the work [but I was always going to do it], I just really wanted to do it together. So as I sit alone, I have been thinking about all the convos we had in the stu, all the creatives who walked through the door, all the projects we imagined, but most importantly, the goals and dreams we spoke out loud [& hopefully into existence].

I know what it took to get this far. . . I get to proudly say I was there for every part of it, and I will be there until the last loaf of “bread” is “baked”.

I am just so thankful that the next time I plant a seed, it will be on my OWN land.

It's a tragedy to take the soul out of a place when you have to go [even though its way better than I found it], but the comedy is…

I STILL ATE & I LEFT NO CRUMBS.

/Lexi S. Brunson [the sole proprietor of the LLC]

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