Dear Red Mountain Writing Project @USNbham2013 #NWP

I am at the Birmingham Airport getting ready to depart for my home in Connecticut. I have a hot cup of coffee in my stomach and chose bacon for my eggs and bagel this morning - Alabama hospitality to accompany the chicken, potatoes and steamed vegetables served this week.

I am thinking of the questions that greeted me this morning from the teachers I brought with me, "Do we really have to leave?" Sadly, I admit. We do.

The generosity of the Red Mountain Writing Project over the last four days (and their connections with powerhouses in the state) has been amazing. The back work, planning, and organization that brought so many political players to the Sheraton Hotel to speak with National Writing Project teachers can never be recreated. In the words of Steven Zemelman who is with me right now departing for Chicago, "This conference brought history out of the textbooks and into our collected memory."

To hear the numerous testimonies of those who lived through civil rights violations in the south 50 years ago (with newer forms of these violations today) was a once in a life time experience. Visiting museums, hearing the writing and listening to the drumming of youth, attending stellar presentations and interacting with the teachers of Alabama has been irreplaceable. I am honored. I am privileged to have attended.

Team Bama! 2013! My applause is for you and everything you put into the success of the USN Writing  Conference. You raised the bar high and everyone who attended will never be the same again.

Over the last 96 hours, I've met lawyers, politicians, teachers, activists, writers, students, family members, organizers, historians, scholars, and residents of Alabama who have studied, revisited, and redirected the movement that changed America's history.

One pen can change the world, yet it is not only the pen that is needed. What is more important are the committed individuals who are willing to stand up to COMMUNICATE what they believe in.

While at the Civil Rights museum I listened to Freedom Riders reflect on their experiences after they were bombed. After they were beaten. After they were stoned. After they were harassed.  They, committed to a cause that was bigger than them, stayed focus and fulfilled what they set out to do. Before the words could be written by the pen, the community needed to act first.
Yes, the pen can change the world, but before committing itself to the page there needs to be the people who have something to prove to the world.

Red Mountain Writing Project, you proved so much to me this week and I will be a better man, teacher, scholar, thinker, writer, and mover because of you. Words cannot capture my appreciation for all you have done.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Bry