Inner Strength in an Extroverted Society

Newsletter #5

Mar 13, 2024

The Benefit of Introversion

As an introvert who was painfully shy for a good two decades of my life, speaking with others was excruciatingly difficult for me. I’m talking heart palpitations, nervous sweat, shaky muscles, warm cheeks, frozen panic—the whole bit. So from a young age I must have used writing as my way to express myself, from the comfort of solitude.

With writing I wasn’t put on the spot to say something clever or witty or even comprehensible the way I was when someone tried to—gasp!—have the audacity to converse with me. I had time and space to let my thoughts bubble around in my head and play with words to capture the exact feeling I wanted to convey.

Maybe words were my escape from the loud chaos of a big family and a lot of huge weekly parties. Maybe writing was my friend when I grew up largely by myself once my older siblings had all left for college by the time I was 9 years old. Maybe (actually I’m pretty positive about this one) journaling was my therapy to figure out where I fit in, plus all my feelings and understandings of this world.

I started to really like journaling in the sixth grade when we had a daily prompt. I then wrote articles for our high school newspaper, eventually becoming the News Editor and then Editor-in-Chief. Back when we physically printed articles and had to hand-cut and glue them down (straight!) on the layout pages. I played with poetry and prose which got published in our high school’s literary magazine. That really cheesy, teenage angsty stuff. And then nothing for many, many years. Until I started scrapbooking and thought that my albums would be where my stories got published.

But then, the seed. That was the start of my next chapter. (I wrote about this in Newsletter #4)

It’s an interesting process to look back on your life and recognize how past activities play into present passions. I know my writing life is only one of many aspects I have analyzed, and perhaps I’ll delve into others in future newsletters. Have you ever thought about what led you to where you are today and then connect the dots?

Book Report: I’M AN AMERICAN

Written by Darshana Khiani

Illustrated by Laura Freeman

I am really enamored by the many rich layers written into this multi-faceted picture book that poses the question, “What do you think makes a person an American?” It’s truly a wonderful starting point to think about different ways you can approach the definition of American. In the book, students share a variety of beliefs and character traits that define being an American: human rights, freedom of religion, perseverance, justice, equality, unity, and hope. Each of these is a big concept to understand, and Darshana gives both simple definitions, like the one for diligence that means, “It takes a lot of hard work to start a new life,” as well as blurbs of historical context of an ethnic group’s experience when moving here. Beyond that, the text also references contemporary issues that are related to history. Wow!

There is so much information packed into this book that every classroom of all ages can benefit from having and using it to teach all sorts of social studies and social justice concepts. I love that ten countries are highlighted through immigration stories and two cultures—the Muscogee Nation and West African descendants—are noted as non-immigrants, an important distinction indeed. Besides the main text that is amplified by Laura’s thoughtful, beautiful, and detailed artwork, there is a patchwork theme that connects the stories into one diverse nation.

As if the content in this text weren’t enough, many pages of back matter enhance this book’s value even more with an author’s note about immigration, her personal family immigration story, a gorgeous world map showing the cultures highlighted, an explanation of migration factors, and additional historical facts about twelve groups of people living in the United States today. This is a book I reference throughout the school year because there are so many ways to teach with and learn from it.

Themes: diversity, immigration, history, social justice, civil rights

Discussion Ideas:

How does one’s ancestral history affect their values today? What is a belief your family has that they remind you is important to them, and can it be related to their past experiences?
How does having the character traits mentioned in this book contribute to a stronger country? How do your character traits make you a better person?

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