Becky Blades, author, civic leader, arts advocate and chairwoman of the Regional Arts Council of Greater Kansas City, has personal life lessons she wants to teach young women who are going off to college.
Blades wrote a book entitled "Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone: Advice Your Mom Would Give if She Thought You Were Listening.” Named a “Best Indie Book of 2014” by Kirkus Reviews, the book began as a journal-turned-letter to Blades’ daughter, who at the time had just graduated from high school and was leaving to go to Harvard University. After reading the letter, Blades’ daughter suggested that she turn it into a book.
"Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone” uses a fun and humorous approach to capture young readers. Some of the lessons include not making decisions after drinking at a bar with friends, practicing generosity and etiquette skills, and that even when you are done with school, life will still test you.
“I came across at least half of them as things that I needed to repeat to myself or things that my girlfriends love hearing,” Blades said, in regards to how she came up with the lessons she wrote about.
One of Blades’ personal favorite lessons is her advice on technology etiquette. She said that many habits exist in today’s time did not exist when she was growing up. For example, not using technology devices during dinner or family time is something her parents did not deal with.
Overall, Blades hope is that the lessons she teaches in the book will be useful for years beyond youth.
“Life is going to change so much in [young people’s] lifetime, that they really do need those values to come back to,” she said.
Related Event:
- What: Becky Blade’s book signing
- When: Sat. May 23 at 2:00 pm
- Where: Main Street Books, 307 S. Main Street, St. Charles, MO 63301
- More information
St. Louis on the Air discusses issues and concerns facing the St. Louis area. The show is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and hosted by veteran journalist Don Marsh. Follow us on Twitter: @STLonAir.