{FOUND} I found a lot of things this month: a library with a coffee shop in it AND a fairy door (Ann Arbor, you’re so charming I could just kiss you), a new job (I’m an At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools), and DIMO’S. Dimo’s is what I want to talk about. You got your BLT sandwiches, your french fries, and so many donuts you can’t believe your eyes. Plus, I’m quite certain the owners are Greek. When we showed up, there was an elderly couple nearby that looked like a couple of my relatives. She was eating a pickle and sipping coffee, he was eating a sandwich and drinking pop. The guys behind the counter would come over, turn a chair backwards, sit down, and say, “Hey, Grandma. Hey Grandpa. You doing OK?”
Now listen, I loved living in Washington DC and Maryland. Of course I miss my friends, the school I taught in, the church we went to, Rock Creek Park and brunch at the Bombay Club. Every so often while we were living there, though, I would email Jesse this long, sappy letter about missing the midwest. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I missed it, or what I missed about it, but I ached for it. When we went to Dimo’s, I leaned toward Jesse and said, “This is what I meant when I said I missed the midwest.” I don’t think I defined it any better, but it felt like something tangible. I don’t really have any friends, and I still have to use Siri to get to a lot of places, but I feel like I’m at home. I think it has something to do with loving Annie in Joy in the Morning. She loved Ann Arbor, and I feel like I’m walking around in her footsteps. I know she was a fictional character, but she wrote and she lived here, and I think I’ll make the story come true.
{READ} The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater. It’s part of the Shiver series, and I tell you what, I LOVE Young Adult literature, and Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors.
{TRIED} I attempted to do #the100dayproject, but something came up and I don’t think I’m going to be able to finish it. What came up was I’m writing books. Four of them to be exact. Three of them are a series called The Teacher Diaries, and they’ll be published by TS Poetry Press. The fourth one is a bit of a monster currently, but I’m taming it slowly and surely. The other books are helping me do that. Anyway, that fourth book is about my love of books and clothes (go on and roll your eyes, I’m embracing it), so my editor suggested I start a little project on Instagram called #thereadingdiva where I write a bit about my literature adventures and the outfits I’m wearing. So I think I’m going to drop the #100dayproject and go with this one because, well, I’m writing books! That’s my 100 Day Project.
{WROTE} “Teach It: Mixed Emotions in Civil Rights” and “Make It: Poetry Hearts at the Table” for TS Poetry Press, “Friendship in the Dark” for Off the Page, and I wrote a couple of things for the Coffee+Crumbs newsletter (feel free to subscribe – there’s a lot of good stuff in it).
Here I come, March 2017!
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