Yesterday, the last day of the conference, started a little late for me. I missed the first panel because---well, I was tired from the night before. The extravaganza lasted until sometime around 11pm and then I was wound up and feeling a little jittery about my 10:45am reading. All went well though. I read from the first chapter of Light-skinned-ed Girl to a wonderful audience. One man wrote in response to my reading which was unfortunately cut a little short: "I know this little girl. I hope she is okay." And on the way out of the room, he whispered to me: "I love that little girl." Me too. I want everyone to love her too. The afternoon panel was an interesting discussion between and among biracial women of the Topaz Club, a sisterhood of biracial women of African and African-American descent. And then that was it. I was exhausted and left the scene--reluctantly because I knew there were so many other lovely connections to make--but I was just too tired to make good conversation.
That's the best of my reportage of the event. I've been processing the whole experience and hope to post more reflective thoughts in the next days. But thank you to AMEA and Jummy Bullock for creating this event and bringing us together!
