whitewash

I’m painting–again. Several doors in the apartment were marred so early this morning I gave them a fresh coat of white paint. For the most part, my apartment is done. I’ve been in Lancaster for three weeks and all but one box has been unpacked; everything has a place, the dining table is being repaired, and the kitchen table was repainted yesterday. I managed to bring it inside on my own, so that means the deck is ready for my attention and I’ve ordered a nice weatherproof rug. The traffic at the front of the apartment gets quite loud so working out back might be a good idea. I bought a wind chime and want to get a bird feeder to see if I can tempt some of the songbirds I keep hearing over to my deck. I’m doing all this to procrastinate, of course. I haven’t written much since I moved, though I’ve been doing a little research. I visited Rock Ford Plantation last week; my friend is a docent there and she told me about an enslaved woman who ran away while pregnant. You can read the notice her enslaver posted in the newspaper—was he also the father of her child? Who’s Capt. Mol’y?!?! Sue was a fashionista it seems and yet the only dress on display belonged to the mistress of the house…it’s her tiara on view, her jewels and pearls and china and silver tongs…There’s enough “residue” for me to start writing, but it’s still frustrating to know that the official historical record is so incomplete. Not whitewashed, though—the docent was a member of the African American Historical Society and she opened the tour with documents about the two enslaved people who contributed to the wealth of the Hand family. More slaves likely worked on the large farm but only two are recorded as runaways…

This week we’re doing the cover reveal for ! I’m thrilled to be partnering with The Conscious Kid—if you aren’t following them already, you should be…their social media posts are always on point, and remind me that the kid lit community can and should be engaging with a range of social justice issues. I’m not sure how my poems about police brutality, sexual assault, and human trafficking will be received but this educator definitely sees the value in my book:

I started a picture book over the weekend and began composing a poem this morning…time to write!