“…I was proud, really proud of my mom not being afraid of failure. I am. I’d sooner not try than fail They might think I’m stupid, but I’m not. Knowing I’m not stupid is enough for me, I’m enough for me.”

-Page 12

Has Esme Raji Codell been reading my secret journals, because that could have came straight from my brain.

We had an Ice day in New York. I am in the process of reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (Yes, I am behind the times) but I grabbed the copy of “Sahara Special” off my kitchen table instead.

As an educator, I’ve been enjoying Esme’s Raji Codell’s books, because of how true they are, I can relate to the classroom antics…I often wish I could get up the nerve to be her when I finally grow up

But this book was different, I didn’t read it as a teacher, I read it as the little girl whose 6th grade teacher would toss the contents of her messy desk into the hallway, who would get sick to her stomach every math class, who was given extra time in college to take tests, but never used it out of fear of people she didn’t even know thinking she was stupid…. the girl who would pretend to be invisible in class, who would think the answers but never say them aloud…I understood exactly how it feels to have your wrist twitch, wanting to raise your hand, but failing. I am still that girl, now at 26, but I am trying to be more..or maybe not more, but to see that the more is already there.

“I am a writer.”

“A writer writes.”

I need to start living up to that advice.

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