I recently joined a new diversity committee for New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (NESCBWI). The other members of the committee are: Jeanette Bradley, Lisa Stringfellow, Janet Costa Bates, Amitha Knight, Autumn Allen, and Valerie Bolling. One of the first tasks our committee accomplished was create a mission statement: The mission of…
Big Catch On the beach, it’s like a festival/ but in the sea, they will hold funerals/ for the tens of thousands dead. Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko (1903-1930) I’ve been thinking a lot about Buddhist rituals now that my mom is at the end of life. The Buddhist services that I have attended have…
One of our favorite things to do in Kauai on a family vacation was to go to the local farmer’s markets. There was one every day except Sunday throughout the island. We especially liked trying the exotic fruit. A few were strange — like a sweet potato that you don’t have to cook — but…
I’ve been busy helping my co-author of How to Coach Girls, Alison Foley, start her own business, Foley Athletic Advising. My daughters and I helped her launch her company, on New Year’s Eve this past year. At Foley Athletic Advising, we offer comprehensive on-field training, skill evaluation, and recruiting advising. On the field, we work…
I had the pleasure of meeting Jason Reynolds in person when he was a writer in residence at Lesley University. He was working on his latest book, Look Both Ways, at the time and he shared two short stories that were a Master Class in “show don’t tell.” At that time, he had titled this…
My son’s favorite class in middle school was Ed-Tech, an engineering class. He thought it was fun to invent things to solve problems. That’s what engineering is … designing and building machines and structures including bridges, roads, vehicles, and buildings. It’s often to solve a practical problem or improve on a machine that already exists….
We are getting ready to take off to Hawaii and I remember foraging for guava while on a golf course. The fruit was ripe and I ate it right off the tree. I wondered if it would taste as good here in Boston where the fruit has to shipped in. I was not disappointed! My…