Greeting cards are a wonderful way to express appreciation for the people in your life–if you can pick one up before the occasion passes by. Why not make sure you’re prepared by keeping cards on hand instead? Make this the year you get your notes in order and plan for all of the occasions likely to emerge throughout the year. Continue reading “How to Organize Your Greeting Cards Because You Care”
Greeting cards are a wonderful way to express appreciation for the people in your life–if you can pick one up before the occasion passes by. Why not make sure you’re prepared by keeping cards on hand instead? Make this the year you get your notes in order and plan for all of the occasions likely to emerge throughout the year. Continue reading “How to Organize Your Greeting Cards Because You Care”
It’s hard to know where a parent’s work ends in supporting children’s academic achievement. Witness the helicopter parent next door who’s got Kumon on speed dial and watches the classroom webcam like it’s House of Cards. We sense that she’s gone too far in her vicarious quest for success, but can’t pinpoint exactly where she crossed the line between supportive parent and obsessive micromomager.
But it’s abundantly clear where a parent’s educational work starts–at birth. Long before children enter school, parents are their first teachers, consciously or unconsciously laying the pre-literacy groundwork that will undergird all future learning. Yet we tend to spend disproportionate time pondering what other people–teachers, policymakers, enrichment programs–owe our kids. Surely we’d benefit from giving ourselves the same kind of scrutiny. Do the math: we’re with our kids more than any teacher. Continue reading “Are You Raising a Reader?”
It’s hard to know where a parent’s work ends in supporting children’s academic achievement. Witness the helicopter parent next door who’s got Kumon on speed dial and watches the classroom webcam like it’s House of Cards. We sense that she’s gone too far in her vicarious quest for success, but can’t pinpoint exactly where she crossed the line between supportive parent and obsessive micromomager.
But it’s abundantly clear where a parent’s educational work starts–at birth. Long before children enter school, parents are their first teachers, consciously or unconsciously laying the pre-literacy groundwork that will undergird all future learning. Yet we tend to spend disproportionate time pondering what other people–teachers, policymakers, enrichment programs–owe our kids. Surely we’d benefit from giving ourselves the same kind of scrutiny. Do the math: we’re with our kids more than any teacher. Continue reading “Are You Raising a Reader?”
Please join me on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the John Henry Faulk Central Library, 800 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX for the New Fiction Confab.
This exciting event features several of the most notable authors who published new work in 2015 and 2016. They’ll lead writing workshops, read their work, and engage in conversations in Austin libraries. Don’t miss this chance to discuss contemporary fiction with the authors shaping America’s literary landscape! Continue reading “New Fiction Confab to Feature Kaitlyn Greenidge, Virginia Reeves and Maya Smart”
Please join me on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the John Henry Faulk Central Library, 800 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX for the New Fiction Confab.
This exciting event features several of the most notable authors who published new work in 2015 and 2016. They’ll lead writing workshops, read their work, and engage in conversations in Austin libraries. Don’t miss this chance to discuss contemporary fiction with the authors shaping America’s literary landscape! Continue reading “New Fiction Confab to Feature Kaitlyn Greenidge, Virginia Reeves and Maya Smart”
Hi, I’m Maya, and I’d love to tell you about the I, Too, Arts Collective. This is a new non-profit initiative being launched by author Renée Watson to preserve and build on the legacy of poet, Langston Hughes. I was so excited when I heard that Renée was doing this, because, like so many people, I have enjoyed the poetry of Langston Hughes since I was a little, little kid. In fact, I still have my very first book of poetry, which is called My Black Me: A Beginning Book of Black Poetry, which features four or five Langston Hughes poems whose lines I return to and whose themes and ideas I explore in my own writing.
Hi, I’m Maya, and I’d love to tell you about the I, Too, Arts Collective. This is a new non-profit initiative being launched by author Renée Watson to preserve and build on the legacy of poet, Langston Hughes. I was so excited when I heard that Renée was doing this, because, like so many people, I have enjoyed the poetry of Langston Hughes since I was a little, little kid. In fact, I still have my very first book of poetry, which is called My Black Me: A Beginning Book of Black Poetry, which features four or five Langston Hughes poems whose lines I return to and whose themes and ideas I explore in my own writing.
I was honored to stand with Austin’s writing community and writers across the country for an evening of rapid-fire readings designed to renew our energy and help us find the language and stories we need to fight for a free, just and compassionate society. Participating writers included Sarah Bird, Elizabeth McCracken, Cyrus Cassells, Sasha West, Tammy Gomez, and Chaitali Sen. Continue reading “Austin Writers Resist: A Counter-Inauguration”
I was honored to stand with Austin’s writing community and writers across the country for an evening of rapid-fire readings designed to renew our energy and help us find the language and stories we need to fight for a free, just and compassionate society. Participating writers included Sarah Bird, Elizabeth McCracken, Cyrus Cassells, Sasha West, Tammy Gomez, and Chaitali Sen. Continue reading “Austin Writers Resist: A Counter-Inauguration”
His answers are compelling. Even more, the way he scrutinizes the origin of his beliefs about black identity and masculinity is revelatory–and instructive. He mines his personal history as an Obama-era black millennial in the service of a larger vision: social transformation through personal awakening. Continue reading “Mychal Denzel Smith On Social Transformation Through Personal Awakening”
His answers are compelling. Even more, the way he scrutinizes the origin of his beliefs about black identity and masculinity is revelatory–and instructive. He mines his personal history as an Obama-era black millennial in the service of a larger vision: social transformation through personal awakening. Continue reading “Mychal Denzel Smith On Social Transformation Through Personal Awakening”
