LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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This Month’s Cover Alayna and Diego are Edmond siblings who love visiting metro parks, especially Scissortail Park where their cover photos were taken! Alayna plays soccer, enjoys musical theater with KidsAlive! and loves to act out roles from her favorite movies. The 12-year-old is in the seventh grade and enjoys cooking, shopping and spreading love everywhere she goes. Diego is 5 years old and in kindergarten. He is crazy about cars and monster trucks and enjoys playing soccer, swimming and being outdoors. Alayna and Diego are the children of Diego and Gardenia and siblings to 1-year-old brother Gianluca. H ow are my fellow PSL and fall fanatics holding up? It’s officially my favorite season of the year, but I find myself more often lamenting the things I won’t get to enjoy because of a certain pandemic rather than focusing on all the possibilities that do exist. And my head continues to spin with changes to school situations, political divisiveness and racial inequity plaguing our community. I find myself at a standstill, overwhelmed with situations that feel entirely un-changeable. As usual, the MetroFamily community helps jumpstart me to focus on the positives and empowers me to create change where it’s needed most. As far as those fall family fun plans, my crew may have had to cancel our original Fall Break trip, but travel writer extraordinaire Debbie Murnan comes to the rescue with socially-distant family fun ideas in nearby Arkansas. Our resident guru of seasonal festivity Lindsay Cuomo has reimagined fall fun in the metro, with lists of safe autumnal adventures from Halloween decor tours to outdoor experiences to soak up the best of this season. As I’m feeling overwhelmingly overwhelmed, Dr. Lisa Marotta’s tips and tools for mindful parenting on page 40 are like a breath of crisp fall air, reminding me I do have the time and space to be intentional with my kids and with myself. Instead of getting caught
up in political negativity, I’m going to revel in the lessons of George Lang’s article on talking to kids about politics on page 16, providing my household a powerful, positive framework to engage our kids in discussions and learning opportunities leading up to the presidential election. I’ve had the opportunity over the past months to talk with local leaders about the race inequity that exists in our public school systems in the metro and the responsibility of all parents and educators to actively fight against it. Leaders within various metro school districts and our State Department of Education share the realities and how families can get engaged to create change on page 34. Based on their expert advice, I’m defining my personal action steps to be part of that vital shift toward race equity. Thank you, as always, to this community for helping me and so many others ascertain how we can make a difference. And thank you for helping restore my favorite season. If you need me, I’ll be lighting my pumpkin candles, baking pumpkin-flavored treats and planning my family’s pumpkin patch outings. With gratitude,
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Publisher Sarah Taylor Managing Editor Erin Page Assistant Editor Lindsay Cuomo Contributing Writers George Lang Bridget Pipkin Caylee Dodson Art Director Stacy Noakes Senior Project Manager Kirsten Holder Director of Events Marissa Raglin Sales Dana Price Laura Beam Office Manager Andrea Shanks Dr. Lisa Marotta Debbie Murnan Contributing Photographers
Erin Page Managing Editor
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MetroFamily Magazine is published monthly. Copyright 2019 by Inprint Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Articles and advertisements in MetroFamily do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine or Inprint Publishing, Inc. We do not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors. The acceptance of advertising by MetroFamily does not constitute an endorsement of the products, services, or information. We do not knowingly present any product or service which is fraudulent or misleading in nature.
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