A DECADE+ OF STORYTELLING POWERED BY THE BEST WRITERS ON THE PLANET

WE DON'T DO IT ALL, BUT WE DO IT ALL "FOR GOOD"

BE PART OF THE LEGACY

TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

This FINAL encore experience will be unlike any other. Because like everything we do, it's been "reimagined" from beginning to end. It's not a virtual or hybrid event. It's not a conference. It's not a seminar, a workshop, a meeting, or a symposium. And it's not your typical run-of-the-mill everyday event crammed with stages, keynote speeches, team-building exercises, PowerPoint presentations, and all the other conventional humdrum. Because it's up close & personal by design. Where conversation trumps presentation. And where authentic connection runs deep.

Here I Stand

Here,
Here I stand
Observer.
Observer of time,
Time passes,
Sunrise to sunset,
Sunset to sunrise.
Time,
Time to observe.

Here.
Here I stand,
Protector of buck and bear,
Guardian of fox and feather.
Beware, buck and bear,
Heed the sound,
Hear the wind,
Hear.

Hear as I stand,
A listener,
Listener of Mother Nature,
Listener of conversations.
Hush and howl,
Whoosh and crunch,
Listener of love.
Love.

Here, I am,
Whole.
Wholesome as the warmth of the sun,
Chilled by the wind and water,
Weighted by the snow and bricks.
Here, I am wholly,
Wholly yours.

Here, I am.
Here I am your helper,
Becoming one with you
To take the weight,
The weight of the brick and block,
To take the weight off of your shoulders.
You put it on me,
We become one,
Whole.

Here,
Though I stand,
I rust.
Yet, it is me you trust.
Here, I stand
Protector,
Observer
Listener
Helper
Wholly yours.

This, I ask of you,
Hear me,
Through the wind’s gust,
Through the sun’s warmth,
Through the hole.
When I falter,
Please recall
Where I stood
For one and all.

Here, I stood
Waiting to wander
With you, my friend

Here, I Stand an original poem by Hope S. Blecher Croney. Hope’s Compass of Creativity and Curiosity: I connected some of this to the feeling of the Shema. As I wrote and looked at the wheelbarrow, I became curious and found this explanation related to the Shema, Why Do We Cover Our Eyes for Shema? – Chabad.org

Hope Blecher Ed.D.
Hope Blecher Ed.D.http://www.hope4education.com
Hope Blecher, Ed.D. is an educator, author, artist, and community volunteer. Most recently, as an outgrowth of relocating to Sullivan County, NY, and her community volunteer projects, Hope founded Hope's Compass, a project through the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan Counties, cfos.org.  The link to Hope's Compass is Hope’s Compass Fund | Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan (cfosny.org)  Donations will enable Hope to bring the Daffodil Project and the Dove-Daffodil-Dash arts project to other communities and engage people from 3-83+.  Also new, Dr. Barbara J. Smith and Hope collaborated on their new book, The Write to be Read: Informed Methods for Engaging Students as Writers, published by Rowman and Littlefield, Write to Be Read: Informed Methods for Engaging Students as Writers - 9781475873085 (rowman.com). Hope's 39 years of experiences in the classroom and in the administrative offices form the basis of her life's work, her perspective on volunteering, and her consulting. She remembers what it is like to work with students and that shines through in her preparations and the way the community projects are implemented. She looks forward to writing a children's book, perhaps in 2024. For now, she is broadening her work in the arts by writing poetry that she illustrates with collages, mixed media, and her photographs.

DO YOU HAVE THE "WRITE" STUFF? If you’re ready to share your wisdom of experience, we’re ready to share it with our massive global audience – by giving you the opportunity to become a published Contributor on our award-winning Site with (your own byline). And who knows? – it may be your first step in discovering your “hidden Hemmingway”. LEARN MORE HERE


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