I love when the celestial unknowings align for a day and bring irreplaceable magic @davidekirkland @hoops4hopeUSA

Let's see. I'm 41. I am able to recap the first half of my life in this post, aren't I? Well, not the whole thing...just a couple of items that are, well, UBUNTU, at this moment in time.

In 1994, I left Binghamton, New York - where I studied with Carol Boyce Davies and was inspired to be an educator who would emphasize multiple forms of communication as a counter story of colonial, social, and racial inequities.  I found an early career in Louisville, Kentucky, where I did a masters in teaching, another with the Kentucky Institute of Education and Sustainable Development, some more with Bread Loaf School of English, a stint with Tokyo, Japan and short bit at Cambridge University, too.  For a decade, I taught in the one-of-a-kind environment, the J. Graham Brown School. This was, of course, at a time before the state brought forth their tsunami of reform - a reform that is just now reaching the rest of the nation.

And, I moved back home to attend Syracuse University. I continued to work in urban schools and, by the grace of the great whatever, maintained my work within relocated refugee communities - families displaced by civil wars that had deep roots in the soils of imperialism, the Cold War, and 21st century global politics. At Syracuse, I was introduced to many great minds that changed my life for the better including the writing of David E. Kirkland. His scholarship provided part of the frame for working with African young men with limited and interrupted formal education. As Kirkland (2010) wrote,

"English education no longer stands as a monolithic subject upholding the colonial pillars of England and the imperial ambitions of the United States. This new English education acts more holistically and accurately as language education, incorporating a study of the various Englishes of our country" (p. 302).

Completing the big dissertation, I moved to Fairfield University and now am Director of the Connecticut Writing Project where I continue to work in several urban school districts to support young people and their teachers.

Along this entire journey, I've always held my cousin's life mission with Hoops4Hope as an inspiration for my own.

Well, today, all culminates in eastern Connecticut. First, David Kirkland's new book arrived in my mailbox when I returned from NCTE in Boston. Second, my cousin confirmed he's crossing the Long Island Sound for the Naismith Memorial Tip Off Tournament. Third, University of Louisville is in this tournament. And fourth, Fairfield University is in the tournament, too (I respect Sydney Johnson, Kyle Konz and their team immensely). I'm packed.

I know storms are brewing for later next week, but for this weekend, everything is forecasted to be simply awesome. I've got my gear, my cousin, and a good book. Even if my iPad went missing at the NWP meeting and it still hasn't shown up, I can't complain. This is a perfect bonanza of coincidences.

Kirkland, D. E. (2010). English(es) in Urban Contexts: Politics, Pluralism, and Possibilities. English Education, 42(3), 293-306.