Stories of Pride: Phillip Smith-Hanes
5:30pm - 6:30pm
In an effort to showcase our experience as LGBTQIA+ public servants, build resources for those interested in local government leadership, and show the change that we are able to effect in our communities, CivicPRIDE and ELGL are proud to sponsor “Stories of Pride”. These virtual events provide a platform to discuss our experiences, the intersectionality of our sexual, gender, and racial identities as LGBTQIA+ public servants, and how the different facets of our experience shape the way we serve. These stories may be uplifting and demonstrate community acceptance of the speaker’s identity, showcase difficulties that a speaker has faced and where they have found strength to press on, or how they’ve met challenges in their careers and communities.
Please join us for our next hour of stories with time for questions and answers with CivicPRIDE Cofounder and current Saline County, Kansas Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, on Wednesday, December 9th, 2020 at 8:30 PM EST / 5:30 PM PST. Mr. Smith-Hanes has provided us with a poem that is a reflection of himself, and his bio is also provided in full below.
Sign-up for the hour of stories!
A native Kansan and a graduate of three Kansas universities, Phil Smith-Hanes started his local government career with the League of Kansas Municipalities and Sedgwick County before spending a decade and a half on the West Coast, where he served as County Administrative Officer for Humboldt County, California, for six years. From March of 2016 through November of 2019, he served as County Administrator of Ellis County, Kansas. Since December 2019, he has been serving Saline County, Kansas, in the same capacity.
A lover of acronyms, Phil is an ICMA-CM as well as a member of NACA, KACM, and ELGL in addition to being a KUCIMAT, a graduate of SEI at UVA, and a former presenter at the TLG conference. Phil has written on LGBT issues (including in PM) and is a proponent of the HPO model of OD.
Although he doesn’t claim to be a social media expert, he would love for you to follow him on Twitter @SA_PSH.
Where I’m From
I am from railroad ties,
From lemon-fresh Pledge and raised-bed gardens.
I am from the mulberry trees by the old garage
Purple, dark, berries as sweet to me as to the birds whose dung was stained from eating them.
I am from the ancient pear tree by the TV antenna,
The rosebush that marked the line between our property and the neighbors’.
I’m from rolling out peppernuts and eating the dough before it made it to the oven,
From Betty and Bob.
I’m from singing women
And silent men,
From “wait ‘til your father gets home” and “don’t make me stop this car!”
I’m from Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death
And bewilderment at families who shielded children from funerals.
I’m from Marion and Yukon, though I don’t want to be from either.
Peanut brittle and chicken noodles.
From the grandfather who trucked seven kids from Chicago to California,
And the grandmother who passed when my mom was only twelve.
There I am. Walking on top of those railroad ties,
Using them as a balance beam,
Smelling the soup bubbling on the stove
And the homemade bread baking in the oven.