South Cobb Regional Library (photo by Semmendinger — licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution Share Alike)
By Kelly Johnson
June and July offer a two-month span of Pride, as June is Pride Month and July is Disability Pride Month.
In recognition of Pride Month, South Cobb Regional Library will host Pride Pathways: Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities and Allies. This ninety-minute presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21st at 1:00 PM. While this event aims to teach participants to recognize suicide risk factors, it will also support and promote mental health.
It is in the spirit of the latter, of promoting mental health, that celebrating our country’s 250th is of necessity to a queer person, as it would be to any other person that finds their mental health inextricably linked to a sense of belonging, of believing, of knowing that America is also their home.
America 250 isn’t just about our country’s birth date, or the year of its Independence, but it also about recognizing America’s longevity is also attributable to individual contributions. If a queer person has any reason to celebrate America, then it may be had in seeing themselves in Dr. Sally Ride, or with being inspired by her.
And who is Dr. Sally Ride?
Dr. Ride, simply, is the first American woman and the first queer person to take to space. Moreover, she holds the record as the youngest astronaut ever, at 32 years of age in 1983. She pioneered space flight, developing the robotic arm of STSs (Space Transportation Systems or space shuttles), which paved the way for spacewalks. She served on the investigation boards for the Challenger and Columbia accidents; and she advanced gender equality in science and engineering. And this was her professional life, which includes becoming a non-fiction author or children’s books and induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Privately, she was faithful to her partner, sustaining a 27-year relationship that was only revealed after her death in 2012.
The mental fortitude Dr. Ride had to have in order to manage and balance work and life must have been robust; and it helped her persevere and contribute to America’s greatness, which is inspiring. It is because of her and because of people like her, with similar fortitude and a sense of patriotism, that a queer person can celebrate America’s 250th, for they, like any American are celebrating the strength, courage, and hope of a fellow patriot, from which they can derive pride and carry on in walking the path of life.
In addition to the Pride Pathways event, here are a few other happenings at South Cobb Regional Library:
JULY 2026
WEEK 1
| DATE | DAY | EST (24hr) | EVENT |
| July 01, 2026 | Wednesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Storytime | ||
| 17:00 – 18:00 | Adult Art Night | ||
| 18:30 – 19:00 | Evening Storytime | ||
| July 02, 2026 | Thursday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Unearth the Underground: Discover Caving | ||
| 15:00 – 16:30 | Word Basics | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Teen LEGO Time | ||
| July 03, 2026 | Friday | – | IN HONOR OF INDEPENDENCE DAY |
| July 04, 2026 | Saturday | – | INDEPENDENCE DAY |
JULY 2026
WEEK 2
| DATE | DAY | EST (24hr) | EVENT |
| July 05, 2026 | Sunday | 13:00 – 17:00 | |
| July 06, 2026 | Monday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Sing and Dance Along | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | LEGO Club | ||
| July 07, 2026 | Tuesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Baby Time | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Baby Time | ||
| 18:30 – 19:30 | Home Economics | ||
| July 08, 2026 | Wednesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Storytime with the Mayor | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Pokémon Club | ||
| 17:00 – 19:00 | Dig into Your Past – Genealogy for Beginners | ||
| July 09, 2026 | Thursday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 15:30 – 16:30 | Paws to Read with CAREing PAWS: Read to Koda | ||
| 16:30 – 17:30 | The Last Word Book Discussion (Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green) | ||
| July 10, 2026 | Friday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 10:30 – 11:30 | Sensory Dino Dig | ||
| July 11, 2026 | Saturday | 10:00 – 17:00 | |
JULY 2026
WEEK 3
| DATE | DAY | EST (24hr) | EVENT |
| July 12, 2026 | Sunday | 13:00 – 17:00 | |
| July 13, 2026 | Monday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Sing and Dance Along | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | LEGO Club | ||
| July 14, 2026 | Tuesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Baby Time | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Baby Time | ||
| 18:30 – 19:30 | Home Economics | ||
| July 15, 2026 | Wednesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Storytime | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Junior Paleontologists | ||
| July 16, 2026 | Thursday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 15:00 – 16:30 | Excel Basics | ||
| July 17, 2026 | Friday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| July 18, 2026 | Saturday | 10:00 – 17:00 | |
JULY 2026
WEEK 4
| DATE | DAY | EST (24hr) | EVENT |
| July 19, 2026 | Sunday | 13:00 – 17:00 | |
| July 20, 2026 | Monday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Sing and Dance Along | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | LEGO Club | ||
| July 21, 2026 | Tuesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Baby Time | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Baby Time | ||
| 13:00 – 14:30 | Pride Pathways: Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities & Allies | ||
| 18:30 – 19:30 | Home Economics | ||
| July 22, 2026 | Wednesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Storytime | ||
| July 23, 2026 | Thursday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| July 24, 2026 | Friday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | Happy Helpings Summer Meal Program | ||
| 11:00 | Summer Reading Closing with Crescent Circus | ||
| July 25, 2026 | Saturday | 10:00 – 17:00 | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Stompin’ Stories | ||
JULY 2026
WEEK 5
| DATE | DAY | EST (24hr) | EVENT |
| July 26, 2026 | Sunday | 13:00 – 17:00 | |
| July 27, 2026 | Monday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Sing and Dance Along | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | LEGO Club | ||
| July 28, 2026 | Tuesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Baby Time | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Baby Time | ||
| 15:00 – 16:00 | Unearth a Story with Georgia Archives | ||
| July 29, 2026 | Wednesday | 10:00 – 20:00 | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Family Storytime | ||
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Junior Paleontologists | ||
| July 30, 2026 | Thursday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
| July 31, 2026 | Friday | 10:00 – 18:00 | |
Kelly Johnson, a resident of Cobb since 1999, wears multiple hats for Chaos Studio Seven, among which is creative writer. Outside of speculative and science fiction—and on occasion poetry—Kelly uses his skill set as a writer to report on and inform the community.
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