A thought occurred to Scott Sturm several days ago as he hunkered down at 10 p.m. in sub-zero temperatures, trying to stake down 24-inch plastic letters in the frozen tundra of his front yard: Why am I doing this?
Sturm is a 47-year-old real estate agent who lives at Loren Street and National Avenue.
You probably know his work. It's simple. It's kind.
Since COVID hit the Ozarks in March 2020, he has spelled out little messages across his front yard that make us feel just a little better.
The final one, No. 126, is this: STAY CLASSY SPRINGFIELD PEACE OUT
‘When happiness was in such short supply'
“It all started out as such a modest attempt to impart just a little bit of joy in everyone's lives during the days of COVID when happiness was in such short supply,” he wrote to his Rountree neighbors in an email he shared with me.
“Yet it has resulted in bringing much joy to our lives in return, seeing how well received it has been by so many of you over these past couple years.
“We've had bouquets of flowers delivered, gift cards sent to us and we've received countless cards and thank-you notes in the mail, all of which have greatly lifted my spirit and inspired me to keep it up for a while longer.
“In a day and age where people can seem to find opposing views on just about everything that might be said, I somehow managed to avoid offending anyone deeply enough to not ever receive any hate mail or have any of the letters stolen.”
Starts with one set of letters
I've met Sturm. I wrote a Dec. 11, 2020 Pokin Around column on his little messages of kindness when I worked at the Springfield News-Leader.
I later answered several of his Answer Man questions: Why is it called University Heights Baptist Church when it's actually in Rountree? Why do we call Chestnut and Kansas Avenue “expressways” when they're not?
In addition to the email he sent to his neighbors, I spoke to Sturm by phone Dec. 30.
He started this in 2020 with one set of 26 letters. They are upper case. He has never used numerals or punctuation or lower case. Today, he has four sets of upper-case letters.
“I have only lost one letter — a letter ‘C' that blew away in the wind,” he says.
First message: SMILE turned into SLIME
The shortest message was his first: SMILE.
Someone quickly transposed it into SLIME.
The longest (32 letters) was: YOU IS TIRED YOU IS BROKE YOU IS A PARENT
He's taken liberties with his letters, especially when he had only one set, he says.
An upside-down “V” once stood in for an “A.”
He once used a “W” sideways to stand for a second “E.”
The phrase was CABIN FEVER.
“I truly wanted these messages to embody and convey a spirit of levity, decency, goodwill and positivity,” Sturm says in his email.
“My intention was to try and inoffensively appeal to some common ground in all our lives that contrasts the sometimes fractious and divisive nature of social media and politics. “
Sturm tells me he wanted to leave the political drive-by messaging market to local attorney Robert Sweere, whose office at 302 S. National Ave. is a few blocks north on National.
Sweere, a Democrat, has a changing outdoor sign encased in glass that carries a message for northbound drivers.
For example, he has proclaimed, with punctuation: ANTIFA IS SHORT FOR ANTI-FASCIST. I'M ANTIFA
Family-oriented, innocuous and understandable to a 5-year-old
Sturm tells me his “consultants” have been his wife Katrina and their two daughters Lydia, 7, and Emily, 5.
His objective has been to keep the messages family oriented, innocuous and understandable to a 5-year-old.
Someone once suggested he proclaim to the Queen City from his front yard: ZOOM SUCKS.
Not going to happen. He came up with: ALL ZOOMED OUT
He has not received a negative word of pushback, Sturm tells me, although he has been edited by a vigilante who apparently missed the point.
Sturm's message was: TO ERROR IS HUMAN TO FORGIVE IS DIVINE
He deliberately misspelled “ERR” as “ERROR” because the joke was in the mistake.
Yet someone took the time to take the “O” and the “R” off the end of “ERROR.”
Still, the phantom editor was kind of enough to leave the removed letters nearby on the lawn.
Over the years, Sturm has mentioned Andy's, Pineapple Whip and Hiland Dairy in three separate messages.
FEELS LIKE AN ANDYS NIGHT
I FLIP FOR PINEAPPLE WHIP
HILAND ICE CREAM IN LEGENDAIRY
It was not his intent, but In all three instances, the companies sent gift coupons.
‘I hope I did right by everybody'
“It has been a very uplifting and fulfilling journey from start to finish, and I hope I did right by everybody while I was doing it,” he wrote in his email. “Thank you for letting me be a small but visible part of this neighborhood, our community and your lives these past couple years.
“I'm very humbled by all the kindness and generosity that has been extended to our family since the messages began.
“... It speaks to the gracious and good-natured character that many folks in Springfield have and willingly extend to their neighbors.”
It's time to end it, he says.
“I just want to quit while I'm ahead, before I get cranky or curmudgeonly,” Sturm tells me.
Sturm says his daughters are young and his family will likely be in the same house for years ago come.
He's got an idea. Down the road, he says, he might do something similar but different.
That's all he'll say for now, leaving us with those final two words on his front lawn. PEACE OUT
This is Pokin Around column No. 88.
