So I don’t have any photos from last night’s reception because a gremlin hid my camera. (I found it this morning in a place I looked ten times last night.) The party was loads of fun and a bunch of teachers promised to send me pictures.
I hung out at ALAN most of today, camera in hand, and promise I will post them later.
What – you don’t know what ALAN is? ALAN is THE GROUP YOU MUST JOIN if you teach English, reading, literature, and/or language arts to middle or high school students, or if you are an author for the same kids, or if you are a YA librarian. It is a group of smart, passionate people committed to keeping teens involved in reading. The ALAN workshop is always two days of author talks and professional workshops at the end of NCTE. I’ll be speaking there tomorrow.
Right now I have to change for an editorial meeting and another reception. I thought I’d leave you with this first draft of a poem that dropped into my head as I walked up 8th Avenue. Read it as you enjoy the fireplace which is in the library of my hotel and is burning in front of me as I type this.
applaud loud the
crowd of teachers unbowed,
proud to defy the lowering clouds
that darken the horizon.
ALAN, a peal
of pure song singing silver
and gold foretold by storytellers
old, old to rekindle the hope of
children on the edge.
