1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Jo Sheets & Ashley Larson, Linked2Literacy: August 20th, 12:25pm

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

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

You're listening to One-on-One with DP. Brought to by Canopy Street Market on 937 the ticket and the ticket FM.com. Welcome back, one-on-one Wednesday, your sports ticket here on 337, the ticket FM. It's been an exceptional day and it just keeps getting better and better. The room is starting to glow now. We got rid of the knuckle-draggers and all of us, and we now. of beauty and brains in the room. So let's talk about Wordstock this Saturday in an exceptional event,

exceptional people. And then another special project, and I'm going to drop this on her because I'm not sure she knew we were going to talk about it. But these two young young ladies have been exceptionally busy in trying to put books into the hands and minds of young people across the area. And God bless them for it. LinkedIn Literacy Zone, Jersheets and Ashley Larson, ladies. Good Wednesday.

How are you? Happy Wednesday. Good. It's a great day. And Saturday's looking even better with the weather forecast. You know, anything below 85 and I'm a happy boy. Same. Last year, the chocolate melted, man.

I was out there. Bok, it was different, man. I was having conversations with myself. Crazy hat, but we're looking forward to it. We're going to be there Saturday, Antelope Park. And the idea behind it is a book swap where families can get books into the hands of their young people. And the adults themselves can get a reminder and a refresher course and the value of putting books at their hands and reading, not only reading the books, we're reading together. So let's start with.

Ashley, I want to start with just the idea of linked to literacy and its mission. Yes. Okay, I love talking about our mission. So the big dream of our organization is that we would inspire generations of active community members. And we believe the best way to do that is through literacy. If you get people reading books, they're going to build empathy and curiosity. They're going to be engaged in lifelong learners. And so that is why we.

we do what we do. It speaks loudly. I think we miss the message sometimes in the value of learning together, dreaming together, having visions that say, okay, asking your young minds what they see

and what they read, right? Because the parents can read it and the child may hear something entirely different. And it's important to know what your child is envisioning. Yeah. Right? And the shared story. Joe, you're a reader.

And it's good to know that intelligent folks are still out here. Sharing the word. Can I ask you what was, what's your favorite book? What's your, what's the thing that when you want to settle down and read something that makes you feel better, good, best? What do you read? I read a variety of things. My favorite childhood book was Winnie the Pooh. I can relate to so many of the characters in there.

And now that I'm a grandma, I have new favorites that I'm reading to my grandkids. And D.P., there's a chapter in your book. And it talks about Hattie Sue. Who's Hattie Sue? That's my grandmother. And your grandmother. That is my grandmother.

That is my birthday twin. Yes, and played a very special role in your life. That really, and it's why I wanted to do a book, specifically that one, was to be able to honor and say out loud those good things about good people and how we perceive those people. We don't always remember the people

who loved on us as kids and who gave us these gifts to say, read this. And they would actually take things and put them in front of you and say, read this. You're in a family, actually you're in a family, with an educator and the value and importance of that message on a regular basis of what you feed

your young people. And we think food. Now, the emotional side, the education, the creativity is important. And it's there. But we will get to the sponsors that we need to highlight and shake up in the event Saturday. But you've been working on something else special, young lady. Talk to me. I have been.

Talk to me. Well, yes, we haven't really had a chance to share. I wanted you to glow up today, Ashley. I wanted to, yeah. Well, I am here for it. Yes, we are working. Link to Literacy is really excited to be bringing a citywide initiative. We're going to be bringing the book, the House on Mango Street, to life.

And the way that we're going to do that is through art and through storytelling. Lincoln, as we know, is such a special city. We are diverse and we have so many stories. among us. And we feel like in this day and age, it's so wonderful to get across the table from people and talk and share and be creative together. And so, I mean, link to literacy is here because like I said, we want to inspire generations through the hope and the excitement of books. And so the house on Mango Street is a great way to do that. It's a very accessible book. I mean, you don't have to be a lover of reading in order to pick it up. You can open that book to any page,

read any chapter, and that chapter can stand alone and you can get something from it. And so we are teaming up with the lead center, with the Sheldon Art Gallery, with the Lincoln City libraries, and many of the cultural centers here in Lincoln, El Centro, the Asian Cultural Center. And we're going to be doing art shows, community conversations, hopefully in all author event, staged theatrical readings. So it's going to be a really, really cool thing. And so I know we're here talking about Wordstock, but if you come to Wordstock and you think,

hey, these link to literacy people are a lot of fun, then come and see us again a couple weeks later on September 12th down at the Lead Center Commons. And we're going to be kicking off this initiative. There's so much to this, and this is why I want people to, it's not only the Dolly Pardon Library. It's not only books to young people. It's not only special projects, but there's so much depth to being able to share these stories and to get people to talk about books.

The power behind it. There are a lot of people that in this town, you talk about Linkabian in a great town. Joe, there's a lot of folks who help make this happen, right? They're partners, people that have supported LinkedIn literacy, are supporting Wordstock. Who do we need to call out? and thank publicly for making this thing happen. Yes, we have lots of sponsors this year. This is our third year of doing Wordstock.

And so each year we're blessed by more and more sponsors. Our leading givers this year, as far as sponsors go, are, of course, I wrote it down so I don't forget anything. Let's get it right. Our first state bank and none other than the ticket. We also have a top layer of givers in Union Bank and American Life. And then we have flower power givers. We're all about the hippie vibe with wordstock. It's Timco, Brian Health, Relentless Merch, and Capital City Carnivals.

So we want to give a shout out to all of them. We appreciate folks who stand up. And there are ways, folks, that if you can't make the event, you can still donate to that. We want to be clear in that. What website should they go to? There's questions and concerns. Let's say they want to know about the event or they want to donate. They can't make it.

They want to be a part of it. They go to linked number two literacy. Linked to Literacy.org. There's information there, Ashley, that Saturday, for the time that we're there, the book swap itself, what should people know about books? Maybe they have books at home they want to bring. Maybe they're kids' books that they've kind of outgrown. own and they're looking for the next phase, what should folks know about the book swap?

So what they should know is we are going to have thousands of books available. And so if they still have books and they've missed the opportunity to drop those off at one of our drop sites, they can bring those with them to the event. We're going to have fabulous volunteers there to take the books. They'll get them sorted and out on tables. But what I really want to emphasize is people don't need to bring books. in order to come. So we have the word swap in there,

but really you can just come bring. I think I said this last Wednesday. Like we don't want to have any books left over at the end of the day. Bring your wagon. Bring your book bags. Let's fill those up and send you home with any book that you see that sparks your interest. Brock, this is, that was for you.

That was for the Bach Owen family. Don't worry about bringing books. Bring a wagon. Uh, bring something sizable that your young man can go through. through and just grab books. Anything that sparks his interest and his intrigue. Joe, explain to Bach. There's going to be plenty of food. Like, he's going to be moved by food and company. Can you let them, there are food trucks there. Who's coming? Who's going to feed folks

here at this event? I'm a foodie. It's important to me that we have good food. And this year, we have six different food trucks. We're going to have everything from coffee and scones to a little barbecue to some Filipino cuisine. I think there's some Caribbean thrown in there. And then, of course, our favorite Kona ice for a cool, nice icy treat on a warm summer day. So come for the food, stay for the community. I encourage, once again, grandparents, you've got to get out. Maybe this is something you're not thinking about is for you, but the role you play in your grandchild's life is so important. reading in psychology today that grandparents play an increasing important role in the lives of children. And even if they live across the miles and you're doing FaceTime, you pick up a book

and that is that instant connection. And sometimes parents, you're used to the day in and the day out routine and the discipline. Ashley, you know this as well. But grandparents can kind of swoop in and have that different role, and grandchildren really listen to grandparents. And when you can pick up a book and teach your grandchild how to read and that they are important and they can see themselves in the pages of a book, just like your grandma used to say, what's your name and how important it is to know your identity, that's the role grandparents can play in a child's life with a book. So grandparents, get on down to wordstock on Saturday and build your own library and teach those kids how to read.

It just builds up future generations. It inspires generations to come. It is from my grandmother. There's a thing that she used to say, and it was part of why I started writing. And she said, a well-done book provides love every time it's open. and it hits me today. That every time that every children's book, just think about that anytime you've handed a book to a young person,

you're loving on them. And anytime they open that book, they're receiving it, and then they become more capable of the love inside that book. And it's important to put good books into the hands of good people. That's how good people are made. It literally was how good people are made, was having those stories,

winning to pull legendary in the lessons. You could go through and quote, stock and form, you know, all the lessons learned in that. And it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for folks to come Saturday and get books,

spread love. It's what it is. Ashley, it's free. This is a free event. There's lots of good. Free books, for kids,

for adults, otherwise family fun, activities, community booths. And then I found out yesterday that we did get confirmation on some Husker athletes who are coming. National champion Ridge Lovett is going to read the wrestling champion. He's going to read Emma Spence, the Canadian Olympian and former Husker gymnast.

She's going to read, Kayla Star, All-American Bowler. She's going to read. They volunteered on their own time of their own good heart. They want nothing for it, but to be in that space of the love on this kid. So think of the, think of the. Think of what you young ladies have put together another event where Lincoln will be loved on. Ashley, well done. Well, well done to you.

That's, I mean, I link to literacy, one of our core values is loving collaboration. And I think it was you during our board meeting that throughout that word, loving, let's have loving collaborations. And I feel like this event is happening because of that. It's because of all of us working together and teaming up to do things. for our community. I'm excited for it. Dr. Lawrence Chatters will also be there.

We will be broadcasting the entire time and having different folks stop in. I know that Peter Ferguson from the LPS cadre, he's going to be there. Of course, if you get Dr. Chatters in the room, the intelligence and the love goes up immediately. And of course, all the lovely people from link to literacy. Let them know again what time and where, please. Yes. So this Saturday, August 23rd, 10 to 1. and we will be at Antelope Park.

It took me a little bit because there's a bit of a curve, and if you go the wrong way, you can end up in a different part. So you're going to turn in, you'll go, I mean, you're going to see the playground. So you'll park kind of near the playground, but you're going to walk towards the enclosed shelter, and that's where the books will be. And you'll see the circle there next to the playground is where we'll have all of our food trucks. It will be a fantastic Saturday in Lincoln.

Yeah. And we invite you all towards. Ashley Larson, Joe Sheets, thank you. Thank you for what you do and who you are and those missions. Lincoln's a better place because of you all. Thank you for being ambassadors. And I mean that from my heart. Thank you, Pee.

We'll go to break. We'll close out one-on-one and then we'll touch you up for Bach in the Blackshirt. One o'clock. Download our app by searching 93.7 a ticket in your app store. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 93-7 the ticket to a ticketfm.com.