use it or lose it

Publisher's Weekly did a nice report on the children and YA events from the Brooklyn Book Festival. We had such beautiful sunshine that weekend and now we've got days and days of rain…perfect weather for curling up with a book. I'm re-reading Andrea Levy's The Long Song, which I didn't especially enjoy the first time around but thought it would make a good addition to my neo-slave narratives course. The students did NOT like the first hundred pages; hopefully they'll push on and search for meaning in the remaining 200 pages. I taught Wish last week—that was my first time teaching my own novel and it was a little uncomfortable for me. Do the students feel free to express their true opinion of the book knowing that the professor is the author? It's easier to gauge an audience of strangers. At Thursday night's reading at Outpost Lounge I was thrilled to meet a librarian who hosted my first author presentation back in 2009. I had connected with a group of literacy coaches and was invited to present Wish during their monthly meeting. I did a terrible job, if I remember correctly, but that librarian kept her copy of Wish and brought it along to Thursday night's reading. We had a small, supportive group and we talked about the importance of asserting our voices in this distressing political moment—I read for Troy Davis, an innocent man whose voice was silenced by the state of Georgia earlier this week. Use your voice or lose your power—that's how it goes in this country. Use it or lose it. I was proud to join the chorus of voices gathered by Toshi Reagon for the Word, Rock, & Sword festival.