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Letters from the Director
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Letter 1 - Your Inner Child
6.29.2015 - My name is Jennifer Wills and I would like to announce that my inner child and I are best friends. On a side note, I am also a self-appointed unofficial playground tester and have proven that all of Longview playgrounds are fun!
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Letter 2 - What Are You Afraid Of?
7.24.2015 - What are you so afraid of? What are you so scared to try? What is so wrong with failure? It doesn’t matter what these questions pertain to in life, whether it’s trying new things, taking your health back, applying for a different job, or introducing yourself to someone new?
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Letter 3 - Make a Difference
9.9.2015 - Everyone can make difference in our community; whether it’s by volunteering with an organization, taking an active role in a service group, or even just cleaning up your own yard to help beautify your neighborhood.
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Letter 4 - Be a Too
10.2.2015 - Getting along in the world today can be difficult, even in the day to day interactions we have within the community. There is a lot of negativity and sensationalizing of things that should take up a lot less of our time, and positive things happening in and around our community that deserve more of our energy.
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Letter 5 - There's Just Not an App for That
11.19.2015 - As we look forward to next week as the unofficial kick off of the holiday season (although some stores indicated that it started way back on October 1st), we would like to remind you that this is when lifelong memories are created. This time of year family and friends gather together to share food, each other’s company, and hopefully a lot of cheer and laughter and there’s just not an app for that.
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Letter 6 - Falling off the Wagon
2.9.2016 - Today is a new day. A day to do something different, to restart. There is no reason that yesterday has to define you, you aren't forced to make the same choices. You can fall off the wagon, and jump right back on.
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Letter 7 - Finding the Time
4.15.2016 - Your contributions not only mean a lot to the Parks and Recreation Team, but to our amazing community and its members.
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Letter 8 - When Life Gets in the Way
4.22.2016 - I was sitting at a coffee shop and I overheard a group of friends complaining about all the reasons they were unable to find time to work out. The more I listened, the more I realized that when you let it, life gets in the way.
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Letter 9 - When Tragedy Strikes
6.13.2016 - When tragedy strikes, no matter if it’s with yourself, a loved one, a friend or co-worker, across the nation, or across the globe, we inevitably feel some type of strong emotion.
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Letter 10 - The "Get To" Effect
9.15.2016 - One way we communicate is through words. The words we choose create a mindset. From that mindset, we determine where we want to place our energy. I bring this up because small changes in how we communicate with ourselves and others can make a profound difference.
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Letter 11 - We Can't Do It Alone
11.2.2016 - We can’t do it alone. It takes a village to make a village. I love Longview. I know it has its faults and issues, but there is far more good than there is bad if you are willing to shift your focus on the positive - you might just be surprised by how awesome it actually is when you take the time to notice.
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Letter 12 - They Might but They Might Not
4.5.2017 - Ten signs were placed next to arboretum trees providing information about the tree and describing the benefits it provides. Besides the very positive feedback about the project, one question kept getting thrown around, "What if your signs get stolen?” The answer: they might, but they might not.
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Letter 13 - That's So Cowlitz
6.12.2017 - Not sure if you’ve heard the term “that’s so Cowlitz” yet, but it’s getting tossed around and associated with a myriad of negative acts and unfavorable behavior. We would like to continue the use of the term “that’s so Cowlitz”, but we’ve got a way better use for it.
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Letter 14 - Where's Your Focus?
9.15.2017 - When you are teaching your child how to drive a car for the first time, or if you are young enough to remember learning yourself - do you remember one of the main principles learned? If you focus on the mailbox you are going to hit the mailbox.
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Letter 15 - Director's Orders
12.5.2017 - Everyone wants a quick fix or a magic pill to resolve what ails them. Usually, there is no such thing… until now!! We’ve got a prescription that can fix boredom, reduce obesity, combat symptoms of depression, increase community connectedness, decrease anxiety, diminish seasonal affective disorder, and so much more!
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Letter 16 - Do You Feel It
4.3.2018 - Throughout each day I have conversations with the public, department and city staff, council members, and boards. Everyone keeps talking about the energy that they are feeling within the City. Do you feel it? Within the last year or so we’ve begun to move the needle in a positive direction.
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Letter 17 - Instate Hate…Just Add Keyboard
11.20.2018 - It goes without saying, social media is here to stay and its integration into our daily lives, like it or not. It is used for sharing photos with grandparents, connecting with old friends, finding out community news, and learning about what’s happening in the world. All of this is at your fingertips within the click of a button.
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Letter 18 - We See You
5.16.2018 - It’s the little things, the smallest actions, the day in and day out positive habits that we appreciate most as a parks and recreation department. These tiny moments, that are part of your ordinary day, which makes us most grateful. Teaching your children healthy habits, getting involved in giving back to the community, providing knowledge about the area we live in, taking pride in our park system, creating daily and lifelong memories – we applaud you. These things may not seem like much to you, but they are a really big deal to us.
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Letter 19 - The Little City That Could
12.10.2018 - Children's stories tend to provide examples of values, learning, and teachable moments to the children and adults who have read and watched them. Here are a few life lessons we've learned:
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Letter 20 - Rethink the Win
9.12.2019 - I came across an article in Athletic Business that introduced me to a website called “Rethink the Win” – the current state of youth sports. Toxic environments, extreme pressure, and kids no longer enjoying playing.
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Letter 21 - You know what you should do?
10.11.2019 - Are you ever having a conversation with someone and they enlighten you about a problem they are having or something they are working on? You get this quick idea in your head and you say… you know what you should do…?
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Letter 22 - Letter to My Future Self
12.6.2019 I am writing to you from your desk on December 6, 2019. I never thought 2020 would actually get here. That magical year from your younger self where we would be flying around in cars like the Jetsons and the world would look drastically different. The world does look different, but not in the ways we had dreamed about.
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Letter 23 - We Are Our Own Worst Enemy
2.21.2020 - Do you find yourself constantly speak negatively about Longview? Do you associate or surround yourself with people who do – either verbally or online? Do you often put our little town down for this reason or that? Do you criticize every little thing or compare our town to others that you think are perfect?
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Letter 24 - The World Will Look Different
3.19.2020 - Whether it was 9/11, the great recession, the great depression, or the world wars… people were in the streets screaming “THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IS OVER”. The world as we know it will alter, but we are still here. It’s not possible to stay the same as too much has changed – but change should be expected. Adaptability and flexibility are required to weather what is ahead, but we can look to the past to know we will get through this.
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Letter 25 - Being Contagious
4.3.2020 - You are contagious… so am I…. actually we all are What does that actually mean? Contagious is the spread of something from one person to another either by direct or indirect contact and likely spread to and affect others. We are finding out in real time just how contagious things can be… you can hop online and see visually on a world map how fast things can spread globally with the click of a button. Being “someone” who is contagious right now is terrifying – the last thing in the world you want is to the person who spreads disease to your friends and loved ones.
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Letter 26 - The Next Best Thing
4.24.2020 - When we can- we will all be back together in person. But until that time, we can still be here for each other, learning and laughing together. We need now more than ever that community and human connection. We have been and always will be a community that cares for each other and that’s how we will get through this – supporting each other, our local businesses, our instructors, our area as a whole. In this crazy time when you need your community to lean on, we are here for you!
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Letter 27 - When Everything Is Falling Apart
9.10.2020 - 2020 isn’t anything like we planned, actually it’s probably the exact opposite. Terms that come to our mind when defining this year include catastrophic, tragic, disastrous, ruination, calamity, crisis…. “Just when we didn’t think it could get worse… then “insert any event from 2020” happened”
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Letter 28 - Sail Fillers, Beacons, Anchors....
4.12.2021 A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. We start our voyage into this world whether personally or professionally ready at the helm to take on the high seas full of epic goals, adventurous plans, and a grand vision of what will be.
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Letter 29 - Potential: Longview's Greatest Trait
Potential: having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.... This is Longview's greatest trait and something that we have always been excited about!
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Letter 30 - "THAT'S SO COWLITZ"
"That's So Cowlitz" Not sure if you’ve heard the term "that’s so Cowlitz" yet, but it’s getting tossed around and associated with a myriad of negative acts and unfavorable behavior. Someone sees something deplorable and states "that’s sooooo Cowlitz"!