More Than Six Years Ago Ger Duany's WALK TOWARD THE RISING SUN Arrived for Feedback. And Yesterday a Collaboration Arrived in the Mail.

A super shout-out to Drs. Steffany Comfort Maher and Alice Hays for their outstanding vision for creating Identity, Criticality, and Advocacy in Young Adult Literature: Training Teacher to Empower Students in the ELA Classroom. When I saw the call, I pitched the idea to Ger Duany, author of Walk Toward the Rising Sun, to share ways I've used the book in my own teaching and to offer hope to young people who arrive to the United States from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. This work arrived in a much different period of history, when classroom teachers sought all the ways we could find to support the young people we work with and teach. Chapter 14, our chapter, is entitled "How to Become the Sun - Walking with Ger Duany," and highlights not only the incredible life journey he's lived, but all the curricular modifications made with students as I taught it several times across multiple courses. 

Advocating and out of the classroom is central to my life mission. 

Fortunate for me, I was able to utilize a friendship and Ger's work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (he is an ambassador) and to tap on the identity framework offers by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad to highlight identify as a location for hosting conversations with young people. I framed the writing in the Jesuit traditions of human togetherness: Who am I? Who are you? Who might we be together?

I was out with students (celebrating their presentations at a national conference last Friday) and came home to the arrival of the publication. Projects such as these are years in the making and I'm always happy to see them in print. 

It's now time to transition thoughts to CNY celebrations, including Papa Butch's birthday (which I'll be late for because my cousin Mark is driving through town and we have much to catch up). Bring on the Pepsi cans, coin purses, snow blowing, and lawn mowers. I'm looking forward to cooking meals for the parental units and laying low on various chairs over the next week. Hoping the warm weather predictions are true so I can walk several miles to make up for the delayed steps from blizzards, ice, and rain. I just need to move. 

It's Friday...I'm in over drive getting as much prepared for the weeks to come, as grant work takes planning, time, much energy, and tremendous foresight. I'm using my arrival to Amalfi Drive as inspiration.

In the mean time, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!