First day of school vibes
You guys! Today was the first day of school in Oakland.
It was such a beautiful sight this morning—so many families lined up to drop off their kids for the first time in a year+ or ever. So many little masked faces, new backpacks, and wiggly limbs. So many hopes and dreams for a safe day of connection and curiosity.
Schools, right along with libraries, are my favorite public spaces in this country. They are where we learn to be ourselves among others, to follow our questions and make meaning, to be okay when things are new and different. They are where we write the American story. How sacred is that?
I wanted to dip into your inbox with a few book updates:
My favorite thing is that apparently so many of you went to review the book on Amazon that it triggered some sort of bot screening and reviews have been backed up for a few days. You non-bot, living, breathing people with opinions make me so grateful!
If you haven’t yet reviewed the book on Amazon and/or Goodreads, I’d love that. Leave a comment here, too. I’m working on a piece for The Nation about reactions to the book—compliments, critiques, and complications—and would love to include yours.
Many of you have been reporting that your local bookstore is sold out and ordering more copies. Keep hitting those local spots! The more they hear from people interested in the book, the more copies they’ll stock.
The Washington Post ran a review this weekend that really “got” the book. Connor P. Williams, a longtime education reporter, wrote: “Learning in Public is a book about gaps: the gulf between White progressive families’ values and their behavior, and the reality of the yawning social distances that persist even when Black, Brown and White families live side by side. The book also explores the staggering opportunity gaps that emerge when children of color are consigned to less-resourced and lower-quality schools than their White peers, creating pernicious academic achievement gaps in American education.”
He also wrote, and this really made my heart happy: “Martin doesn’t force readers to pick one view. This makes for a messy, complex story — which reflects the nature of the circumstances.”
YES!
I also got to guest host Slate’s Mom and Dad are Fighting podcast, which was a blast! We talked about the book, but also quarantine, divorce, school uniforms, and so much more.
And I was on KQED Forum with my pal Alexis Madrigal, which you can listen to here.
Join Garrett Bucks and me tonight (5pm PST) for a virtual conversation hosted by that amazing DC-area bookstore, Politics & Prose. Garrett has not only worked for years in education, created The Barnraisers Project, an organizing force for White folks interested in racial justice, and is part of the Integrated Schools movement, but he just sold a book that is sure to be a paradigm-shifter for so many of us:
Here’s my conversation with Oaklandside reporter Ashley McBride for Commonwealth Club:
And here’s my conversation with Dr. Dena Simmons (who launched her amazing organization, LiberatED last week, too!) for The Strand.
Courtney - I so enjoyed your thoughtful (and thought-provoking) talk with Garrett this evening. Can't wait to read the book! Thanks for putting it out into the world. - Darcey
I have not been able to stop listening to the book on Audio. I so loved listening to Courtney's voice. It is as if she is right next to me during my long journeys between NM and CO, coffee stops and all. The book is a work of moral courage without self-righteousness, a true deep dive into the core of one's values and contradictions. So many parts spoke to me - and I am still reading it-. I get stomach cramps when I feel deep disconnects in me between spoused values and my actual actions. I am feeling the familiar cramping that tells me something in me is existentially unsettled from reading the book. I also felt the paradoxical mix of compassion and exasperation for the anguish so many parents feel when thinking of their own chid's education as a decision that must be landed perfectly from the first time. Courtney reminds us that there is no division between the personal and the political, that spoused progressive values mean nothing to everyone watching us when we fail to live by them. I am both inspired and also troubled by my own contradictions. Courtney makes her journey so transparent and accessible, giving it a depth of emotion that keeps me engaged as if I am reading a suspense novel with the greater good as a goal. The lack of perspective of many racially and materially privileged families, even those with powerful educations, is brilliantly unpacked without a heavy hand. I see Courtney's book as giving us a watershed moment from which we will hopefully not turned away. I can't wait to get back the final pages. Thank you Court!!