raison d'etre

What better way to commence this blog than with Durrow’s piece in today’s Huffington Post. Heidi Durrow is the author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, an autobiographical novel about a biracial girl grasping with her identity. The setting is Jefferson High School and her conflict is familiar for our students, too. Olivia, the young woman mentioned above, is either from Cleveland or Madison where Durrow’s book was read school-wide. (We will be reading TGWFS in our 10th grade English classes this year, by the way.)

“Oh my god, you wrote my life!” This brings me back to Philadelphia in November 2009, listening to Junot Diaz, the keynote speaker at the NCTE conference. Diaz was basking in the success of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and jettisoning from one speaking event to the next, clearly emboldened by easily staying upright while surfing his wave of success. He was totally disheveled and irreverent, and peppered his opening statements with shockingly profane language. People were walking out early on!

I once had a student share the following quote in my AP English Language class after a frank discussion about immigration when reading The Devil’s Highway. “La verdad no peca pero incomoda” translated as: the truth does not sin, but it does cause discomfort. Diaz seemed intent in causing discomfort and in doing so, he gave one of the most memorable speeches of my lifetime.

Recovered from a business card I fished out of my wallet that evening: “Our diverse students don’t see themselves reflected in our culture. As a writer I attempt to create mirrors that reflect back our students’ lives…monsters, vampires don’t cast reflections in mirrors—young people become monsters when they don’t see themselves reflected in art and literature.” Diaz is spot on about how we can engage or enrage our students with our pedagogical choices.

Reading in our language arts classes can be a practice in deep compassion and a vessel for transporting us to our best selves. It can also make us question ourselves and tunnel deep into our beliefs, causing us to examine our worldview in a new light. We ask our students to take risks in this way and it only seems right that we do the same for ourselves. In that spirit, let’s share the reading that moves us. And oh my god, even the ideas that catch us off guard.