This year there were 11 I Am More exhibits in three states, including nine shopping malls, a retirement community, and a library. By the end of the year six new portrait subjects will have joined the project. I shared the message of the project on tv news, public radio, and a magazine. And in 2023 there is much more to come, but we need your help.

I met Karla at an I Am More reception where she was representing one of my favorite organizations, The NAN Project. As the host was speaking about the importance of bringing the subject of mental health out into the open, I could see out of my peripheral vision this young woman nodding, knowingly. During the reception, Karla, the host, and I had an enlightening conversation about cultural limitations in sharing our stories, and I am very lucky and grateful that they each agreed to participate in the project with new portraits. Karla is up first, and working with her started with eating ice cream on a farm while chickens mingled around our feet, followed soon after by a jump on a trampoline with some of her favorite young friends, and she did not hold back, tossing herself around like a rag doll, to their delight. She and The NAN Project are having a tremendous impact in area schools, promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention, and I’m grateful that they provide all of the emergency number cards for our exhibits. Read on for our first bilingual essay:

Iain and I learned a very important lesson this weekend–help is great!! We had helpers in Boxborough to take down Sargent Memorial Library on Friday (thank you Jennifer, Mike and Suzanne!), and very special helpers to put up Crossgates Mall on Saturday.

Yesterday Iain and I returned to the Acton-Boxborough community where we previously lived in our converted barn and raised Dylan for the first eleven years of her life. We had been invited to create an exhibit at Sargent Memorial Library in Boxborough (our sixth library) for the month of September, but first we had to make a side trip to Cape Cod.

We are back from another 12-hour exhibit-moving day! This time Iain and I made the journey from Salem, New Hampshire to Hyannis, Massachusetts with the added challenge of Sunday night Cape Cod traffic, but it’s up and we’re done for another month.

I feel bad about my husband’s holiday weekend. We have exhibit moves once a month, but this one was a doozy.

I once had the honor of being called “the least pretentious person” a friend had ever met, but I am now handing over the crown to Autumn. When you meet her it’s like hanging out with an old friend, she immediately puts you at ease, as does her writing. Neither of us planned to create a Pride portrait during Pride Month, we both just sort of fell into it, and I’m so proud to share her story:

There was a very strange moment recently when Dylan texted the family group chat and said “Your news story was excellent!!! So proud of you!!!” Iain texted, “Cool, thanks for watching it.” She replied, “Was talking to Mummy.”

Jared happened upon the I Am More exhibit earlier this year at NorthShore Mall, and after recognizing our former mayor of Gloucester, stopped to read the essays. He sent me a quick note, saying it was “quite wonderful,” and after looking him up I was embarrassed to see he was a professional portrait photographer who regularly contributes to The Wall Street Journal and many other publications. He asked if he could pitch a story to NorthShore Magazine about the project and soon enough he was in our yard taking photos of me for the April article. I noticed a black shiny object on the side of his head, and he admitted that the reason he connected so much with the exhibit was because of the struggles he had gone through with hearing loss. I immediately wanted to learn more and soon enough the tables were turned and I was in his studio hearing his story:

On Sunday Iain and I got in our second home, the UHaul van, and traveled to South Shore Plaza to pick up the I Am More exhibit, brought it back to the Paint Factory, unloaded, re-loaded a different I Am More exhibit and drove it to Burlington Mall, where we unloaded after closing and set up a new exhibit! Then we got stuck in road construction on the way home and staggered to bed.