1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Ashley Larson, Linked2Literacy: August 13th, 12:25pm

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Ashley Larson, Linked2LiteracyAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to one-on-one with DP. Brought you by Canopy Street Market on 93-7 The Tickets and the Ticketfm.com. Welcome back one-on-one special guest time on the ticket. Yeah, this is what we tell people, get on the stream. Because usually when we have guests, they're better looking than inbox. So we've done that today. We've done that today. From Lake to Literacy, Ashley Larson joins us.

It's a big event coming up. How are you? I'm doing well. First day of school. I just took all my kids, dropped them off. It's a good day. Okay. So your family is pretty spectacular and this time of years always.

Or something. Yeah. So your husband is in the business. He is. He's in the business. Talk to me about Mr. Yeah. So Mr. Larson, Mark Larson is the principal over at Lincoln High.

Every time I'm on here, I have to say, LHS, you know. You know. Look, I get text if you don't. Yeah. Like, it's a thing, but we had to give a shout out. Yeah, oh, for sure. Yeah. What's day like, what's today like for him?

So today is probably a really joyful day. They've put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes, him and his staff and the fellow admin and teachers. And today's the day that they've been working for. They are in the job on purpose, I mean, I think all teachers are. It is not an easy job. But I mean, have a soft spot for those Lincoln High teachers.

They are there because they love what they do. I think that has to be said more often. Yeah. Parents out there. Everybody that shows up for you, young people, they're there with the full intention of doing something. Oh, yeah. And it has to be said, even if it doesn't end up as the end result,

it's where it starts. How many kids? I have three kids. Ages. Yeah, fourth grade, eighth grade, and tenth grade. So I have a husband at Lincoln High, but my daughter is also at Lincoln High today. So you're all over the place.

We are. We have all, yeah, we're across the board, elementary, middle school, high school. I'm going to hug you again. Yeah. Because you, you are having. We're busy. Oh, my goodness. Walk me through as a mom.

Mm-hmm. First day, first week of school clothes. What is your philosophy on what they get and what they don't get? Okay, so now it's time for a shout out to the grandmas. If you're listening, grandmas, they do all the back-to-school shopping. So for me, I'm not a shopper. But grandmas take all three kids. They bought them clothes.

And then they, I really am hands off. They all, my kids are all very opinionated. They like to have their own style. and I like to see what they come down in. So you don't know. I don't know. Bach, are you taking notes? I've taken a little bit of nose.

Yeah, my son's entering preschool this year. Aw, that is fun. First year of the chaos, it is a big event, and it is near and dear. Wordstock, let the folks know what Wordstock is. This is an evolving event. It sure is.

So I have had the, privilege of working with link to literacy for the last our first annual, our second annual word stock. And now we are coming up on the third annual wordstock. And it is a big community book exchange. But it's more than that. We have awesome food vendors that will be available. We have businesses and nonprofits that will have booths there just to be able to give out resources and information. And it's just a ton of fun. Last year we had, I mean, I think I don't want to misspeak,

but I mean, I think close to 500 or more people attend. Yeah, it's a great, it's a great time. We need people to come. They need to grab books. I think my biggest message I want to give today is you don't need to bring books. So we have the word swap in there, but really it's a community, come and get all the books you can carry event.

And who are the books for? The books are for all ages. So we will have books there. I mean, adults to preschool and board books. So I personally have been picking up books from one of our business partners over at Oasis, just down the block. And so far, I've been sorting them. And I have every book imaginable. Fiction, nonfiction, everything. We had a number last year, how many books we thought we gave away last year. Oh, my goodness. I couldn't even begin to guess. It was an all-day event. We were there. We broadcast it from there. This year's 10. 10 to 1. 10 to 1 at Anilope Park on the 23rd. So Saturday the 23rd. We will be there. The ticket will be there. Perfect. Hopefully the shade this year. They put us in the sun, Bach. And it was 110. 947 degrees. Yes. It was hot last year. I do remember that. Yeah. And they get we had a tight, we had on tie

shirts. And I have, I don't know when it happened that I became allergic to wearing cotton t-shirts. Uh-oh. But it, it's just, I'm a drive-foot guy now. Like, if it's not, if I can't breathe in it, it's really a thing. But a great event, tons of people, even before the event, officially started at 10, we had celebrity book readers. And are we going to do that again this year? We sure are.

We're going to have local authors. We will have business executives. We'll have someone from the National Guard. And then we'll also have Husker athletes. So a lot of different local celebrities will be in attendance reading books out loud to kids. And then like I said, a bunch of local food vendors will have muchos and deeply rooted and slow your dough. So everybody needs to come down and just spend a Saturday morning with us, get some good food, make some great connections. And bring your wagons, bring your book bags, and fill up on some new books for the year.

Yeah, I would highly suggest and recommend that. parents bring a backpack. Oh, at least. That your young people get a backpack. Because here's what's going to happen, Bach, just for the record. Come in and get your son, some readable.

But Bach will pick differently for his son than his son will pick. Oh, yeah. And they will often go in different directions. So parents allow, and it is actually recommended. Let your young person go find some books. Definitely. I mean,

thing. The LinkedIn Literacy group is such a unique group of collective hearts. It's such a great mission and I have so much respect for everybody involved in it. Let's go to the checklist and give shoutouts to everybody from Lincoln Literacy because it's just a great group of folks. Let's do it. Okay. So we have first and foremost at Owsey. She is our founder, executive director. She is behind the scenes doing all the things. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Another Lincoln High shout out and UNL shout out is Eric Kirkland. She is, I mean, just so involved and immersed in Lincoln, mentoring and coaching young people.

So she's making a difference all over. We have Amy Butler. One of our neat programs that link to literacy is called the Book Bridge program. And it is just simply coming alongside parents and giving them tips on how to get their most out of read-alouts. because research is showing that we need to be reading out loud to our kids, even if it's like 10 minutes or less a day. It's so important. We have Joe Sheets.

She's doing all the marketing, all the communications, a lot of the things you see coming out on social media. All the foodie feeds. All the foodie feeds. All yes. She would tell you everywhere in Lincoln to go eat. Follow,

yeah, follow Joe Sheets on social media. She's going to get a bunch of new friend requests. Yes. Yeah, she also has some great commentary on food around Lincoln. Yes. We have Doug Gans, who, again, just a long time influencer and impactor here in Lincoln.

He's our treasurer. He kind of keeps everything for us in our budget, like on the straight and narrow. We have Marna and she is an attorney. I mean, she is helping us again, keeping things straight, making sure we're making the good decisions and running a just wonderful, transparent nonprofit. She was in yesterday. Yep. Okay. She was here.

I think Husker fan. So it's always fun to have her come by. Yes. And then, okay, am I forgetting anyone besides you, D.P. Then we got D.P. This man right here, I get to work alongside. It is such a good group. We get offers to be a part of boards and that sort of thing. And ultimately, the mission has to match. Otherwise, the heart doesn't go and doesn't attach. But I watch what you do. And I watch the young people there affected by this thing. And then the parents who recognize and realize that you're helping in the house at schools, you're helping them and getting folks to read in the space.

The big thing about Wordstock, it's free. It's free. It doesn't cost you anything to come to participate. It's a great community event, plenty of space. As Ashley said, the food trucks are amazing. It'll be a great event. but I would recommend to folks that if they cannot make the event, there is a way to donate to link to literacy.

Let them know the website. So if they want to just donate to words. Yeah, easy peasy, link to literacy.org. There you go. It is, and it carries all the events on it. It'll let you know who the people are that are involved. I can't let you out of here without asking the question. How are the hustlers going to do in football this year?

I know, we're always hopeful, right? No matter what. I, yeah. I mean, we're always hopeful. I have a house full of very hopeful people. She also has a matter what, we'll be cheering. She has a house full of athletes, too. I have a house full of athletes.

We will be watching. We'll be tailgating. We'll be cheering. Give me the Larson tailgate. What do you guys do? So we don't live too far from downtown. So we like to ride our bikes down here and just check things out. We usually know people, I mean, at different spots.

So your tailgate, are you going to the game? Or you just. Okay. So I feel like I got. trouble the first time I was ever on the ticket I said that I don't like to go to the football games and then I left and I kicked myself so let me just say this I love to tailgate I love the energy downtown but I would prefer to go back home and be in my living room with the TV on and the game on in the background my husband on the other hand and both my boys love if they can get into

the game that's their ideal he's he's an administrator for LPS get the tickets oh yeah get the tickets. I mean, let's fully support that. Once again, it's August 23rd, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Give the address, because I don't know the address. I know the park, but what's the address? So I don't know the exact address. I don't know the 23rd and. Yes, but Anilope Park's pretty well known in Lincoln. Okay. Come to Anilop Park and we're right next to the big playground. And all of the book swap will be inside the shelter. So you'll be able to get in there, get out of the sun. If it is a hot day, pick out your books and then get some good food. And hydrate, please. Hydrate.

Yeah, we'll do that. Ashley, thank you, my dear. Thank you. Greatly appreciate it. And good luck to the Larson family in the school year. It is, you know, I will probably see your husband at some point at some event being in the building. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

We will forward to break. We will close out one-on-one gets y'all set up for Bach and the black shirt here on the ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to. one-on-one with DP on 93-7 the ticket and the ticket FM.com.