Let Me Tell Y’all A Story is a weekly column that’s not focused on sports. It’s brought to you by our partners at Chuck Owens, Alfa Insurance.

The internet can be an annoying place.

When our local Chamber of Commerce announced that they’d picked a spot and an artist for a new mural, I read the comments on Facebook.

That’s always a mistake.

Before the first brushstroke, the gripers were questioning why that location and why that artist.

After the initial design went up, they were back, asking if it was done and why it looked unfinished.

You could post today on The Book that you were giving out $100 bills in Dairy Queen parking lot and three of the first five comments would be someone complaining about the medians on Brookway Boulevard.

That’s why I was happy to see artist Danielle Camp back on the lift earlier this week, putting the finishing touches on the new mural that adorns the side of the movie theater.

Earlier this year I watched as Danielle transformed the side of our local Boys and Girls Club with a mural. My daily commute takes me past that spot, and I saw her completed that project with great speed and skill.

I would pass by in the morning as she got things set up and then in the afternoon, I’d come back through to see her on a ladder, having gotten so much work done in the previous seven hours.

Wearing a big hat to shield her face from the sun and an apron filled with brushes, you could tell that the cheery mural she created was a reflection of the vibes that Camp puts off.

That opinion was confirmed when I stopped to introduce myself as she worked on the theater mural this week.

New Orleans is home right now for Camp, but it’s hard for her to pin down exactly where she’s from, having grown up moving with a parent in the military.

She graduated as the valedictorian from Picayune High and has roots in Tuscaloosa as well.

Mississippi is a place she loves, as her college years were spent in Starkville.

Camp went to Mississippi State University thinking she wanted to be an architect, but she ended up going into fine arts and graphic design.

It was also while in Starkville that she met one of her best friends who hails from Brookhaven, Whitney Clark.

Camp has created large murals in Baton Rouge and Atlanta as painting on the walls was where she did some of her earliest artwork.

“I was always the kid that got in trouble when I was little for doodling on the wall,” said Camp. “I just knew I always wanted to be an artist, but I needed to go to school to refine my skills.”

She did that with a college career that included a summer spent in Italy, studying abroad.

Leaving college with a degree and striking out on your own to be an artist is a scary jump.

When Camp first graduated college, she went corporate, working in that world on the graphic design side of business.

Then came the pandemic and Camp was laid off.

She used that obstacle as an opportunity to pour herself into her art and make it into her career.

“I’ve been painting full time since then and this is all I’ve ever wanted to do,” said Camp. “I started painting when I was six, entering in competitions, and the support of my mother helped that grow.”

After meeting her in person, I looked up Danielle on social media.

One of her pinned posts that was viewable to folks like me, that weren’t her friend, was a video from last year, in memory of her mom, Dolores Archuleta.

You can clearly see their relationship was special. Mother and daughter and best friends.

Knowing that now, it really puts weight on something Danielle said about her journey to full-time artwork.

“I’m a strong believer in doing what you want to do in order to make yourself happy,” said Camp. “If you’re creative and what you want to do doesn’t exist, then go out and create it.”

Because life is too short, I add.

“Exactly,” she agrees with a brilliant smile.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were members of the same club, one for folks raised by an awesome mother that left this mortal plane much too young.

She might not be a “local”, but Danielle Camp has a lot of love for Brookhaven. In our town, she sees a place that values art and culture.

After we chatted, she got back to painting scenes within the letters of the postcard design that makes up the new mural.

So easily, so effortlessly she’d sketched the Coffee Pot Inn and a Brookhaven High Panther onto the wall. She then used her brush and colors to make those pencil lines into paint lines.

I can’t wait to see all the places that Danielle Camp brightens with her artwork, as she’s already done with a couple formally drab cinderblock walls in our town.

I applaud our local tourism board for selecting her and coming up with the design that she helped create.

Let’s paint more walls.

Let’s commission more murals.

Let’s bring more beauty into the world, because life is too short.

Which is a sentiment that even the Facebook grumblers can agree with.