SWaG 2018!

Yesterday was *such* a great day! Weeks ago I got a text from Jaqueline Woodson asking me if I’d be interested in giving a keynote for the NYC Dept. of Education’s conference on Sexuality, Women, and Gender (SWaG). I thought for a moment before texting back, “Thanks for thinking of me but I’m not sure I’m qualified to”—and then I stopped myself. I put the phone down and thought a while longer. Was I qualified? Ten years ago when I was a junior professor teaching a course on Black feminism(s) at a women’s college, I would have said, “Sure!” But I’ve been out of the academy and out of the classroom for quite a while. I regularly have to Google things that my younger friends post on Facebook because I don’t know what the acronyms mean. But this conference was for NYC teachers; they weren’t experts, they were expecting to learn more about SWaG. Would it help if I stood up and said, “I know some things but I’m still learning, too?” So I erased the half-composed text and sent another: “Thanks for thinking of me! Please do give them my contact information.” Then when I heard from Kimberly Shannon and Jared Fox, I hedged again and gave them the name of my friend, Maya Gonzalez, who has published extensively on gender and sexuality. Maya’s battling two plagiarists right now, so I felt it was important that she be recognized as the groundbreaking gender justice advocate she is and has always been. Then I talked to Kimberly Shannon, Gender Equity Coordinator at the DOE’s Office of Counseling Support Programs, and she told me they were going to have *two* keynotes, with mine focusing on girls of color (the other speaker was Janson Wu, executive director of GLAD). At that point my confidence came back and I started getting really excited about all the possibilities…almost two years ago I downloaded the July 2016 NCTE special issue on Black Girls’ Literacies (BGL), but I didn’t READ it until Edith Campbell brought BGL into our upcoming ALA panel on Black girls, magic, and brilliance. I started taking notes and making up slides; I found this awesome photo of Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, Cherrie Moraga, and Beverly Smith. I knew I had too much material for a forty-minute talk so I cut and condensed and thought I’d put only the essentials into my notes. Then I arrived at LaGuardia HS, got a warm welcome from Jared and Kim, and caught the tail end of Janson’s talk. Set up was easy since they’d already loaded my slideshow onto the computer; I was given my mic to clip on and I was ready to go! I didn’t stray too far from the podium even though I had a remote to advance the slides. But I love the photo Kim took during my talk: as I get closer to the audience, watching over me are my younger selves, happy and confident. And that’s exactly how I felt by the time I finished my keynote. Not sticking to my notes meant I freestyled and went over my allotted time, but the conference attendees didn’t mind and encouraged me to keep going. Afterwards folks thanked me for my presentation and today I received an invitation from a principal whose staff “raved” about my contribution to the SWaG conference. It really was a phenomenal line-up—so many informative sessions for educators to attend. I headed back to Brooklyn and ran into a friend I hadn’t seen since the ’90s when we worked at the Sista II Sista Freedom School. Then I got a pint of ice cream and hit the couch! But couldn’t really rest because I was still energized by the conference. Look at the awesome tote bag (above) that they designed; I posted that pic on Facebook and so many friends wanted one of their own. It was such a privilege to be a part of SWaG 2018! And I still have plenty of notes that didn’t make it into the presentation, so I might use them in an essay. I’m very grateful for the women scholars and IPOC activists—the original #DiversityJedi!—upon whose work I stand!