Book Review: James

 James

by Percival Everett

 My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having taught Huck Finn with utmost sensitivity to high school students, I felt intrigued by Percival Everett's idea of James, an imagined retelling of runaway life from Jim's perspective. In Twain's work, I certainly found Jim to be a most sympathetic character - he helps Huck after the escape from his abusive father, prevents Huck from experiencing potential trauma, mourns for his own family, and never addresses the boys' misbehavior. The non-condemning character of Jim persists to survive and escape condemnable injustice. Though Huck has his "I'll go to hell" epiphany, Jim remains static. He has his freedom, but he surely has much more depth than shown. Everett's James put me at a crossroads - would I love this new fictional life or fully favor the original? I applaud this deep study of a most plausible, conflicted, and rightly critical James. And in the end, readers are given more reason to engage in profundities of natural and perceived identity.

Congratulations to Percival Everett for winning the 2024 National Book Award!

CSPA Spring 2019: New Media Classroom

In summary of my presentation at the CSPA's spring conference for 2019, I discussed the incredible benefits of publishing student journalism online. For starters, young journalists can build online portfolios for themselves that can speak volumes of their skills and abilities. Some website programming allows each user to create a biography that features picture, bio, and a links list of all stories published by the student journalist. Imagine the positive impact students can have on college boards and future employers when reviewers can easily access student work published online. Carefully produced portfolios online can significantly help students in future endeavors.

Book Review: Born to Run

Born to Run

by Bruce Springsteen

 My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Bruce Springsteen released "Born in the USA," I remember as a teenager how much I liked that album. Every song struck a different chord, and that's when I knew Springsteen was in fact a musical artist aside from his fame as an entertainment juggernaut. In college, "Born to Run" became a theme song for me, especially with the line: "We're gonna get to that place that we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun..." Springsteen forges deep connections through his songs. For readers, Springsteen's autobiography is nothing short of taking an incredible vacation with a terrific talent.

2017 CSPA – Your Online Identity Really Matters

 Here's a summary of my discussion at the CSPA 93rd Annual Spring Convention.

 

Students of High School Journalism: Use the Author Bio feature on “newsmag” platforms to strategically build effective online identities. See if the online platform through your school allows you to post your picture with a biography statement on your author page. If you create an author’s bio on your school’s online news site, all your published work will assemble underneath your name and picture.

Why is the Author Bio feature so important to high school students? When college admissions officers and future employers type in your name with your school name, your Author Bio will appear at the top of the Google page. Anyone can review all your published work by simply clicking on your name.