Writing Our Lives & Choosing Our Lanes with @TorreyMaldonado - a @CWPFairfield Event for the @FairfieldU MLK Youth Leadership Academy

I have numerous days a year which are my favorite days and one of them is the MLK Youth Leadership Academy for youth in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they come to celebrate the brilliance of Martin Luther King, Jr., learn to think of themselves as community leaders and writers, and participate in workshops designed from some of the greatest YA writers on the planet. This year we are Writing Our Lives & Choosing Our Lanes, because of the inspiration of no other than Torrey Maldonado...the Mandalorianado, himself.

Frog gets to tap his inner-Yoda all day today, and the beautiful middle-grade humans get to fill a writer's notebook with writing possibilities to turn all their frustrations and hopes into brilliant manuscripts. This year is extra special because every kid is receiving a copy of Torrey Maldonado's What Lane, which he scripted with Martin Luther King, Jr. in mind.

The show begins at 9 a.m. in the Oak Room at Fairfield University, with numerous finger snaps for Rony Delva, Upward Bound, and his irreplaceable hard work for the MLK Committee and the young people of Bridgeport (I hope, too, that the one and only Todd Palazzo makes an appearance - it will not be the same without him, as he always gave so much to the many communities around our campus for so long - a champion above all champions). 

What is beautiful, admirable, amazing, and stupendous about the day's special guest is that Torrey Maldonado not only writes incredible books that young readers devour,  he also remains in the classroom as a teacher - advocating for the excellence of K-12 schools, the importance of writing and storytelling, and the necessity of #WeNeedDiverseBooks (I have Phoebe Yeh to thank for introducing me to his outstanding work).

It's a party, that's how I roll. 

If you are at Fairfield University, believe in the genius of tomorrow's generation, and simply want to be inspired by excellence in all capacities, we'll be in the Oak Room doing our thing.

I need moments like this to rekindle hope and wonder  - the possibility of absolute excellence. I am thrilled, too, to be in-person, not online, and back to the Writing Our Lives tradition (all love to Dr. Marcelle Haddix at Syracuse University). This is my 9th year of hosting the Youth Leadership Academy, after learning from the best for two years, Dr. Yohuru Williams. He was one of the greatest minds our campus has ever known and I'm proud to keep his tradition and friendship alive.

We gotta write, a'ight!?!