Faith, Hope, and Love

Hi Guys, I know I've been pretty sporadic with my blogging over the years, but I am committing to gearing back up soon! As you know, I've chosen to leave teaching to pursue a career in publishing. The transition is going to be crazy, so I'm going to pause my blog until I feel settled in my new job and new city. Thanks for your patience and support! 

I already entered this week with a lot of anxiety, and having all sorts of sentimental nostalgic feelings because this week was my last official week in Houston. While I know I'll return to visit family and friends, I don't know if I'll be returning beyond a short-term stay ever again. So of course, I was (am) a bit of an emotional mess. But... everything seemed to conspire against me, and so far every day this week has held some disaster that has made making this transition just a *little* bit harder... Oh, and it didn't help that it rained pretty much THE. WHOLE. WEEK. #overit MONDAY:   I had my final doctor's appointment before my insurance expires (hello, unemployed life). I have been going to the same eye doctor for the last three years... didn't love her, but our school switched insurance groups a while back and the one I loved was no longer covered. But anyway... I show up to discover, once again, I'm no longer covered because we had had ano

While I was in Nigeria in April, another assignment I left behind for students was for them to read three poems, and then write their own. All three poems had to do with the poets' views on being American:  "I Hear America Singing"  by Walt Whitman,  "I, Too, Sing America"  by Julia Alvarez and  "I, Too"  by Langston Hughes. I got the idea from examples of other student work online, like  this . Most of the kids resonated the most with the two "I, Too" poems and chose to write their own version representing a voice in America they feel is not often heard. Here's a few from kids who gave me theirs to publish... Response to  I, Too  by Isabela F.  I, too, sing America I know it's been said before but not in this voice. Of the Sandia and the guayaba of inglés con español Ay sí it's my turn to Oh say what I see I'm going to sing America inside me from the strellas of castaños, coahuila to the thin waist

I have lived in a lot places in my life. And in my seven years in Houston, I have moved my stuff about five or six times... and now I'm doing all over again. This move is definitely the hardest. For one, I have no clue where I'll be moving to next. Everything is in storage for at least the next four months, and unlike the last two times I put stuff in storage, there is literally no plan of when or where it will all go. Secondly, this was by far my favorite place to live ever. And I realized I didn't take enough pictures, or invite enough people over. And... I'm scared that I'll never be able to create such a cozy and happy home again. When I moved in, my landlord made me a special key when I moved in because when we talked about the place I told him I loved to travel and that I taught World Cultures. It was the sweetest, and he and his wife have been awesome landlords these past few years. A friend helped me mount the top bookshelf (which I'm

Back in April, I had to miss two weeks of school to go to Nigeria and celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. Because it was National Poetry Month, one of the lessons was a throwback to a project we did during my student teaching days. First, the students read Maya Angelou's poem "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," and then write their own version of it. When we did this with the 4th graders, we had them "publish" their poems and created a class book with all of them in it. While I didn't have the time or resources to do the same thing with my 8th graders, a few of them gave me permission to share their poems here. Enjoy! Original poem by Maya Angelou:  Student Poems: Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Yancy D. Ghosts creeping on the walls Strange things at the mall Life doesn't frighten me at all. Sharks circling around Bad songs in soundcloud Life doesn't frighten me at all. A stylist cutting all my nails A barber cutting off my hai

When I started teaching in the Fall of 2011, I didn't think I'd still be teaching seven years later. Being a teacher was a job I fell into, and while the choice wasn't made haphazardly, if I am being honest, it was made mostly out of desperation. I started this blog in 2010 after I was fired from my job as an editorial assistant at CURE magazine (I still feel it was somewhat a wrongful termination and that my inexperience was taken advantage of, but not the point of this post). I was lost, I was disillusioned, I felt like a failure and was positive I'd never be able to lift my head up again and take pride in the work I did. I spent the next year applying for jobs and getting very little responses of any kind. I wasn't qualified to receive unemployment, someone called Immigration on me (joke's on them, I'm a citizen), I took a myriad of tests to figure out what color my parachute was  or whatever, I applied to a bunch of MFA programs . I volunteered w

May is National Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, so I choose to read books that featured Asian characters and/or dealt with mental illnesses in some way. There were a few books that didn't fit into this reading theme (I'm not great at sticking to strict reading plans, plus when a library hold comes in, you gotta read what you gotta read before due dates and stuff), but here's what my reading looked like in May! 1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.  This was a quick, short read. And the ending ultimately threw me. It's about a rich family who spends every summer on their private island. Until one summer, something happens. The second half of the book follows the main character trying to heal from the trauma of whatever happened, as well as try to figure out what  happened.  She's an unreliable narrator, and so the ending definitely was unexpected and the twist kind of crushed me.  2. Afterward  by Jenn

A few years ago, I began to get the itch. It was time to move on from teaching.  And so I began to think about what I would do next, what dreams would I chase... and this year, I decided to go after one of my very first dreams--reading books for a living. I turned in my resignation in March and my last day as a full-time teacher will be June 1st! One of the first steps I took to pursue finding a job in book publishing was to apply to some publishing courses. I had to write a person statement explaining my love for books, my interest in working in the publishing industry and what I hoped to do in my career. It could be no more than two pages. Double-spaced.  Here's what I ended up with... In early elementary school, I was one of the few black children in my class. But even though we were the same race, my Nigerian-ness made me “other,” and I was often teased for “talking white” and called an Oreo. When I was seven, my family moved to Nigeria. While there were other Amer

Very delayed on this post, I know! But here's what I've read for the last three months + how I'm doing on the MMD Reading Challenge! Books Read February 2018: Because February is Black History Month, my goal was to read only black authors. This was a really enjoyable month, and I finally got to read books that have been on my TBR list for years (like Alice Walker's The Color Purple ). One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia The Color Purple by Alice Walker All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison How to Fix a Broken Record by Amena Brown P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia American Street by Ibi Zoboi Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia If I had to pick a favorite... do I have to? They were all so good! For so many different reasons! If I had to pick a least favorite... maybe American Street, but mostly becau