Faith, Hope, and Love

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...

January marks the start of a new year and is all about follow-through on resolutions, so it only felt right that most of the books I read were either new releases or books that have been on my TBR for way to long! Here's what I've been reading lately... 1. Denton Little's Deathdate : This is a book I bought in the Spring of 2017, and it had been sitting on one of my side tables for months. So, on January 1st, I was resolved to get through that stack before the end of the month. I have not  be successful in getting through all the books (especially because a few more keep getting added), but Denton Little got me started! I thought this book was funny and super engaging. Imagine if we lived in a word where we knew the day we would die from the day we were born. That's the world Denton Little lives in. This books takes us through the 48 hours before he is supposed to die. I won't say much more, except that secrets are revealed and surprises abound. And... ...

Towards the end of my summer, I had the chance to visit Portland, Oregon. I started the journey in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Took the train to Chicago. And then went from Chicago to Portland over 46 hours.  But that is the story for another blog, another day. I loved Portland, and my friend Dam and I did pretty much everything we could squeeze in within the four days we had: The Zoo, The Rose Garden, The Japanese Garden, The Pink Trolley, Powell's City of Books, Saturday Market, Multnomah Falls...  Dam and I in front of the Multnomah Falls But there was one thing on my list that I didn't get to: The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden  + taking a walking tour around her neighborhood. I even bought a book to help make the experience complete!  I was only going to get the Ramona book, but I believe very book needs a friend. And it was ANNE... how could I resist? I almost stole the book versus paying for it, since it says it technically isn't il...