My Experience at the 3rd Annual Asian American In-Community Retreat
Attending a Highlights Foundation retreat had been on my bucket list for many, many years…someday, I thought. And then it happened! It started off feeling like this:
I really didn’t know what it would be like to spend four days away from home where I did not know anyone (besides 4 people I briefly met in the 2 months before). The one word people kept saying to me was this: magical.
I adore this group photo. As I look at each person here, I am filled with comfort and joy in the purest way. It’s hard to describe why or how it happened, but every time I met someone on this retreat, I felt immediate trust and understanding, compassion and connection. And that led straight to our authentic, unapologetic, true selves. So it was easy to make fast friends with a deep level of care for our well-beings as well as unwavering support for our careers.
The last time I spent time with an affinity group like this was 30 years ago in college. I had forgotten how freeing it felt simply to be. No explanations about your upbringing or generational trauma. No confused looks if you discussed the complex duality of identity when culturally you may relate one way despite physically looking another and all the mixed messages you received about that hyphenated identity. No need to educate anyone about the steps to publishing or all the barriers BIPOC creators face in an industry that’s largely not so welcoming to them. When all that is removed, that is the beauty of an ‘in-community’ retreat. As much as I would love to return to Highlights for a number of programs that they offer, it’s truly the people here on this retreat that made all the difference to me.
It started as a group of strangers to me. It ended with that bittersweet feeling of too-soon good-byes because I craved more time with different people to talk longer and get to know them better. We had only touched the surface, even though it also felt as if we’d known each other for a long time. Like a family reunion that passes way too quickly and concludes with tight squeezes, promises of seeing each other again next year, and keeping in touch until then.
After bonding with almost thirty people it is my hope that my word of inspiration for the retreat takes hold, so that the Asian American In-Community retreat is the start of a grand ripple effect.
Book Report: HOW THIS BOOK GOT RED
Written by Margaret Chiu Greanias
Illustrated by Melissa Iwai
One of my very favorite recently published books is HOW THIS BOOK GOT RED. First of all, cuteness overload from Melissa’s depictions of all the pandas in the story and the different settings like the tree house and city scenes make it hard not to fall in love with the characters. Gee and Red share an empathetic, caring, and supportive friendship in the way they share fun moments together, understand when one feels down, and encourage when trying something challenging. But the brilliance of this sweet friendship story comes when the author Margaret cleverly crafts a storyline that reflects the real-life issue of representation—or not enough representation of traditionally marginalized people—in books. By framing the storyline around Red’s shock that red pandas are not included in all the books about pandas and her determination to write books that include red pandas, readers learn how important it is to see everyone in books and share your own stories. I love how the red panda community rallies around Red to give her the motivation to complete her book so that red pandas can more readily be seen in their society. Melissa even included red panda facts on the end pages so we can learn about their behavior that differs from giant pandas, and it was drawn in Red’s signature style!
Themes: representation, identity, friendship, acceptance, inclusion, determination, justice
Discussion Ideas:
Why is it so important to Red that she sees herself in books and other places in her city? Why do you think only giant pandas were the only ones initially featured? How does this relate to our world today?
How does Gee show how he feels about his friend Red? How can you treat others who might be having a difficult time with something?
Mentor Text For:
how to use punctuation in dialogue
reading expression by noting italics, capitalization, word size, and punctuation
writing craft: using italics and all capitals for emphasis
use of ellipses for effect
making inferences by reading the illustrations
Link to Teacher Resources: Activity Kit
Buy the book!
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Weekly Progress Report
This is a section for “stuff I did” that relates to my writing career. I believe in celebrating all wins, big and small alike.
researched a dozen editors from a variety of publishing houses
reached out to writer friends who worked with these editors
critiqued four picture books for my two critique groups
completed interview questions for a milestone announcement
compiled contact info for all the creators I met at Highlights
Sending you courage and grace in all you choose to do,
Susan