Well, Wednesday. Whatya Know? Yesterday Was a Day of Surprises. What Do You Have for Me Today?

You know you're a proud father when you do the unspeakable -- you pay for a suit for a graduating son that is 3x's as much as you'd spend for a suit on yourself. Chitunga deserves it. He didn't want the accolades of doing an undergraduate commencement and he was only home for 36 hours before heading to Boston for more internship work, so I couldn't help but respond to his statement of 'What do you want to do,' when he replied, "I wouldn't mind getting a new suit.

Sh'Zaam. New Suit. No Brainer.

I will, however, spare you the salmon-color one....just the pants.

He left yesterday morning and, with the grace of the crazy Whatever, ended up having dinner with a high school dear friend, Vickie, who showed him around the city and filled him in with crazy stories from our past. I love this kid for his willingness to be open armed and to embrace all the people, characters, friends and family I continue to introduce him to. He loves to embrace them all.

The second part of an unexpected, yet wonderful, Tuesday was stopping by to see the final meeting between Staples and Harding High Schools for their post-April poetry slam (as inspired by Nikki Grimes). I absolutely love that I was invited and the great work of their students was shared with me (which, in truth, was the direct result of vision from two spectacular teachers: Fola Sumpter of Harding High School and Barbara Robbins of Staples High School). I really do think the answer is to mix up our schooling communities as much as possible. The collaboration, conversation, focus, and student-driven discussions were outstanding and worthy of the nation to hear (wait, they can....Baltimore... NCTE '19).

The rest of my day was spent crunching numbers, looking for more behind closed doors, and finding a host of them under several rocks hidden in the back of campus (the accounting part of my job is horrendous)(I wish I could hire Chitunga to do it for me)(numbers and accountability are his thing).

Hump day already. I keep thinking I am going to find time to read the 46 books sent to me to review. I may need to hire high school readers to come help me out. Any takers? I have a wide assortment.