I'll Never Live To Write

I Keep Threatening To Keep A Formal Journal, But Whenever I Start One It Instantly Becomes An Exercise In Self-consciousness. Instead Of A Journal I Manage To Have Dozens Of Notebooks With Bits And Pieces Of Stories, Poems, And Notes. Almost Every Thing I Do Has Its Beginning In A Notebook Of Some Sort, Usually Written On A Bus Or Train.

I Couldn't Speak Well. I Went To Speech Therapy For 10 Years. And I Was Sort Of Frustrated In That Sense.

Books Transmit Values. They Explore Our Common Humanity. What Is The Message When Some Children Are Not Represented In Those Books?

I Read A Lot Of Comic Books And Any Kind Of Thing I Could Find. One Day, A Teacher Found Me. She Grabbed My Comic Book And Tore It Up. I Was Really Upset, But Then She Brought In A Pile Of Books From Her Own Library. That Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me.

What I Found Fascinating Was Just How Quickly The Best Of The Young Negro League Players Were Drafted Into The Major Leagues Once Branch Rickey Broke The Color Line By Hiring Jackie Robinson. It Was Clear That All Of The Major League Owners Already Knew The Talents Of The Black Ballplayers That They Had Refused To Let Into Their League.