March Madness

The last days of February saw the paperback publication of ONE GOAL and with it, a fun social media giveaway (Congrats, Bri!) and a wonderful series of events that took me back to Maine, into Massachusetts, into the far reaches of the North Country of New York, and then back to Massachusetts a few times over. A lot of these trips focused on libraries and schools, with the paperback option making it possible for more groups to bring the story of the Lewiston Blue Devils into their communities. At Skidompha Library in beautiful Damariscotta, Maine, the entire month of March focused on ONE GOAL as the Winter "BIG" Read, with everything from an author talk at the high school and the library to a charity soccer game (Go Owls!) to a talk by none other than Mike McGraw himself. In Lincoln, Massachusetts, the Birches School collaborated with Parks & Rec and the Land Trust to create two days of programming, a wonderful collaboration. In New Rochelle, I was back in the saddle as host of "Cocktails and Conversation," our library fundraiser series, which featured eminent sociologist Eric Klinenberg and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson. And out at Hofstra University I got to take part in a two-day symposium about Race and Sport and Politics that meant I got to hang with some of my favorite writers and thinkers on the subject, including Brenda Elsey, Shireen Ahmed, Jess Luther, Lindsay Gibbs, and Amira Rose Davis from the incredible Burn It All Down. With America's divisions dominating the headlines day after day after day, it's nice to see folks talking about ways to bring their communities together. Pamoja Ndugu, indeed.