Join me Tuesday June 30 for a FREE online presentation: "Empowering Kids and Teens with LGBTQ History (Okay...Adults, too!)"

The lovely people at the Broward County Library system in Florida are hosting me online tomorrow, Tuesday June 30 from 1-2pm Eastern/10-11am Pacific to present this inspiring (and yes, empowering) discussion.

The program flyer

Here's the description:

The anniversary of the Stonewall Riots may have just hit 51 years, but LGBTQ history did not start in 1969. Join author and educator Lee Wind and discover Queer lives that were hidden and loves that were secret, going back hundreds, even thousands, of years and from all over the world. Unlock the secret histories of Abraham Lincoln, Sappho, the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, and so many more...

Together with Wind, you will crack the false facade of history as it has been taught and let the rainbow light of true history—the stories of men who loved men, women who loved women, and people who lived outside gender boundaries—shine through.

Click here to register! Update: here's that link again: https://broward.webex.com/broward/onstage/g.php?MTID=e4e6511f7d077f7077c9534eda59a2ea1

Hope to see you virtually!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

March 21, 2020 I'll Be On Faculty At The "Arizona Author Mindset Conference" in Phoenix!

Another great moment of synergy between my day job as director of marketing and programming at the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and being an author, especially an author who self-published my debut YA novel, "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill."

I'll be on faculty at this brand-new conference (the idea is for it to be an annual event), sharing the crazy roller-coaster story of "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" and giving some context and tips for navigating Indie Publishing with a talk at 3:30pm,

"The Latest Trends in Publishing for the Indie Author"

If you're in the Phoenix area, and are curious about your author journey, this Author Mindset Conference sets out to:

"...take a deep dive into the person of the author. What does it take to connect, past your book, with your audience? Audiences demand interaction. They want to see you, hear you, and relate to you."

You'll find all the details here.

Hope to see you there,
Lee

Highlights from Models of Pride 2019

I'm just back from Models of Pride 2019, and I'm so delighted to have once again presented a workshop in the youth track. There were more than 1,500 LGBTQ and Allied young people there, and every seat was filled in my Queer History is Everywhere session!

Some highlights for me:

1) The genuine excitement in the room - these young people wanted to be there, they wanted to learn about our LGBTQ history - and that made me excited to share with them!

2) The literal mouth-open jaw drop in surprise that I saw twice!

3) The many kind words of thanks shared with me by the young attendees after my session.

4) The happy rush of 'no way, we're getting a copy of his book?' when I shared the final crowdfunded copies of "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" with the volunteers who read different primary source materials off the handout.

5) The gift of being sketched by a teen who didn't know me, but drew me sharing my enthusiasm and doing my best to empower these LGBTQ and Allied teens with the same information and stories and history that has empowered me!

6) Seeing the wonderful Jessica, Jake, and the Camp Brave Trails crew at the lunchtime resource fair!

7) Having my teenager attend Models of Pride, too!

Our world can be such a frustrating place, with the pace of change not fast enough, and with negative people and energy taking power and trying to undo the drive towards equality and equity and diversity and not just tolerance, or acceptance, but celebration of others...

But there are moments when I think about how far our world has come--Models of Pride is in its 27th year, and it's huge, and important, and while I didn't have it when I was a teen, I'm so glad it's here now.

And that progress gives me hope. And that's a beautiful thing.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

Models of Pride 2019 is Saturday October 19, at Los Angeles City College (LACC) - An Amazing Event for LGBTQ and Allied Teens!

Models of Pride is the world’s largest free conference for LGBTQ youth & allies, including parents & professionals. The full-day event includes an Opening Session, over 130 workshops, lunch, a resource fair, college fair, job fair, dinner, entertainment hour, and outdoor dance party – all free!

I'm delighted to once again be part of Models of Pride, presenting one of those 130+ workshops. Mine is:

Queer History is Everywhere!

Online registration for Models of Pride will close Wednesday, October 16, at 10 a.m., but you can also register onsite the morning of Models of Pride beginning at 7:30 a.m. You must register/check-in before 1:30 p.m. to participate in the conference.

Go here to read all about it and register!

Hope to see you at Models of Pride 2019!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

I'll Be On Faculty at the 2019 La Jolla Writers Conference!

Hello community!

I'm excited to be leading three sessions at the upcoming 2019 La Jolla Writers Conference in La Jolla, California, October 25-27, 2019.

So You Want To Crowdfund Your Book?
Workshop Block
A Case Study Breakdown and Brainstorming Workshop.

In January of 2018, Lee Wind launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance both the professional publication of his debut YA novel, Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill, and raise enough money to donate 400 copies of his empowering book to LGBTQ and Allied Teens. The project fully funded in six days, and by the end, he’d raised enough money to donate 910 copies! Lee will walk you through both his Kickstarter project page and all the things he did to set himself up for success. Together, you’ll work through the main points to consider in setting up your own crowdfunded publishing project. From backer rewards to international shipping; from email lists to the financial realities; there are so many elements to consider. There will be worksheets to guide you and time to brainstorm your own book’s crowdfunding campaign!

Friday October 25, 2019 from 2:10 pm - 4:00 pm

and

The Art and Science of Book Marketing
Workshop Block
A Hands-On Workshop.

Are you ready to create a marketing strategy for your book? Book marketing is both an art and a science, and never a one-size-fits-all endeavor. The answer to “how will I market my book?” must be customized, and during this workshop, Lee Wind will focus you on the specific efforts you can take to achieve your book marketing goals. From his dual perspective as the director of marketing and programming for the Independent Book Publishers Association and the author-publisher of the teen novel Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill, Lee will guide you through a five-part program to craft your personal book marketing strategy. You will learn how to: Target Your Audiences; Get Your Book Vetted; Choose Your Tools; Lean Into Synergy, and Own Your Resilience. In the end, you’ll leave with book marketing insights and an actionable marketing strategy for your book.

Saturday October 26, 2019 from 8:00 am - 9:50 am

and

How Do You Measure Success: A Networking Game
Lecture Block
Every publisher, every author, wants to hit the best-seller lists and win the major awards. It’s also important to consider additional definitions of success. How about reaching readers? Inspiring social change? Building the author’s professional standing? Sending the book’s creators on tour? Growing a tribe? Shining a light on a subject you’re passionate about? And so many more…Join your fellow conference attendees in this fast-paced meet-and-greet networking event. We’ll challenge and expand our mental models about why we write and publish. We’ll find common ground and explore new territory in small groups that will keep shuffling – all in a game format that comes with bragging rights and new connections! Bring your business cards and a sense of adventure…

Saturday October 26, 2019 from 2:30 pm - 3:20 pm

You can find out all the conference info at https://lajollawritersconference.com/, and if you'd like to attend, use this special promo code “25LJWC2019” and get 25% off conference registration (saves you about $100).

Hope to see you there!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

My School Visit - As An Author - At Pali High

Yesterday was a blast!

Thanks to the generosity of one of my kickstarter backers, I got to do a school visit at Palisades Charter High School here in Los Angeles.

I met with two 9th Grade English Classes, the Genders and Sexualities Alliance club, and students interested in writing and asking an author (me!) questions.

It was an awesome day, and we talked about the story-behind-the-story of Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill, the importance of language (homoLOVEual versus homoSEXual), how the facade of history that we're taught (that history is the story of rich, white, straight, cis-gendered, able-bodied, white men from Europe) is incomplete at best and misleading at worst, and how Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Fry Speed are just the tip of the LGBTQ historical iceberg.

The students read aloud a few of Shakespeare's love-sonnets-to-another-guy, and we unpacked one of Sappho's amazing poems (about her love for Anactoria, and how that poem changed the world.) I told them about crowdfunding the book, about some of the nice things that have happened since publication (including the Publishers Weekly Indie Success Story article and becoming a BookLife Prize semi-finalist).

And I answered questions, about terms (like cis-gendered) and writing (what software do I use - Scrivener or Word?) and being an author (plan for a day job, at least at first.) A good number of students are writers themselves, so we also dug into craft (questions about character and setting and plotting vs. pantsing) and living a creative life (making time to write--even if it's only twelve minutes a day.)

From driving to the school and having a parking spot reserved for me, to the warm welcome and yummy lunch from my host, GSA faculty advisor and Counselor Ms. Barker, to the student escort to the office and then to the library, to the amazing librarians Ms. King and Ms. Magadan who had the space prepped and handouts ready to go and pulled lots and lots of LGBTQ titles from their collection to share with the students, to Ms. Rosenthal and Ms. Moore (the 9th grade English teachers) who had prepped their classes with reading part of the book and an assignment about whether it would make a difference or not if Lincoln had indeed been in love with Joshua Fry Speed, to the supportive administration (including Dr. Magee and Ms. Iannessa), everyone went out of their way to be kind and helpful and were so gracious.

And the students were great - really engaged, really kind, really thoughtful.

I signed books (some donated from the kickstarter, some that the school purchased for the kids), and even signed one student's Rainbow Pride Flag!

And I got a T-shirt! It reads: "LOVE NOT HATE: Pali GSA"

The incredible gracious Pali High team that brought me to their school: (Left to Right): Ms. Barker, Ms. King, Me(!), Ms. Moore, and Ms. Rosenthal

Feeling grateful.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

Discover LGBTQ History Handouts

Hello community!

I had a great time presenting my "Discover LGBTQ History" workshop at Models of Pride this weekend, and the room at Cal State Los Angeles was packed with over 70 LGBTQ and Allied Teens -- in fact, I didn't have enough of these handouts to go around...

As promised, here they are! Click here to download them.

For more information, you can email me at leewind (at) roadrunner (dot) com.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

My Visit To Camp Brave Trails - The LGBTQ Teen Leadership Summer Camp I Wish I Could Have Gone To When I Was A Teen!

What an experience!

Deep in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles, at a summer campgrounds, in a dusty community hall next to a small stream. With rainbow flags, and unicorns, and visible symbols of pride everywhere I turned...

The 60 campers gathered, along with many of their counselors, and I got to tell the story-behind-the-story of "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill!"

This was so

amazingly important

and wonderful

The teens were so focused, and appreciative, and snapped their agreement at a number of things I shared, and applauded so heartily after I read them a section of the book—the section where I gave Wyatt the same goosebump moment I had, of realizing that maybe Abraham Lincoln was in love with another guy.

I answered questions, and then my time was over, and they dove into their social activism projects.  I hung out, had dinner with them afterwards and all in all spoke with maybe twenty of the young people. I signed their ARC copies of my book, I signed their journals, I even signed one of my bookmarks! (I had bookmarks to give away, too!)

One handed me my first piece of teen fan art! (Click here to see it.)

Nice things the teens said to me about "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" that I quick-jotted down afterwards so I wouldn't forget:

"I read it in 24 hours. It was good!"

Said while holding my book in their hands: "Thank you. I grew up without seeing any queer representation in media, so it means a lot." 

"I read it and really liked it."

"Thank you so much. This means so much to me."

They asked more questions, shared about their own writing, and overall gave me so much hope. We did this—our community came together to fund giving these young people each a copy of "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" as part of a vision to empower them... and we did!

It was a huge moment, and I'm so grateful. My thanks to Jess and Kayla for indeed being BRAVE and putting forth Camp Brave Trails as my non-profit partner in getting 810 donated copies of my book into the hands of LGBTQ and Allied teens!

And if you are—or know—an LGBTQ teen, check out Camp Brave Trails. There are still a handful of spots left in some of their summer sessions, and the environment of being marinated in so much love and acceptance with a group of LGBTQ peers seems absolutely wonderful and transformative.

Empowering Diversity Is Universal

So it turns out that the issue of diversity - and how best to embrace that diversity - is not just an issue in schools.

Nonprofits, religious groups and businesses face many of the same underlying issues of having a culture that needs to aim higher than tolerance of differences. A culture that needs to aim higher than acceptance. The goal should be where we're understanding the strengths - and challenges - of those different than us so we can truly CELEBRATE diversity.

I'm really excited that my business-focused article, "7 Ways To Empower Diversity Where You Work," is the Cover Story in Office Pro Magazine this month! (Executive Edition 2013, vol 73/no 6)

It got the cover!

Love the graphic design!

I'm so happy with the pull-out quote: "The glue that holds together my family (my husband, myself and our daughter) is love - the same love that holds together you and your family."

It's on their website!

My article covers things companies - and each of us - can do to empower diversity where we are every day.

What I think is so fascinating is that while the implementation is specific to each school or company or community organization, the principles of what makes diversity work are universal.

If you get a chance to pick up a copy or click on the International Association of Administrative Professionals website, I'd be delighted if you check my article out.

My thanks to OfficePro Editor Emily Allen for seeing the universality in my work to empower diversity and asking me to write this article!

And if you'd like to know more about the diversity work I'm doing in the corporate/organizational world, check out http://empowerdiversitynow.com/

Thanks for letting me share my good news,
Lee

"I AM A HomoLOVEual!"

I did a presentation on LGBTQ History last week at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California, as part of a multi-person lineup, and after the show one of the audience members, Ali, came up and thanked me for sharing this:

When we talk about sex in our puritanical culture, it freaks everybody out.  So when we talk about being homoSEXuals, and we fight for our homoSEXual rights, and we want our homoSEXual history to be known, all anybody's hearing is SEXXXXXX.

What if we talked about LOVE instead?

What if we had the media call us "HomoLOVEuals?"

What if we fought for our homoLOVEual rights?

Our homoLOVEual history?

Wouldn't it change everything?

Ali and me

It made a huge impression on Ali.  He asked if he could take his photo with me (he emailed me a copy of it, above) and told me proudly that I could quote him:

"I AM A HomoLOVEual.  I will NEVER call myself a homosexual again!!!!!

- Ali Babu Che Johnson

It was a great moment, and I had to share.

And I got to thinking, I want this idea to spread.  I want our conversations to be about LOVE.  I think this can, person by person, help change the world...

To help that happen, I created a new website, homoLOVEual.com, to present the idea, and then let people add their own photos and statements of homoLOVEual identity and/or support.  (Gotta love our allies!)

So please go check out homoLOVEual.com, and let me know what you think.

And if you agree that we should be talking about LOVE, let me know.

I am a HomoLOVEual!  How about you?

Namaste,
Lee

I'll be speaking at Cal State Fresno's Henry Madden Library Tonight on the FAIR Education Act!

I'll be part of a panel on the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, Respectful) Education Act, the California Law that requires schools to integrate information about social movements, current events and contributions of people with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender people into the K-12 social studies curriculum.

Co-Hosted by the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature, our panel is presented as the 2012 Printise J. Womack Lecture, and I'm so honored to be part of it!

My fellow panelists will be

Robert McGarry, Ed.D., Director of Education for GLSEN - the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

and

Shelbi Day, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney in the Western Regional Office.

It will be held from 7pm-9pm in the Madden Library, Lecture Hall 2206.

I can't wait to hear Shelbi and Robert speak, and I'm excited to debut something new in my discussion of Queer History,

"HISstory  HERstory  OURstory"

Namaste,
Lee

Marlborough School's Alliance Club's "Gay Of The Week" Is... Me!

The white board at Marlborough School showing me as their Alliance Gay of the Week!

I loved going to Marlborough School in Los Angeles last week and presenting my Smashing Stereotypes! Workshop to a psychology class of 11th and 12th graders, sharing my SAFE SPACE: Ending Anti-Gay Bullying in our Culture... and at YOUR School Assembly with the entire 8th grade, meeting with the school's Gay-Straight Alliance club, and then working with the wonderful librarians to pull books from their collection and set up a special display to encourage students to read deeper and broader - books about GLBTQ teens, books about teens who are like the students themselves, and books about teens who are different from them - so they can see and internalize our shared humanity.

An absolute highlight was my lunchtime Q&A with Marlborough's Alliance.  The students had prepared lots of questions in advance, and the discussion was fantastic.

Dr. Banner, the club's faculty advisor, wrote after my visit to share the news with me:

I thought you'd like to hear that at our meeting on Friday, you were unanimously voted the Alliance Gay of the Week. This places you in the august company of Vonn Walker, Ellen DeGeneres, Zachary Quinto, Dan Savage, and Albus Dumbledore, some of our past honorees. :)

I am incredibly honored.

Being named Marlborough's Alliance Gay of the Week has made my year.

Thank you, students of Alliance!

Namaste,
Lee

Announcing the Spring 2012 Grant Program for Lee Wind’s Speaker Visits

Budgets are tight.

But the need is dramatic.

And the impact of my programs is powerful.

"I just went out to my friends and told them I'm not going to use the word 'faggot' or 'bitch' anymore."
- Palisades Charter High School Student

"I will remember the part when you said that people need to know more than one thing about a person to then know all about them.  Your presentation will help me throughout my life."
- Brentwood 6th Grade Student

"It was amazing to have you come to Pali and speak to our students.  I think you made a huge contribution to uplifting our campus culture.
- Jill Barker, Palisades Charter High School Counselor

Most Valuable thing I learned from the workshop:
"You're not a stereotype. You are you!"
- High School attendee at my Models of Pride 19 Smashing Stereotypes Workshop

"Thanks for doing this for our school."
- Corvallis High School Student

I’m delighted to announce ten grants of $500.00 each to help bring me out to your school or library for a full day of either

SAFE SPACE: Ending Anti-Gay bullying in our Culture… and in YOUR School Assemblies

or

SMASHING STEREOTYPES In-Class Workshops

With one of these grants, it will cost only $500.00 for me to come to your school or library this Spring 2012 and help energize your community to end Anti-Gay - and all - bullying and smash the stereotypes that hold us back… as a culture and as individuals.

How to apply:
Have your GSA Advisor, school counselor, parent, librarian, or other adult point person contact me via email: iamleewind (at) gmail (dot) com.
Tell me (in their words or yours, in a couple of sentences) about your school, and why you feel my speaker visit would help make a difference in your community.
We’ll need to schedule the visit between January 16 and May 31, 2012.
If you’re not driving distance from Los Angeles, you’ll have to cover my travel and hotel, but that’s billed at cost.

And that’s it.
The first ten schools who need the financial help, apply for it, and schedule me, get these grants!

So see if you can make it happen for your school.

I’d love to come help you make things better, starting right now!

Namaste,
Lee

ps - To see more of what I do in my speaker visits, here's a link to two different nine minute videos showing highlights of both my SAFE SPACE assemblies and my SMASHING STEREOTYPES workshops!

My Speaker Visit Trip To Corvallis, Oregon

I'm still flying high from my amazing experience going to Corvallis, Oregon to give my SAFE SPACE presentations and meet with teens at both the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and Corvallis High School.

It all started with Robin Fosdick, the amazing youth services and reference librarian at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, who reads this blog every day (Hi, Robin!)  It was her determination and belief in me and what I have to share that made the trip a reality.

And it was an amazing reality, especially as it was my first 'business' trip where I was presenting outside metro Los Angeles (where I've been able to drive to schools!)  The response was overwhelmingly positive, and moving, and I got to talk about what we can do to end anti-gay (and all) bullying in our culture and in Corvallis to over 300 teens, librarians, teachers, administrators, and adults.

I kept a brief photo log of the two days, and with your indulgence, I'd like to share it here!

The first day started really early.  Still dark at the airport.

Flying high.  Literally.

A display in the airport lets me know I'm in the right state!

Arriving at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library!

Flyers for my talk are inside the library, too!

After a great pizza dinner with Robin and Curtis, the library's youth services Division Manager, I met with two different groups of teens at the library.  And then, I gave my SAFE SPACE presentation:

Talking about the 'ick' factor, and how if we called being gay 'homoLOVEual' instead of 'homoSEXual' it would change the whole conversation about our equality.

Language is powerful...

and it's one of the elements we need to recognize and change.

Lots of people hung out and spoke with me afterwards, and the room was buzzing.  A number of the teens who I'd met earlier in the smaller gatherings stayed for the presentation, and a few told me they'd see me the next day at the High School.  I grabbed a quick bite and then headed to the hotel to rest up.

The next day was another early start, and Robin and Curtis took me to the High School.  I set up in the school's Black Box Theater, and got to meet Julie Williams, one of the amazing faculty sponsors of Corvallis High's GSA. Then, one after the other, I did three different hour and a half presentations.

In the middle, I got to have lunch with some students from the Gay-Straight Alliance, and that was really great.

Presenting in the Black Box Theater

It's pretty interactive - here I had the kids up on their feet!

Corvallis High are "The Spartans!"  This is me and Julie Williams, Corvallis High's faculty sponsor for their GSA

Check out the amazing Gay History Month display in the High School's main entrance

Robin loved it as much as I did!

I'm official

With Robin at Corvallis High School, the day of Assemblies complete!

Moments that have stayed with me:

The teen who saw my presentation at the library, and sat through it again at the High School. It was clearly delicious for them to have it witnessed by their fellow students.  And they had this joyous look on their face while I spoke.

The teen in the GSA who told me a guy said to them after my first assembly, 'I'm homophobic and that was hard to sit through.' And they replied, 'Why are you homophobic?' And the guy said, 'That's how I was raised, my Dad is homophobic.'  And it occurred to me - and I shared with the GSA - that it wasn't necessarily a bad outcome for my talk. For someone entrenched and comfortable with the idea that they don't like gay people to leave my presentation and feel uncomfortable. That means they're thinking about what I shared, and that's a good thing.

The teen who came out as queer and is struggling with their parent's disapproval, who was so grateful for my being there.

The teen who said they want to be more involved.

The mother and teen at the library together, asking questions and listening so passionately.

The students from nearby Philomath, telling me about their school's efforts to block a Gay-Straight Alliance there.

The Corvallis High GSA student who came up to me at the end of our lunch and said,

"Thanks for doing this for our school."

The generosity of spirit of Curtis, and the powerful joy and passion for teen lit and helping teens that emanates from Robin every moment!

And I'll take this opportunity to once again express my enormous appreciation to Robin and Curtis, who made me feel like a rock star, brought me to Corvallis to add my voice to the many many wonderful people working to make things better for GLBTQ teens and all teens there, and who made my entire trip come off so well!

I also want to thank Julie Williams, Millie Kimes, Judy Welever (Corvallis High's wonderful librarian), Christine Hackenbruck (my tech support!), Dena Minato, Mary Skillings, Trudi Caster, Cathy Wright and all the other counselors and teachers at Corvallis High who brought their students to my presentations!  My appreciation as well to all the other Corvallis librarians I met, and to Bryan Bliss for inviting me to speak to his group of teen writers at the library.

Oh, and I even got a gift from the Corvallis High School Gay-Straight Alliance - one of their 2011-2012 t-shirts!

Rocking my Corvallis High School GSA Pride!

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, for me and - from the feedback I received - for the community, too.

I am truly honored to have had the opportunity to help make things better.

Thanks, Corvallis!  I hope to come back soon.

Left to Right:  Curtis Kiefer, Me, and Robin Fosdick

Namaste,
Lee

p.s.:

My inspiration bonus from the trip:  Turns out the high schools in Corvallis and neighboring Oregon have a school rock that students are allowed to graffiti.  Here's Corvallis High's Rock.  And yup, now that I know that, it's something I've added to my current work-in-progress.

pps:  Here's a link to a whole bunch of great resources I shared in my talks.

Letters! (Some of my favorite things...)

"Thank You" letters from sixth graders

I recently got this batch of letters from students who participated in my Smashing Stereotypes Workshops. They're sixth graders at an independent school in Los Angeles, and clearly they were given the assignment "write a thank you letter to our speaker."  No matter the motivation for writing me, reading their thoughts about what they learned, and how the workshop effected them, is pretty awesome.

Here are ten of my favorites:

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for coming to talk to us.  Your "Smashing Stereotypes" workshop was amazing.  It was inspiring.  I've had people tease me about going to a private school and for being too white because my whole building is Latino.  I am Latino.  But now I feel like I have the power to stand up to them.  Thank you so much! Namaste,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for sharing "Smashing Stereotypes" with us.  I really appreciated the time and hard work you put into making the presentation.  I enjoyed the part where we put the stereotypes on the sticky notes and them crumpled them to show we were "smashing" them.  I will remember the part when you said that people need to know more than one thing about a person to then know all about them.  Your presentation will help me throughout my life. Namaste,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for coming to our school to explain stereotypes to us.  To me this is a very important concept that isn't recognized in our messed up world.  One of my stereotyped traits is that I am Persian.  In addition to that, I am a Jew.  I am very proud of my heritage but once someone asked me if I was a terrorist and I felt horrible after that.  Since then, I have always been against racial profiling and have tried to help as best I can because of my past experiences.  What really stood out to me were the examples of gay men or kids who actually killed themselves or were killed.  I really think that it was amazing and must be stopped.  I also liked how you gave us an activity that was really important.  I think I took away many things form [sic] your lesson, however, I thought that one stereotype that you may consider putting in your presentation is the one about Muslims being terrorists.  Thank you so much once again for coming. Sincerely,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for coming in.  I really enjoyed your talk because I have been the butt of some racist jokes before.  You are a great speaker and really touched on many different aspects of stereotypes.  You did a great job and it was one of the highlights of my week.  Thanks."

"Dear, Mr. Wind
You have taught me soo much and now I know how tough it can be to be bullied.  Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedual [sic.]"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for coming to 6th grade to talk to us about "Smashing Stereotypes." I think that it  was very important for our class to hear about the children who committed suicide and others who were killed.  It helped us understand that bullying is completely wrong and that people shouldn't be teased for being who they are. What really stood out to me is that you didn't just focus on the negative things; you also focused on positive things.  I learned that just everyone should just accept who people are and that everyone is a bit different from another.  Everyone has a stereotype like if you are blonde you are dumb, or if you are Latino you are a laborer, or if you are Jewish you have an accent.  Your presentation taught me a bit more how stereotypes have been proved completely wrong.  I was inspired by your presentation and it helped me and my classmates smash stereotypes.  Yours Truly,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much, for coming to our class to talk to us about stereotypes.  Like you, I'm glad we talked about it this year and no later.  I loved how you made us stomp on the stereotypes, and I especially enjoyed the video you showed us.  It's a very good thing you're doing, teaching kids that there is always hope.  Namaste,  THANK YOU!"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you for coming to present your workshop.  Your presentation was very well put together and really stood out to me.  I really liked how you showed us all of these pictures and now I have a completely different outlook on gay and lesbian people.  I took away with me that everyone is different in a good way.  Thank you again sooooooooooo much.  Namaste,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
Thank you so much for coming to [our school] and presenting your amazing workshop.  Smashing Stereotypes made me really think about all the crazy stenotypes [sic] that go on in this world.  I really appreciate the program you run and how you stand for people who are being treated badly.  You made me, personally, really want to make a stand for stereotypes and "smash" them to.  I loved how you told us to write down stereotypes and then step on them and smash them at the end.  You made me think a lot about everything and every story you told.  Tango makes three really stood out to me.  It's crazy how it is the most DANGOUOUS [sic] book in the WORLD!  I loved the presentation and what you stand for.  Thank you so much for coming.  It made an impact on [our] school.  Namaste,"

"Dear Mr. Wind,
First of all, thank you so much for coming in to speak with us.  I [heart] every thing you stand 4.  I made me start thinkin' real hard, why is there sooo much HATE in this world?  I thought and I thought, but, I couldn't come to a logical conclusion.  However, what I did come to a logical conclusion about was that if we all try hard we can bring LOVE into this world.  Your whole presentation reminded me of a famous M.L.K. Jr. quote "Hate cannot drive out hate, only [heart] can do that."  What you do is so kind, and when you talked you had so much passion.  THANK YOU FOR TEACHING ME THAT EVERY STORY DESERVES A HAPPILY EVER AFTER!  Namaste,"

I love doing these workshops, engaging with students and empowering them to change our world for the better.  And I loved getting these letters in the mail.
Thanks for letting me share.

Namaste,
Lee