After a Graduate Course, Day Before a Storm, Inspiration from @likaluca and @nationalbook ‏

You know life is pretty great when you can leave a graduate course at 7 pm and drive to Dolan School of Business to hear Lisa Lucas speak to  150 Stags on campus. The executive director for the National Book Foundation is the youngest leader of the organization and the first to represent diverse readers across the nation. (You can read more from Time Magazine's Propelled by Passion).

I arrived late, but in plenty of time to hear a shout out to Jaqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds, two writers who I passionately support and who are top notch for CWP-Fairfield. I also loved that Lisa Lucas shouted out to Edith Wharton as a go-to, lifelong inspiration, which I knew would make my colleague, Dr. Emily Orlando, super happy. It was a beautiful moment in English Department history, as we hooted and hollered at Lucas's pick.

Overall, what caught my attention the most (and I was late from teaching...I apologize), was Lisa Lucas's enthusiasm, excitement, and vision for what it possible for readers of literature. I loved the stories of community outreach, applauded the efforts to put books in the hands of traditionally non-readers, and finger-snapped the recognition that all people can become lifelong readers once the right book enters their world. I've experienced this again and again as a high school teacher and a scholar of K-12 literacy. Books matter. They matter more to individuals who make a personal connection with them before joining a community of fellow readers who also share such experiences.

I am frustrated with myself that I didn't take notes, however, and I went to take a photo of Lisa Lucas with the English faculty (who said, "We already did that"). So I said, "Selfie!"

Crandall can handle that.

I think I was most amazed, however, that Lisa Lucas spoke in the same room of the Dolan School of Business where Kwame Alexander and Matt de la Peña have spoken. Everything she had to say resonates with what they had to say. Remove the undergraduate and graduate students from the room, add K-12 youth and teachers, and you have the same message - a message for strong literacy, diversity, and the humanities at Fairfield University. 

Thank you, Lisa Lucas and the National Book Foundation for all that you are doing! If ever the Connecticut Writing Project (via the National Writing Project) can be of service to you, let us know. There's a lot of miraculous work still to be accomplished.

Ubuntu!