The Thinker

by Berton Braley

BACK OF the beating hammer
By which the steel is wrought,
Back of the workshop's clamor
The seeker may find the Thought—
The Thought that is ever master
Of iron and steam and steel,
That rises above disaster
And tramples it under heel!

The drudge may fret and tinker
Or labor with lusty blows,
But back of him stands the Thinker,
The clear-eyed man who knows;
For into each plow or saber,
Each piece and part and whole,
Must go the Brains of Labor,
Which gives the work a soul!

Back of the motors humming,
Back of the bells that sing,
Back of the hammers drumming,
Back of the cranes that swing,
There is the eye which scans them
Watching through stress and strain,
There is the Mind which plans them—
Back of the brawn, the Brain!

Might of the roaring boiler,
Force of the engine's thrust,
Strength of the sweating toiler—
Greatly in these we trust.
But back of them stands the Schemer,
The Thinker who drives things through;
Back of the Job—the Dreamer
Who's making the dream come true!

Sunday, April 5th, 2020

During this time of growing concern and uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic, Maynard Studios, as a model of what we believe other small businesses can and should do, are instituting a temporary and partial shutdown of the studio for the purpose of confronting this (hopefully) short-term public health emergency. This is in addition to the steps we’ve already taken in the previous weeks. Employees are now at home with full pay and benefits for the next two weeks minimum and possibly as long as eight weeks. Our vendors will continue to be paid and no accounts will be closed.

Since March 23rd, employees have been asked to drive their own vehicles to installations and we reimbursed mileage. We also started strictly enforced a 6’ distance in working space. No one was to use the break room or have lunch together. We had plenty of paper towels, hand soap and disinfectants at all sink stations and encouraged everyone to wash their hands often. All door handles and communal surfaces are disinfected multiple times a day. PPE like face masks, face shields and ear-muffs were labeled with each person’s name and not to be shared. Basically, “let’s all act like we have the virus” to encourage the creation of good habits.

We feel that the next few weeks are critical in combating this pandemic and that it is better to minimize the risks to our crew and our clients by isolating as much as possible. We will reassess after two weeks and extend the shut-down if necessary. Matthew and Karine will continue to work in the studio alone, so jobs will keep moving but a little more slowly than usual. We are requesting no visitors except necessary deliveries which will be either disinfected or set aside not opened for 48 hours (we hope you do this too).

Any installs deemed to be “essential” will continue with Matthew and Karine handling them in proper PPE. If we are currently working on a commission for you, we will be contacting you or your agent directly early this week to advise of any impact to your timeline. We are in a fairly good place schedule-wise. We realized this would likely become an issue and have already acquired the materials needed for upcoming jobs. We have been able to orchestrate them in such a way that Matt & Karine would have been staying in the studio to work anyway, so things should flow reasonably smoothly through this, again, just slower because we are short-handed. And that’s ok. We want everyone safe.

We are looking forward to a brighter day after this moment has passed. We are optimistic about our economy bouncing back and believe that this is also a chance to take stock of what is important in life and make a better world from such a terrible situation.

We will get through this. We will get through this together.

#teamkentucky

#togetherky

#patriot

#healthyathome