And · Then: · The · Daily · Dramas · of · a · Children's · Writer

My friend and illustator, Pat Cummings, is going to be hosting a tv show interviewing Brian Sleznick on a cable station here in NYC on Jan 19th. It also looks to have a live webcast so I thought I'd post the flier for it here!Looks to be a darn good show! Tune in everyone!

VIEW IT LIVE ON JANUARY 19TH @ 11AM AT: http://www.briconline.org/bcat/

Ah, is it just me or did the AlA announcements this a.m. have much more excitement and polish than last night's Golden Globe Announcements. No writer's strike in the children's field, thank goodness.

I jumped to my feet to see my friend, fellow VC grad and agent-mate, Sundee Frazier receive the Steptoe New Talent award under the Coretta Scott King Awards. Sundee's debut novel BRENDAN BUCKLEY'S UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN IT focuses on main character, Brendan, finding the white Grandpa he never knew he had. It is a funny, true 10-year old voice and Sundee is more than a talent to watch!

Also, it was a pleasure to see Kadir Nelson get a Caldecott Honor for illustrating: HENRY'S FREEDOM BOX by Ellen Levine. I saw Ellen shortly after he had been named the illustrator for this book and she was beyond herself. A much deserved honor.

Congrats to all the winners and honorees. In fact, a big round of applause for a great year in children's literature!

Busy, busy here in NYC. Tonight are the NBA readings. I'm especially looking forward to hearing Sarah Zarr, a personal heroine of mine, (though she doesn't know that, or me) and Sherman Alexie, whose novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" I devoured during jury duty a few months ago and tapped into my I-don't-belong-here-heart that ached so in pre-teen-hood.

Thursday I am headed to Books of Wonder to see Christopher Paul Curtis and Pam Munoz-Ryan among other middle grade greats. (A reviewer friend of mine says CPC's latest is due the Newbery, though I have yet to read.)

Then, this weekend is NCTE. Meeting some folks from Westside, meeting my agent for our first face-to-face and catching some signings and presentations, including one made by my good buddy, Sarah Aronson, author of HEAD CASE, a great book I need to review here.

The weekend rounds out with a joint Kid Lit Drinks Eve hosted by the Vermont College Alumns. Editors, industry folks, librarians, English teachers...I could get use to this children's book hustle bustle...but back to reality, grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, which I am hosting again this year. I hope to find some quiet time to forge ahead on the new WIP, which I am lagging on, given all the biz-biz-business.

Updates on the events to come~

So, it rained and I needn't have worried about my hair. Evelyn was wearing a hat!

We had a nice leisurely dinner at an Italian place in the theatre district. We chatted about BAXTERS, the marketing plans, the cover, the other books on the Westside list (including Janet's fabulous book) and over the two and a half hours we were there we discussed everything from computer crashes, new line launches, politics, the rash of nooses being displayed all across the country. It was...I daresay it...fun. The conversation flowed and I didn't knock over my glass of wine. (However, I did forget my umbrella when we were leaving and I had to rush back to the table.)

And, as it was tax deductible I treated myself to a taxi home!

So, tonight I am meeting my editor for dinner. Thank god, this isn't a date. I had to come in to work early so I could leave a bit early, and the hair went haywire. It's up and off my face but resembles a rat's nest...more than a bird's nest. Rainstorms are on the way so should I look worse by 7pm I will blame the rain. I've talked to many of my female writer friends as they went off to meet their editor. We always worry about the hair and what to wear...odd, huh? Do men writer's do the same?

I should be worried about how I will converse. I am not a bad conversationalist but I do make verbal faux paus (like mixing up agents names) from time to time. But, Evelyn was a joy to work with on BAXTERS. She got the book, pushed me hard, and listened to what I had to say. I couldn't be happier with my first editing experience.

Wish me luck...

A good friend just sent me this quote:

"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave." Rilke

It was sent for a personal reason, to show me that the pain of my present, won't be my future. That problems pass. Dragon's get slayed. And more than that, that growth happens.

While I did and do need this as a personal lesson, it also reminded me of the three act structure of a novel. We need Act I to establish where our characters are on their journey, what they want, and what is in the way of them getting what they want. We need Act II to throw stones, to drive our characters up that tree, to test them, to have them go after what they want, and for them to show us: the writer and the reader, what they are made of. That they won't give up. That they believe. And, finally, we are granted Act III. The pay off. The denouement. In my novels thus far, my endings aren't planned. They come to me, like a gift of grace. They are my reward and my character's reward for going there. For doing the hard work. For making myself try. For making them go for it. For not giving up halfway. For somehow letting my subconscious guide me and then, and then trusting my intellect and craftmanship to clean it all up. To sweep up all the mess, and to know what goes in the trash and what goes in the keep it pile.

If I were a character, and my life were a novel, I think I am in Act II. Maybe early on in Act II, not quite at midpoint, or maybe a bit past. I find I can structure a story better when I am looking back then when I am looking forward. And, I am at a place where I am looking forward now. I am wanting again. Wanting brings complications. Dissatisfaction. Fear. A battle with the part of me that tells me I am not worth loving (yes, what I want is a good and working relationship) and that love is not real. But, it is. Love is my Act III. It is the gift of grace I will get one sweet day...

And then I will be at Act I all over again.

Now, to keep pressing on in my WIP. I am lagging when what I need is to move ahead.

So, I am not writing and I need to be writing. I am almost done with the second draft of my new WIP. I've been stopping and starting for about 2 months now to tackle BAXTERS revisions, final edits, and to take a much needed vacation. Also, things have been more hectic at work (they think I am capable but I forgot to get my boss lunch today and it is now 3:46. Why do I have to order my bosses lunch? Good question.) and I find my precious "creative-think" time being spent on other things.

No, this doesn't not make for a happy bravebethany. In fact, I have a case of the cranks.

What cures my cranks? Writing. But I don't have the energy. Not today.

Maybe writer's group tonight will put me in a better mood. Thankfully, I do have pages to share. After that only 15 more pages of new material. I better get cranking.

Awww, my LJ friends are so sweet. You sent me birthday wishes when I was nowhere to be found. Another sent me a prompt to post. Without you all I might be lost in a holding pattern of no-posts forever! EEGADS.

I've been MIA for a couple of reasons:

1. I went on vacation to Denver. I hiked. I took my author headshot. I shopped. I saw Elk in my friend's front yard. I had the best damn sushi, with fish flown in from Japan daily (and it put any sushi I had in NY to shame), I relaxed, I read, I drank wine. I had a great time seeing my once-upon-a-time partner in crime, Dawn Marie, who is now married in the mountains and still a friend for life.

Here is the author shot. Contemplative Bethany by Pine Tree.

a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/bravebethany/pic/00003ewd/"></a>

It only took 100 shots to get 10 good ones in a row. Thanks to Joe at jkerpergroup.com for all his help and making the photo happen!

2. I was working on final edits of BETWEEN US BAXTERS, which is now off to copyediting. YEAH. I've seen a sample cover illustration. My illustrator is Gordon C. James and he is wonderful. He's done covers for Patricia McKissak, and a non-fiction pb, and what he has done for my novel is truly so heartwrenching and deeply felt. I love it!

Here are some of his covers:

The cover he is working on for BAXTERS is not as realistic. It is slightly surreal, and is oil. And, again, is gorgeous.

3. I met up with several VC buddies: Kellye and Sarah while they were in NY. Kellye got to join my friends and I for a birthday dinner cajun-style. Complete with shots of some "hurricane" mixture that the waiter (who is a friend of a friend) kept bringing us.

4. I have had several sick friends and family members and have been trying to take care of myself as I take care of them. May they all recover quickly!

5. I have been reading/critiquing two novels. One for a good friend from VC, and one a writer in my writer's group.

6. I went to the PEN Panel that Fuse 8 so eloquently wrote about, but I had a strong reaction to one of the presenters and my thoughts are better kept to myself about the evening.

7. I am enjoying my PEN Prison Mentoring experience. My mentee is smart, literary aware, and productive!

8. I am old and tired, but I promise to be around more often. Promise. Promise.

Last Saturday, I attended a Mo Willems signing at Books of Wonder. I was hoping to go with a friend, but he was unable to make it. As I made my way through the revolving door, already carrying my loot from a trip to the Filenes Basement around the corner, I almost ran into the huge book display carrying the latest Knuffle Bunny adventure and the tales of Piggie and Elephant, plus the backlist of the original Knuffle Bunny, Leonard, that terrible monster, and of course, the bus driving and hot dog eating Pigeon. And I wasn’t the only one crazy for Mister Mo. The kids were strewn on the floor reading, pointing at the Knuffle Bunny stuffed animals, and parents were buying, buying, buying.

I heard Mo’s agent, Marcia Wernick (who I mistakingly confused with Rosemary Stimola) speak last year, and I remember her saying that it took quite a long time for Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive a Bus to sell. Years. More than four, I think. I couldn’t help but think of that standing in the never-ending signing line that coiled around the store, after standing in the never-ending purchase line that wound its way to the register.

As Mo signed the four books I bought for my nieces and nephews I told him it gladdened me to see such a turn out, and that I was a children’s writer, too. He stopped his doodle under his name and looked up: “Really. That’s great. Do you write picture books, too?” Yes, I told him, but none are under contract yet, but I did just sell my first novel. He then turned to his agent and introduced me, and also introduced me to his lovely editor. A kinder, gentler, more talented Mo there never was!

(and tomorrow is the sentencing of Mychal Bell of the Jena Six. Thanks to any and all who signed the petition and wrote to the polliticians and jouralists. The rally in Jena is expected to draw 40.000 to the town of 3000 and CNN is covering the sentencing in its Judgement in Jena special report. Now, here is hoping justice will be served.)

Ah, August in NYC is usually hot as Hades, but not this year. This year it is chilly and dreary which suits my chilly and dreary mood just fine.

Budget cuts are happening at the office. I am safe but am getting more and more work piled on. What about my writing my insides want to scream! Plus, the atmosphere is so tense it is hard to concentrate, let alone answer the phones.

My on again off again relationship is officially off. I am sad. I miss him.

And, I need a real vacation, not a weekend away.

My new novel has been put to the side to focus on some other projects, and now that I have time again, I am procrastinating and am just not able to dig back in yet. I think I need a butt kicking.

However, other things are going well:

BAXTERS was sent off to my editor and I am pleased with the revision. The scene I added towards the ending, did make the book deeper, and Polly's journey more complete.

I am enjoying being a mentor in the PEN Prison Writing Program. My mentee is bright, articulate, and has a strong sense of literary fiction. His last letter ended with the question: What one thing can I do to be a better writer? And in the asking, I told him there was the answer. Never stop honing your craft. That, and tell the truth.

The GANDHI revision is coming along. That, and I have two new picture books to run by my agent soon, that after 6 months of toiling on, I think are about ready.

So, like the weather. Life is a mixed bag right now.

I am ready for the fall. Fall always feels like the start of something and when sweater weather comes along, I feel renewed. C'mon Labor Day get here already!

Efforts on behalf of the Jena Six are still going strong. I was just made aware of an article that was posted yesterday to Alernet.com, an alternative news source. Yesterday the Jena Six was one of the lead stories. Today, it has dropped down a bit, but check out the link below:

http://alternet.org/rights/58989/


In writing news, I am almost done with the final draft of BETWEEN US BAXTERS, which is due to my editor on 8-15, and I have been working on a requested revision on GRANDFATHER GANDHI, the picture book manuscript I have written with Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson. Fingers crossed that project finds a home.

And I survived the Brooklyn tornado. Well, survived is misleading. The tornado hit in Bay Ridge, about a 30 minute train ride from my neighborhood. What I really survived was the 2hr commute to my office. UGH!

Happy summer, all. Keep blogging and please keeping doing what you can for the wrongly accused kids in LA.

Just an update on my earlier blog about the Jena Six case in Louisanna.

I work at a PR firm and my friend and I have done the following:

One of our Managing Directors works on the Hillary Clinton campaign and is going to do his best to bring the Jena Six case to her attention. Another Managing Director has written a letter to all her media contacts, including those at the NY Times and Oprah, as well as the Justice Department. And yet, another, a once reporter for CNN has been in touch with their newsroom and they plan to cover the Mychal Bell sentencing on July 31st.

She also encouraged us to have people write to these people, some political canidates and some newspapers.

Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680
(866) 657-2008
Al Sharpton (I know....but people always remember Al's big mouth)
1001 6th Ave., Suite 1211
New York City, NY 10018
888-333-4903

The Oprah Winfrey Show312-633-1182 or
312-591-9222 and
O Magazine
212-903-5000

L. Gordon Crovitz
The Dow Jones
Features Reporter
212-416-2288

Glenn Adams
Associated Press
Polotics
207-622-3018

Christina Almeida
The New York Times (Out of town)
Reporter
406-442-7440

Curt Anderson
Associated Press
Legal Reporter
305-594-5825

The Wall Street Journal (Atlanta, GA)
303 Peachtree Street N.E
Atlanta, GA 30308404-865-0170

Sana Saleh

Metro NY
201-723-7580
Sana_saleh@columbia.edu

Please call. Please write.

Yesterday, I rec'd an email with this:

Although this occurred last September, there's been very little press on it in the US. However, the story has spread across the rest of the world. CNN finally picked it up and did a piece on it.


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/07/01/roesgen.la.jena.6.update.affl


A brief synopsis...skip to the end of this email for resources and things you can do

Black high school students asked for permission to sit under a tree at an area of the high school that had, traditionally, been used only by white students. The next day, three nooses were hanging from the tree. The following week, black students staged a protest under the tree. At a school assembly soon after, Jena district attorney Reed Walters, appearing with local police officers, warned black students against further unrest. "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen," he threatened.

He made good on that threat: after a school fight in which no serious injuries resulted, 6 black students were charged with attempted murder. One, age 17, has now been convicted and faces 22 or more years in jail.


The full article, from http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307B.shtml
Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the "White Tree"
By Bill Quigley
t r u t h o u t | Report

Tuesday 03 July 2007

All white jury sitting before white judge agrees with white prosecutor and all white witnesses and convicts black youth in racially charged high school criminal case.
In a small, still mostly segregated, section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.

The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80 percent of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.

In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the "white tree." The message was clear. "Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant 'Niggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,'" Casteptla Bailey, a mother of one of the students, told the London Observer.

The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three-day suspension saying the nooses were just a youthful stunt. "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."

The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, a mother of students at Jena High.

But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten-person, all-male government of the parish has one African-American member. The nine-member, all-male school board has one African-American member. (A person called the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board, and was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.

Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African-Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12 percent African-American.

This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60 percent of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10 percent of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned.

Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after a youth met with a lawyer. The US Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.

Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.

The white district attorney then came to Jena High with law-enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank", "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was put on lockdown for the rest of the week.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.

On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still-unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.

On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested; no charges were filed against the white man.

On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African-American students "niggers" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.

Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. All six were expelled from school.

The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones - bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16-year-old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena Six, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.

Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until their families could raise sufficient money to put up bonds.

The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report titled "Race Hate in Louisiana 2007."

The Jena Six and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony.

When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender.

On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from second-degree attempted murder to second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by "the gang of black boys" who beat the white victim.

Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared - every single one white.

The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color-blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up.

The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the district attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.

Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media, "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.

Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do go near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them.

The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - 11 white students, three white teachers and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.

The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town Talk, after resting his case without calling any witnesses, he knew he would be second-guessed by many, but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't believe race is an issue in this trial. I think I have a fair and impartial jury."

The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.

The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."

At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said: "I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching."

Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena Six Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: 'We have to convince more people to come rally with us ... What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.'"

Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media, "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said, "We don't have many problems with our blacks."

Melvin Worthington, the lone African-American school board member in LaSalle Parish, said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."

Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said: "You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children - because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I'm innocent, no justice." The crowd joined with him and shouted, "No peace!"

What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged.

Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund- The Jena Six Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. For more information: The Jena Six Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense@gmail.com; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 www.laaclu.org or 417-350-0536.

What is next? The rest of the Jena Six await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun.

WAYS YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

1) TALK about it. Bring it up and make people aware.

2) SIGN the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/aZ51CqmR/petition.html

3) Make a phone call:
To the District Attorney's Office in Jena: 318-992-8282.

OR
Call the LA Senators:
Senator Mary Landrieu Phone: (202) 224-5824
Senator David Vittner Phone: (202) 224-4623

4) BLOG about about.

5) WRITE to your local newspaper or school newspaper. Ask that the story be covered. Write about it yourself.

6) SEND AN EMAIL (or forward this one) to people you know. Remember, this has not been covered much in the U.S., so we can help get the word out.

7) DONATE to the Jena Six Defense Committee:
For more information: The Jena Six Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense@gmail.com ; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 www.laaclu.org or 417-350-0536.

Mychal Bell, 17, will be sentenced July 31; he may be going to jail until age 40

- see also:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/3/151941/8097
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220
http://elleabd.blogspot.com/2007/05/jena-six.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/woodward07102007.html
http://antiessentialistspeaksup.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/jena-louisiana-and-the-united-states/

My response:
I am so shocked and appalled I am numb. I watched a video clip of the father of Mychal Bell last night on Democracy Now, and he said, he hoped this taught his son a lesson about what it was like to be Black in America. My first reaction was NO. No. That is not what being Black in America is like. But it is, it is for Mr. Bell and his son, who didn't use a weapon, caused no serious injury but is being charged with attempted murder.

Also, where is the outcry in the press? Why are we finding out about this now?

Please do what you can. Speak out. Inform others. Let the people involved with this case know America does not endorse it's actions.

It's no secret that I write from work, to those I work for or with. I am the luckiest of writers...a steady paycheck, insurance, and almost 6 hrs a day to write. But, the biggest perk is the help of the IT guys. One is searching for a lost chapter for me right now.

I went on vacation over the 4th of July and when I returned I dilly dallied getting back into my writing by cleaning some of my old files out. I deleted what I thought was a chapter from a woman in my critique group and mistakinly deleted the last chapter I wrote on my WIP. I hardly ever write documents as separate files but this time I did. I was merging old material with new material and thought it safer to play with it as a new file, labeling it Chapter 21.

If MJ finds my chapter, I am going to turn cartwheels. I know I can write it again, but I have been away from the work for 2 weeks now and it will be difficult to find my way back into that scene. I remember the general action, but remember feeling the char action came through loud and clear. Or maybe that's my imagination. Hopefully, I will have the pages in hand soon and can tell if they were worthy of the search--or not.

In other news, I applied for the PEN PRISON MENTORING PROGRAM and was selected as a mentor. I am excited about the opportunity to work in this program after reading about Jo Knowle's experiences in her workshops. To read some of the writers who won the PEN competition, check out this link:

http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/page.php/prmID/1439

Also, soon off the VC Special Weekend. I can't wait to see some of my fave writing faces, alumns, professors, and the new student body~

Each Father's Day along with celebrating my dad I celebrate the day I moved to Manhattan (or rather the borough of Brooklyn). This year is number nine. Nine years of a love, love, then hate, hate, now love, love relationship with this cement and steel city.

I've learned how to hustle at my own pace. Not squinch my face when the subway squeaks. To accept the odd, "Smile. Girl, don't look so angry" and the even odder, "You asked me to move? I could cut you for that." I survived 9/11 (evacuated my floor, 31 at 1 WFC), evacuated again over Grand Central and walked to a friends during the blackout where the next day we walked to the West side to charge our phones and sip iced lattes in the cool air conditioning of Starbucks.

I've gone from living in an eyesore of an apartment, turkey pan taped to the ceiling to cover a leak with a pot below, with three friends--one of whom slept in the living room--all for the low, low price of $375 a piece to a great apartment (one roomie) in my favorite hood in Brooklyn: Carroll Gardens.

I've doubled my salary, ridden a bike from Boston to NYC to raise money for AIDS, and have seen many, many Broadway shows, spur of the moment and planned.

I moved here fresh after a divorce, unsure of myself in every way and longing to be an actor. I discovered my true talent was in writing, not acting, and found I love myself as much as I do the man I am with.

I don't eat at the finest restaurants, shop the hippest stores, I frequent the movies more than I do the museums but I have met and made the best group of friends: actors, writers, a chef, a teacher, an ad exec. All who have encouraged me, made me laugh, and taught me to experience the best part of NYC: the people.

I had the pleasure of getting my hands on an ARC of Jo Knowles' novel LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL (Candlewick 07) at the BEA last week. I don't want to say too much, as the novel isn't out yet, and I am sure the rave reviews are soon to be rolling in, but here are the lessons, that I as a fellow writer, learned in reading. (I may have known some of these before, but Jo makes the blood, sweat, and tears of novel writing read effortless.)


Lessons from Jo Knowles: On How to Write a Powerful First Novel


Lesson One: Lure the reader in with an intriguing first line, ie: Leah Green is dead.

Lesson Two: The prologue is essentially an epilogue, simply titled After.

Lesson Three: Tell a story that hasn't been told before. Abuse between friends.

Lesson Four: Tell it so well the reader has compassion for the victim, and the abuser.

Lesson Five: Tell it minimally. Every word counts.

Lesson Six: Fill it with so much tension reader wants to keep reading, while at the same time wanting to put it down to stop the rising panic. (This is a relationship drama, not a horror story but my heartbeat didn't know that.)

Lesson Seven: The characters are real. They are in pain. They are confused. They are three-dimensional.

Lesson Eight: Depict the MC, Lainey's healing. Watch her gain, loose, and regain the courage to stand up for herself.

Lesson Nine: Leave the reader with a great last line. And nope, I'm not giving it away, but no worries, you will want to read LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL to savor that final moment for yourself.

Congrats, Jo! You are a writer I will read and learn from for years to come.

Thanks to Fuse 8 for organizing Kid Lit Drinks Night near the BEA venue.

At drinks night, I met up with some VC folks, Carrie Jones, Lisa Jahn-Clough (whose new novel ME, PENELOPE got a star in Entertainment Weekly), and Ed Briant. Jo Knowles introduced me to some fellow 2kr's and Carrie introduced me to Sweet Editor Man, Andrew, whom I had a nice chat with when I stopped by Flux's booth on Sat. My friend Laurie introduced me to Dian Curtis Regan...all in all, it was a great night despite confusing two good looking bald-is-beautiful editors when I urged my friend to go say hello to Mark McVeigh from Dutton and it was Jim Thomas from Random House. Jim was an editor at my five-on-five at Rutgers so he forgave me when I instantly knew why I recognized him. OOOPS.

Saturday, I strolled the booths and picked up many ARC's among them:

Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl
Natalie Babbit's latest
E.L. Klonisberg's latest
Sharon Creech's latest
Deborah Wiles, Auora County Allstars, which I have started and am loving!
Looked for Sarah Aronson's Head Case but Roaringbrook was all out!
And many, many more...

In line to see James Howe sign (he is a friend of a friend) we ran into fellow VCer Elizabeth Bluemle. She had good news, her pb MY FATHER, THE DOG just won an award. Which one? Sheesh, you'd think I'd remember but I believe all my brain cells were in use hauling around my mondo-thirty-pound bags. Congrats to her.

It was a lovely weekend. The best for a writer and book lover like me. (And it felt great to be able to say I have a book coming out when introduced to folks, but not as good as nabbing some great ARC's.) I won't need a trip to the library for a few months...

Oh, and I had a chat with Mary-Louise Gay, whose Stella books I love. A highlight of the day!

Last night, I went to a signing at Books of Wonder, the independent children's bookstore in Manhattan. On the line up for the historical fiction panel were: Richard Peck, Caroline B. Cooney, Walter Dean Myers, new comer Robert Sharenow, and K.M. Grant.

They spoke about their books in chronological order, starting with K.M. Grant in the crusades, moving on to Caroline Cooney's interpretation of the Macbeth, in her new novel THE THREE WITCHES, moving on to Walter Dean Myers and HARLEM SUMMER set during the Harlem Renaissance, on to Peck's World War II novel, ON THE WINGS OF HEROES, and coming to Robert Sharenow's novel MY MOTHER, THE CHEERLEADER dealing with the integration of New Orleans’s 9th ward in 1960.

It was a fascinating look into the world of historical fiction, what inspires each of the writer's above, and what it is to build and maintain a career as a children's writer.

I was instantly taken with Robert Sharenow's subject matter: civil rights. BAXTERS is set in this time period and I hear many books are now coming out set in the late 50's and 60's. MY MOTHER, THE CHEERLEADER is not about cheerleading. It is about protesting, and not peaceful protesting. It centers on the Ruby Bridges school integration, and the group of women who daily would meet outside the school, spit on Ruby, hurl racial slurs, and protest the "sin" of desegrigation. These women, mothers all, were nicknamed by the newspapers "cheerleaders." So Robert got me right there, HOOKED. The story is told through the 13 year-old-eyes, of Louise, daughter of one of the cheerleaders.

I started reading the novel on the train back to Brooklyn and it's not only as good as its premise, its better. I am on page 78 and it's the best book I have read in a long time, and given my love of this time period, believe me, I have read them all, and have written one now myself, and must say my hat is off to Robert Sharenow. This is his first novel, but already he has found a lifetime fan in me. READ THIS BOOK!

Ah, Richard Peck. Seeing him speak is like watching an interview on television. The man speaks in sound bites. Two take aways from the evening that resonated and gave me ah-ha moments, were his saying World War II is the last war where both parents and children saw eye to eye and were on the same side of the war, and that thank heavens there were no televisions. "No plasma screen is large enough to have captured the Battle of Britain. I was lucky. Television would have blinded me, while the radio gave me ears."

Goosebumps and a heart shutter. Is this why we have become so desensitized to war that on Memorial Day, ten soldiers die in Iraq and it goes unnoticed? We no longer have ears. War no longer makes an impact. I bought Mr. Peck's novel for my nephew who now is only 5, but I know in time he will read it. "You're building his library," Mr. Peck said to me. And I am, as is Mr. Peck.

I adore Walter Dean Myers and I met his son a number of years ago at a pb event, and love that Chris calls him "Pops." Mr. Myers told stories of how Langston Hughes used to read at his church in Harlem, when he was a boy.

"The man sold his books out of suitcases. (Bookstores wouldn't carry books by blacks then.) And we had to sit still when he came. I wasn't impressed."

Their paths crossed again when Walter Dean Myers ran a writing workshop on the Lower Eastside. Then, he was impressed. To have been in on that workshop...Langston Hughes and Walter Dean Myers! Ah, to dream.

Caroline Cooney spoke of the twelve-year-old girl she writes for. She pictures her, curling up with her book, and feels honored that among all the forms of entertainment this child has chosen her novel. She wants to give her exactly what she wants. She wants her to make her a reader.

All these writers are role models and I left with a bag full of books. As Richard Peck said, "Readers become writers. There is no other way."

I spent part of this holiday weekend in a park, with my coconut iced coffee reading VC classmate Kelly Bingham's verse novel SHARK GIRL. Not that Kelly needs my endorsement, she has starred reviews in PW, and SLJ, but she gets a star on the Bethany-Book-O-Meter, as well. Make that four stars.

While at VC I heard Kelly read from the manuscript and we had chats about the actual girl in Hawaii who was attacked by a shark after Kelly began her book. (Named Bethany and there is a poem in the book where Kelly's MC Jane learns of this later attack.) I was prepared for the book to be finely crafted, but I wasn't prepared for it's emotional power. I struggled with Jane, with the rawness of being an amputee, with her guilt over what she could have done differently to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the outcry of media attention and support that she took as pity, and with how the attack and it's outcome changed her life forever. Several characters remark though the novel that Janie is a survivor. That she is. And it is going through the range of emotions, never didactic and always real, that makes SHARK GIRL such a powerful read.

And, as for my Memorial Day trip to the movies, nope I didn't see Pirates. I saw Waitress and felt an instant kinship to the waitresses working at Joe's Pie Diner. The southern folks inhabiting the movie, if not dealing with adult themes, could be characters in the MG novel I am currently working on, newly titled: MAEBELLE T. EARL'S LONG LIST OF ENCYLOPEDIC EVIDENCE INTO THE DEATH OF ANGUS T. FOR THOMAS EBERLEE, VOLUME G FOR GONE. If you like southern books, go see this sweet southern drama. Keri Russel is adorable and poignant and Andy Griffith (yes, folks he is still alive) plays a fine southern curmudgeon.

Making plans now for BEA. I will be strolling the floor on Saturday and will be at the Fuse 8 Kid Lit Drinks Night on Fri. Hope to see you there, y'all!