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My heroes: Rutger’s Women’s Basketball team

I am so angry I hardly know where to start. Don Imus’ racist, pig-headed, degrading, insulting comments about the players of the Rutger’s Women’s Basketball Team make me sick. Physically sick, close to vomiting.

I would love to see him fired, but I don’t think that is going to happen. That is a shame.

I need to vent: America is a racist country. I love this place – I am incredibly proud to be an American and I embrace my country, my flag, and our history, warts and all, because despite everything, I think this is the most amazing country in the history of the world. But we are stupid when it comes to racism.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that we do not understand, nor do we properly study, the history of slavery in America. Why not? Because if we did, it would make white people feel bad. The truth of the matter is that this country was built on the backs and in the blood of millions of enslaved people. (Read Complicity; How The North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery.) And that is an uncomfortable truth to ponder.

We need to learn about slavery to understand how we got here. We need to admit that many people are ignorant of cultures other than their own. We all need to talk to each other, and offer respect instead of assumptions. And speaking as a white woman to all my friends and readers out there who are white: we have to stop allowing comments like Imus’ to pass without loud and immediate outrage and consequence.

What about free speech? you ask. Isn’t the man allowed to say what he feels?

Yes, that is another beauty of America – freedom of speech and thought. He can say whatever he wants. So can I. And I can choose to boycott his radio station and his television station and all of the sponsors of his show, and I will. I will also find it hard to vote or support any politician who goes on Imus show after this, unless and until the man shows real growth and change.

And don’t even think about getting in my face and saying that the language Imus used is acceptable because it can be found in the lyrics of black hip-hop singers. Since when have we used the language and attitudes and behavior that is found and praised in popular music as our benchmark for what is acceptable? There is a vigorous debate in the African-American community about hip-hop lyrics and how language can/should be used. (You might also want to read The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t and Why by Jabari Asim.) I don’t see a place for my voice in that discussion. But I can sure as hell call out a white guy on the carpet for bringing down my country and harming a group of talented young women.

::pauses for breath::

Maybe, just maybe, we can turn his ugly language and attitudes into a teachable moment. If this happens, it will be because Coach C. Vivian Stringer is an amazing American woman, and her team is a class act. The team held a press conference today to respond to Imus’ hateful comments. (Learn more about the individual players from Sports Illustrated.)
Coach Stringer could write volumes about rising above pain and oppression.

Remember that phrase “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me”? That’s a lie. Words hurt. Words hurt deeply.

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Somewhat sated

That sure felt good.

I read “The Truth-Teller’s Tale” by Sharon Shinn, “Fay” by Larry Brown, “Wish You Were Here, the Official Biography of Douglas Adams,” by Nick Webb, and “Arthur & George” by Julian Barnes.

I think I need a Guilt-free Reading Month….

There will be little reading the rest of the week – I have much to do before I leave for Poland on Friday. Details to come soon.

Have any of you ever been to Poland?

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TWISTED – New York Times Bestseller!

Thanks to you guys – my readers, all the librarians and teachers who support my work, and the outstanding booksellers who lined up solidly behind TWISTED – the book has made the New York Times Bestseller List, at position #6.

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Yes! That’s my book!!! ::dances and squees:: Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you, thank you!!

Be sure to give a shout, too, for #10, Barnstormers, by my buddy .

Because the list is put together a few weeks ahead of time, the April 8th edition actually reflects sales from the week of March 18th. That means that TWISTED cracked The List in its debut week and that makes me really, really happy. I can also tell you that next week’s list (to be published April 15th) has already been put together, and TWISTED is on it again.

Life is looking mighty bright today, my friends.

I have one more afternoon of paperwork ahead of me and then a few hours at the gym. I am thinking of calling a work-free weekend and just gorging myself on all the books I brought home from the tour. It snowed again last night and it is snowing right now, so I don’t have to worry about neglecting the garden or yard.

::ponders::

Yeah, I’m doing it. I hereby declare a guilt-free reading weekend for all!

(Tell me what you’re reading.)

Let the turning of pages begin!

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TWISTED contest update

Remember the TWISTED contest? You guys claimed dates and times for when the last bit of snow would melt in my yard, and the winner would receive a signed copy of TWISTED.

It’s been warmish here and raining and the lawn had been emerging from the snow, though banks were still piled against the house. Yesterday we had a flock of robins come through.

This morning, we have several inches of fresh snow. So no winners yet.

Today’s to-do list is long, but it includes answering a bunch of fan mail letters that came from middle school students in Daejeon, South Korea. That will be fun.

I finally unpacked my suitcase. Now I am so tired I need a nap.

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Home & a Surprise in the Forest

All is right with the world.

I am home, where I belong. BH greeted me at the airport with a dozen red roses. (I told you he was the perfect author spouse!)

My adopted-hometown paper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, ran a wonderful review of TWISTED. (Thanks, Greg, for the link and Hippo Bird-Day again!)

The Creature With Fangs finally conquered her fear of the stairs and spent part of the morning with me in my third-floor office, for the first time ever. That was really sweet.

I finished the last of my thank-you notes and have made a dent in the email.

But best of all, Spring is well and truly here. No, the snow isn’t gone yet. (And we are expecting more later this week.) But the farmers are boiling maple sap into syrup down the road, and the snowbanks have retreated from the sunny patches of the yard.

Last October, I planted several hundred daffodil bulbs in my Forest. This was not as easy as it sounds because the Forest grows on top of boulders, not dirt. In order to plant the bulbs, I had to use a pick axe to pry out the boulders. While engaged in the sweaty task, I realized it was a great metaphor for writing. When I spoke at the Rutger’s One-On-One Plus Conference a few weeks later, I brought the pick axe and a bag of bulbs and used them as a tool to talk about the writing process. Then I gave away the bulbs, because I figured 300 bulbs in the Forest was enough.

While I was on book tour, someone (thatgirlygirl, was it you?) gave me an email from a friend of hers who had received one of my Rutgers bulbs. She planted it in a pot and attached to the email a photo of the bulb shooting to life. And then I heard from tracyworld, whose Rutgers bulbs have popped up, too.

So I wandered out to my Forest, still in my post-booktour brain fog. And what do you know?

Image and video hosting by TinyPic As quickly as the tide of snow can recede, daffodils are shouting themselves into our world.

::beams::