Funny thing is, I’m going to be 50 this year, and I don’t think Detra or Antero knew when they set out with this past year’s NCTE member gatherings that they were going to host an event for every year I’ve been alive! I really appreciate that, especially as I enter my mid-life phase....or crisis. That is yet to be determined.
Truth be told, NCTE and the National Writing Project have been my hope and faith ever since I became a teacher. It's a religion I trust. As the chaos ebbs and flows in the profession, I’ve always looked out to colleagues and teacher leaders who were making a difference and who invite me to think alongside them. Detra’s been family ever since my doctoral days of working with Marcelle Haddix and Writing Our Lives events and Antero has been a hero (not Anti-hero) ever since he offered his first pun and I witnessed his incredible hair. Now, with twins, he's licensed to be the master of dad jokes. His humor will continue to guide me and his brilliance, like Detra's, will be the drumbeat in the back of my head as I drumbeat forward in my own parade.
I just left the NCTEAR conference in Nashville and was doing work at the North Texas Teen Book Festival, when I realized everything was about to change quickly. I don’t know about others on this call, but I knew that my survival during a year of Covid depended on maintaining my communities, because community, to me, is central to anything I achieve. That’s what years of classroom teaching, work with immigrant and refugee youth, and collaboration with administrations and teachers have taught me. I am unable to succeed without a community to be part of. As an individual, any outcome that arrives my way only results because of the memberships I have with like-minded sojourners like me.
It’s fitting, that Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is also featured again tonight, because besides community, the second thing I need for survival is LOVE. Love fuels literacy, and literacy fuels everything I love. Her collaboration with Detra on Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education has been a most-anticipated publication, especially for those of us who desire activism both in and beyond digital spaces. There's no wonder that it quickly has become a #1 book for educators across the country, even at its fledgling stage of just hatching into the world.
For the last year, Detra and Antero have offered all of us a location to stay sane. As more and more gatherings were announced, I knew it was going to be an opportunity to see ol’ friends, and also to make new ones. The first time I signed on and saw Emily Kirkpatrick’s radiant smile and wonderful red hair beaming in front of the NCTE neon green, I realized the SHINE was still on. We were going to be just fine.
And that is what we are.
This week I’ve been working with actor and writer Ger Duany and author Abdi Nor Iftin on June 20th events for World Refugee Day. In one of the pieces we’ve been writing I made reference to the work of cultivating geniuses in the tradition of Gholdy Muhammad and promoting critical civic empathy as Nicole Mirra has written. Reflecting on the NCTE Member Gatherings over the last year, I realize THIS IS what Antero and Detra have stood for as well. The leadership, the intelligence, the passion, and the willingness to host so many great minds in dialogue of the profession are extremely appreciated.
So, I thank you. You’ve raised the bar extremely high for all of us. Yes, we have so much more to do (and I can’t wait for everything still to come), but these words are my finger-snaps, party favors, and tip-of-the-glass to you both.
I am, because of you both, and I am thankful. Here's to the year you brought our way!
And I also made them a card: https://www.jibjab.com/view/make/what-does-the-fox-say-ylvis-starring-you-ecard/a5a4b5c7-6897-4df6-bc58-92fb85812e22
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