Give me a table and a costume, I’d be a great mascot

Sometimes I forget that this one-way communication of me pouring my random thoughts and feelings onto the page goes on blast to so many people. 

 

Just know, I love you all. 

 

I ran my first booth for the magazine I work for—at a neurodiversity resource fair at a school. 

 

I admit I felt stressed before I got there because even though the magazine is named the Colorado Parent Magazine, I’m the only staff member actually present in Colorado. Everything had to be shipped to me, so I didn’t get to see the supplies in advance, and delivery wasn’t expected until right before I needed it. Still, everything worked out in the end. 

 

As I arrived early to set up the table, spread out magazines, and scatter fun fidget toys all over the table, I thought back to all the times that I have “tabled” before. 

 

I’m fairly certain some of my first booth/tabling experiences came from the Waseca County Pioneer. I remember setting up at the Waseca County Fair the first time, trying to get the word out about the brand new newspaper we had started. I remember convincing some of you to sign up to try it out, and convincing children to get their photos taken as a part of our photo booth. 

 

It was a fun time, made fun by the people I got to interact with, the ones I got to share the booth with, and the community I got to know.

 

After that, I had some experience doing booths for the Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota’s college newspaper where I was a staff reporter and then the managing editor. 

 

Being a part of those booths was fun because I loved talking with passionate students and trying to convince them to use that passion to report and get work published. 

 

Although my favorite memory of that is a time when the person who was going to be our mascot, Mo, suddenly couldn’t come, and we were debating who should go back to the office to get the costume. After some debate, our Editor-in-Chief finally sighed and offered a $50 bonus to anyone who would do it. Of course, I volunteered instantly and ran back to the office to don the hot and sweaty mascot costume.

 

Despite my wording, though, I loved being a mascot. It’s so fun to be energetic and connect with people all while trying to be mysterious because you can’t say a word, and most everyone doesn’t know it’s me. I feel like I could have been a great Goldy Gopher if I had ever tried out. 

 

And now, I get to talk to families and parents and share the resources that Colorado Parent magazine provides. While I’m no neurodiversity expert, it is really nice to see so many vendors and families come through to explore all the resources available. And it was really nice to interact with fun and creative people all day and see kids pick out which fidgets they like the best. Personally, I opted for one of the silicone textured rings to play with as I stood at the booth for the handful of hours. 

 

My Determination: “If we get to the point where we don’t help each other anymore, that’s when we stop being human.” ― Matt Dinniman, Dungeon Crawler Carl