The September 2020 Lee Wind Video Newsletter

Click here or above to watch the September 2020 Lee Wind Video Newsletter.

Transcript

Hi Community,

I'm Lee Wind. It's September 2020, and whoa - six months of sheltering in place. There are fires and smoke, and for the last week it's been really crazy, and there's still this ongoing sense that we have to do more than be allies. We need to be accomplices and help dismantle these systems that are so oppressive.

And in the midst of all of it, in the midst of all of it, some nice things have happened. And I find myself a little self-conscious, awkward, feeling like maybe I shouldn't be talking about the nice things that have happened, even though they're things that I've worked on for a very long time. And I've realized that when the sky is amber, (laughs), when things are difficult, it's important to still share good things, because it's hopeful, and it's nice, and so with your indulgence, I'll share a few nice things that have happened.

It's almost as if I'm a gardener - I'm a vegetarian and not much of a real gardener out in a garden – but I feel like there are projects I've worked on for so long that are flowering and bearing fruit, and that is a lovely thing to celebrate. And so, with your indulgence, I'm going to share three really lovely things that have happened.

My nonfiction book that's coming out from Lerner had its big cover reveal this past week on Betsy Bird's School Library Journal Fuse #8 blog.

Click through to see big cover reveal

She does an amazing job, and she does these great interviews with people, and she did this cool interview with me! So it's very exciting, you can go there, check out the cover, check out the interview, it says a lot about the book, and about why I wrote it, and the importance of putting this nonfiction, these true stories from history, stories of men who loved men, and women who loved women, and people who lived outside gender boundaries. Taking the primary sources and putting them in front of kids and letting kids read it themselves, and how empowering that can be, and that is. And I'm really really excited about that and very grateful to Betsy for the opportunity, and very excited that the book is coming out in April 2021.

So that's the first seed that was planted - oh my gosh - so many years ago. More than ten years ago I started on that journey, so it's very exciting to see that book slowly making its way out into the world with a big cover reveal this week and that interview.

The second lovely thing, is something that came about because of these video newsletters. After the video newsletter I think back in January or February, I was contacted by an editor of the English Journal, uh, journal (laughs) which is published by the National Council of Teachers of English, and they asked me if I would be interested in writing the “Bookended” column, it's sort of like an essay that happens at the end of each of their journal issues, that talks about something about the author's experience in English classes in either middle school or high school. And so I got to write this essay, and it came out this past week, in September.

The first page of my three-page essay in the English Journal September 2020 issue, called "Who's the Monster? (Hint: It's not the whale.)"

So that's something where the seed was planted in February, I guess, and that is flowering now. And that's very exciting because 16,000 middle school and high school English teachers will read that. And so I'm very excited, and it just feels very nice, to reach both librarians - school librarians in particular - and to reach English teachers at this moment feels very very exciting.

And then third thing I want to share is that I have been blogging at I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? for thirteen years. September 15th, 2007 was my very first post, and now it is 13 years later. And that is amazing, and exciting. And actually, I looked it up, Google counted for me, and this post that's going up, is post #2,700. I've done two thousand seven hundred posts on my blog about LGBTQ kid and teen books and culture and politics, and so much more, and you've been here as part of the journey, and I'm so grateful for that.

And just last week we passed three million page loads!

So...

BOOM! (mind blown sound)

Wow! It's very exciting. I'm very very grateful, and very humble[d], trying to come at this from a place of humility, too, because oh my gosh there's so much going on in the world, and that you would allow me to take a little time to share with you some good news that's happened for me, in the midst of all this, is very lovely.

So thank you so much. Stay safe, be kind to yourselves and others, and we're all in this together, and thank you for letting me share.

Until next time, the light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you.