Countdown to @S_StoryFest and @HoopsAfrica Begins. It's Story Time! @FairfieldU

Last night, the CWP-Fairfield youth crew went to the back-to-school Saugatuck Story Fest Youth Council armed with posters for Hoops Africa: Ubuntu Matters, a film & panel discussion at Fairfield University presented as a kick-off to the weekend events. The dates are October 11th for the film at Fairfield University, and 12th-14th for the writers celebration in southern Connecticut.

HUGE shout outs for Westport Public Library, teachers Kim Herzog and Rebecca Marsick, who invited us to their planning team and who have put us to work. We are very proud to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

To read more about Hoops Africa: Ubuntu Matters at Fairfield University, click here.

To see the complete list of authors who are being featured during the event, click here. (WOW!)

To register for ticketed events, click here.

We met in Rebecca's room last night and I was instantly drawn to the the new poster hanging in her room. I'm also excited about the support from Fairfield University, Athletics, and the Quick Center. Sports Literacy Night will feature the film, with a panel of athletes, coaches, a producer and a director. It's amazing and I'm excited to have a part in it.

I'm also excited that Akbaru began in Ubuntu Academy and starting on Tuesday, he will be attending his first classes as a Fairfield University freshman. Few can claim that they arrived through refugee relocation services, have had their writing published, have taken part in an incredible literacy event such as this, and will be beginning his academic studies with a concentration of business and marketing.

I am, because we are - it's a philosophy, a theoretical lens, a lifestyle, and a movement. He represents so much of what this festival stands for.

Most impressive, I believe, is the youth centrality of it all, keeping them at the forefront of planning, invitations, wants, and possibilities - that, too, is to the credit of Kim Herzog and Rebecca Marsick.

I woke up this morning excited to learn of all the updates and can't wait to see how the next couple of months unravel. This is what togetherness, humbled togetherness, means.

The evidence is here.