highlights

I meant to start my sugar detox today but woke up this morning wanting to try the maple syrup gifted to me by the Minnesota Humanities Society (along with some beautiful books published by community groups). So I made pancakes for breakfast and then went to Starbucks in the afternoon and got some of the chocolate-covered biscuits I ate every other night while I was away (there was a Starbucks in the hotel lobby). It rained all day so I didn’t make it to the park, and that means I haven’t gone for a run in over a week. Travel always disrupts my routine, and sometimes that’s a good thing; I need to be pushed, otherwise I stay inside my comfort zone and end up in a rut. My week in the Twin Cities was full—a campus talk, five school visits, and a couple of other public events. The introvert in me was worried about having the social stamina to make it through each day, but I realized that it’s possible to feel exhausted and invigorated at the same time! I usually got back to the hotel in the evening with a full head and heart, which means I didn’t sleep well because I didn’t write while I was away. I can’t remember everything that happened, but I was struck by certain moments and interactions, so will try to record those now. I arrived Tuesday afternoon and that evening Prof. Sarah Park Dahlen hosted a fantastic event at St. Kate’s; her MLIS students and colleagues helped us to have a really substantive conversation. Sarah also revealed the new kid lit graphic she commissioned, which is great—I used it in my book talks last week and the students really responded to the mirrors diminishing in size and number as you move from the White child over to the Native child. You can read about the team Sarah assembled and download your own copy of the graphic here. I met a lot of wonderful future librarians that evening, but I was struck by one grad who came up to tell me that reading A Wish After Midnight meant a lot to him because at the time he was preparing to come out and he really identified with Genna’s journey and her struggle to be seen as her authentic self. I tend to simplify the mirror metaphor when I’m talking to kids, so we don’t always talk about the many different ways you can identify with a character and see yourself reflected in a book. But it means a lot to me when Genna’s story resonates with a wide range of people. The next morning I was taken to Bancroft Elementary School; they co-sponsored my week in MN and I met with their three 4th-grade classes. School culture is important and as soon as I entered Bancroft, I noticed a difference in tone. All the schools I visited in MN were fairly quiet (compared to NYC schools) but the mindfulness training for students and staff there created a really unique experience. When one child asked me to name my favorite food, before I could even answer a girl with beautifully hennaed hands blurted out, “Cake!” How did she know?! That afternoon my two hosts from Umbra & the Givens Collection of African American Literature took me to Gordon Parks HS; most of the students left when the bell rang halfway through my presentation, but six or seven stayed and we had an excellent conversation about Black masculinity/fragility and the need for more stories about the Black Lives Matter movement. The teens in the Twin Cities are definitely “woke!” The next day I was taken to Lucy Laney Elementary School by one of my other hosts, Chaun Webster. Chaun runs Ancestry Books and his kids attend that school so we got a warm welcome followed by a tour. Then I presented for two groups of second graders. I don’t have much experience working with kids that age, but they were wonderful and very excited to meet an author for the first time. When I talked about teaching a little girl whose mother was in prison, almost two-thirds of the kids raised their hands to tell me about their family member who was also incarcerated. We don’t have enough mirror books to adequately reflect the many realities of these kids…

That afternoon Sarah picked me up and took me to Maplewood MS where I presented one and a half times for 7th and 8th grade students. One asked me how much I earn as an author and I told her about half of what I once earned as a professor ($70K). I thought about that later and wondered if I should have kept that information to myself. I’m generally for greater transparency in publishing, and don’t want to give the impression that I’m “living large” when most of the time I’m hustling to make ends meet. But the hustle is worthwhile—I left the academy because it no longer gave me the time I need to dream and write. The past two years haven’t been easy, but I’m blessed to have friends and colleagues who value what I have to offer and I’m always honored when they bring me out to meet the members of their communities. I’ll have to finish blogging about my trip tomorrow—time to catch up on some of the sleep I lost by ruminating endlessly last week…