Attention Minnesota!

Thank you very much to all the teachers who turned out last night to my presentation in Dewitt! There were more than 80 people, including some old friends from schools like Fabius-Pompey, Chittenango, and J-D. It was a really fun night, and my projector/computer hook-up worked perfectly. Now I just need to figure out the best way to carry it all on the airplane.

I don’t have a link, but I was told yesterday that CHAINS earned a Starred review from Booklist, which brings the total to THREE. That is a very nice feeling. Extremely nice. Whipped cream and cherries on top, with nuts and sprinkles nice!

Do you know anyone that lives in the Minneapolis, MN area? If so, please, please let them know I am heading their way. Next Tuesday, I’ll be speaking at St. Bernard’s School and the Roseville Area Middle School during the day. My public appearance that night will be at the Barnes & Noble in Roseville.

A week from today I’ll be visiting Valley View Middle School and Southview Middle School. That night (am VERY excited about this!!!) I’ll be speaking at Wild Rumpus. I have been looking forward to visiting this store for years! Please notify all residents of Minneapolis to come and join us. And if you could, make the gentle suggestion that they car-pool to save gas and be kinder to the environment.

I got an email back from my county election board explaining the delay in producing absentee ballots. “The ballots are held up due to a court proceeding in Albany on the Independence Party line for Supreme Court Justice. The case is being heard today and hopefully the judge will render a decision today, although that may be wishful thinking. The ballots have not been printed because if we print and the judge rules differently than the way the ballot is printed, we have to reprint at considerable expense. With a ruling today, we will have ballots by the end of this week.”

Seems to me that there should be a deadline trigger for these kinds of rulings to ensure that ballots are sent out in a timely basis. We’ve decided that when my ballot arrives, BH will overnight it to me wherever I am on the tour. But I am still grumpy about it.

National Coming Out Day was last Saturday (yes, I am always late with these things) and in honor of that, and in honor of every American’s right to go about their lives without being the target of stupid hate-speech, I bring you the Think B4 You Speak campaign. My favorite video is the one in the middle with Wanda Sykes. I would love to sit down with her with some pie and pot of coffee. (Thanks, Bookavore, for the link.)

Which one of the three videos is your favorite?

12 Replies to “Attention Minnesota!”

  1. what time are you at b&n next week? i can try to get to roseville, but i usually work the late shift. i don’t have facebook, so i can’t see the schedule.

    : D

  2. Oh, yay! Yay yay yay! I am three hours from Roseville, (near Duluth,) so I doubt I’ll be able to make it, ;-D but I always love to hear about authors coming up to the frozen north!

    Still, you never know. You’re close enough for me to think MAYBE, if all the stars aligned…:-)

  3. GAAAAHHH!!! I live live in Minnesota and go to school about 60 minutes from where you will be speaking, but, alas, I am studying abroad in Ireland right now! While Ireland is absolutely fantastic, I am QUITE disappointed that I will not get to meet you at Barnes & Noble. At any rate, Welcome to the Great State of Minnesota! I hope you see some of our beautiful autumn colors!

  4. Thanks for coming to Minnesota! I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Roseville Barnes and Noble on Tuesday!
    -Bridgette

  5. Yay!

    I newly discovered you, your blog and WOW thanks for writing and shining art and justice into the world! CONGRATS I can’t wait to pick up Chains. I’m wanting to write for young people and I’m just about to graduate undergrad in peace studies and have been unsure how to merge my interest in history and creative work. You’re an inspiration. Also, thanks for being an ally! Mentioning Coming Out Day – Yay. I loved the Wanda one too. Hillary Duff was a nice one as well as the poster of the cheerleader. Very clever.

    Have a brilliant trip and I’m excited to keep reading.
    ~Peace and sparkles, Martine

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