Will You Shelve Your Own Book One Day?

It's been a little while since I updated, and I am sorry for that.  I left on an apartment hunting mission a few days after school ended (without my computer!), and wound up renting the first apartment I saw (after having seen others too, don't worry). I'll be living in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, where I can in fact walk to Lake Michigan.  It's in between Lincoln Park, where there's a very cute zoo, and Wrigleyville, the neighborhood where you can go to watch the Cubs.  I can also walk to lots of restaurants and stores (including a Target!) and a local library branch.  And I'm currently packing up everything to move there! But before my life became securing things in bubble wrap and taping cardboard together, I did have a lot of fun in Chicago and also visiting friends in Atlanta. This is my city now! We did an interval workout class under this honeycomb at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It started to rain in the middle and that was honestly ki...

Today was my last official day at Brunner School.  And that doesn't seem real.  And I don't know when it will. With colors low doesn't have the same ring to it. I cannot express how thankful I have been for the last 9 years at this school, and the out pouring of support that has come way as I prepare to leave. Back in June of 2010, I had another last day in that parking lot.  I was ending my first year as a school librarian, and it had been hard.  I remember barely feeling like I was holding my head above water most of the time.  My colleagues have always been wonderful, but I was new and inexperienced and there was no other person like me in the building I could talk too.  I had also been RIF'ed a month earlier, reduction in force, right before the teacher's appreciation luncheon at all times.  I didn't know that afternoon, as I stood with my assistant, Grace, if I would even have a job in the fall.  And that was scary.  Even though ...

So, I remember being very upset when I was in high school and the time came to pick out pictures to put in the yearbook that there were none of me wearing any University of Delaware pride wear.  Which makes sense, I had no childhood connection with the school or even the state, but it made things feel less destined. Well, when I was looking for a picture for tonight's Evening of Recognition, this felt right. I eat a little  more neatly today. Because I'm wearing a Cubs bib in this picture. Hey, Chicago, what do you say?

I am a person who uses Timehop. I don't know why I'm saying that like I should be embarrassed about it. Timehop is great at making me confused about how time works.  But honestly, I check it every morning (370 days and counting!) because it's nice to look back on things I've loved and to realize places I've grown. I don't remember what the context for this was, or the motivation.  There's not one exact moment I can pinpoint as when I officially decided to go back to school, and Timehop has not made it any more clear to me, so I don't even know if it was about that, or just like how you may sometimes wonder who would come to your funeral.   But in reading it, I do recall going shelf by shelf in the fiction section, doing inventory, and this thought and all its associated emotions passing through. I was there again today, making sure all of our chapter books were accounted for and orderly.  But this time I know I only have nine more days left. An...

I was very kindly asked this afternoon to include a baby picture in the slideshow at Evening of Recognition, an event to acknowledge all of our outgoing fourth graders.  It is my second favorite school activity to attend because I like crying in public about nostalgia.  (My favorite activity is of course the Variety Show where I get to cry in public about the pride I hold for all of my brave and talented students.)  In my search, I came across this picture on Facebook where it was posted by my mom a couple of years ago and I love it? When you're a reader, anywhere looks like a good place to crack a book. It's not good for the slideshow, you can't really see my face, although my baby hair flyaways might give me away.  I still wanted to share it.  I have always loved books, it reminds me.  I apparently at one point in my life did not despise laundry baskets.  

Last May, I read an interview Greg James did about his upcoming children’s book, “Kid Normal”. And when asked what his number one tip for someone wanting to become a writer would be, he answered, “Just get going.”  So, I will be. Beginning in September, I am very proud to be included in the Creative Writing Fiction M.F.A. Program at Columbia College Chicago. It’s where I hope to title the book  in this picture and fill the pages with all the words of a story that so far is only found inside of me. And as for the sweatshirt, well, back in the summer while visiting the campus, I almost bought one. It has a hot dog on it after all. But I got a magazine instead and went to sit with it across the street in Grant Park where I listened to Kesha sing over and over again about realizing life is short. And I so badly hoped that wanting it hadn’t jinxed something. It meaning the sweatshirt, and the acceptance and the buzzy way it felt on Michigan Avenue during an afternoon in Augu...