no more conferences

I am very tired today, but also very grateful for the good friends and engaged educators who made this week's conferences a success.  Amy Bowllan was the perfect host/emcee for the diversity symposium at The Hewitt School, and we had a really good conversation about multicultural books with librarians, Wade Hudson of Just Us Books, and Hannah Ehrlich of Lee & Low.  Amy has posted a list of resources on her blog, so check it out.  Afterward, Amy and her daughter graciously escorted me out to Queens, and Lyn Miller-Lachmann was another fabulous hostess; we left early the next morning for the New England Conference on Multicultural Education.  Lyn and I presented on "Migration, Identity, and Return," and got a warm reception from the educators in attendance.  Afterward, a Snickers bar was in order, and then we reached NYC just as the Nor'easter blew into town…woke with a migraine today, but the sun is shining and the heat's coming on, which must mean it's chilly outside—at last!  Shadra posted the above video on my Facebook page last night; initially I freaked out b/c I didn't know it was online, but then I watched the video and realized how much I miss teaching and developing original presentations.  My talk, "Hoochie No More: Mickalene Thomas Reframes the Blaxploitation Aesthetic," was for the Feminism Now Symposium held at the Brooklyn Museum in 2008.  You can't see the slide show, but here are some of the images I shared with the audience: