Stars and stripes forever

Here is my patriotic expression...not bad for a dental hygienist, eh? Actually, three other chemistry professors helped, but it was my barn! God bless the USA!

Friday afternoon (Sept. 14th) several colleagues and I were discussing the recent events, and it dawned on me that I should paint my barn! Throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, there are barns painted with "See Rock City" on the sides or roofs and I just visioned that an American flag would look awesome on such a huge canvas.� Our house is so far from the road that I couldn't see the flag we had hung, and so I wanted a flag that would stand out! My original idea was to paint the entire side of one of the barns, not just the doors.�My Chemistry professor friends convinced me that this would encompass several hundred square feet and many gallons of paint.

So, on Saturday (Sept. 15th), we measured a flag and then measured the barn doors and calculated from there.� I say "we," but the chemistry folks were the actual brains of the mathematical portion of the operation!� A local paint company helped us determine the correct gallons of paint needed and even gave us a discount because of our efforts.� We used a level and a chalk line to mark the horizontal lines to get the stripes parallel.� We then measured the stars out so they were spaced evenly.� We created a large "star stamp" out of some foam material and painted the back of the "star stamp" before stamping each star on the blue background.� The stars were my particular "job" and I am quite proud of them if I do say so myself!

At the end of the day, we built a campfire and had a good 'ole American wienie & marshmallow roast! It was such a satisfying feeling to have painted this awesome American flag that I was quite tempted to go out on the road and start painting barns everywhere!

Laura Grant Justice, RDH, MSEd

Associate Professor

Lexington Community College

Dental Hygiene Program