Learning in public...together

Ready to take this journey with me?

You all know I’ve been working on this book, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from my Daughter’s School, for a few years now. It’s coming out August 3rd.

My amazing friends have been asking me if I want some kind of ritual in the lead up. Their ideas: we all write the first and last lines of the book in the sand and then let it wash away, or I jot down my worst fears and we burn them in a fire and jot down my biggest goals and we keep them next to a whiskey bottle that we break out a year from now, or we draw our dreams for the book. Aren’t my friends the frickin’ best?

I’ve struggled to land on a ritual or a way of celebrating this release that feels right. I just don’t know. But here’s what I do know: this book is meant to start a national conversation about school inequity unlike any we’ve had before. A conversation with you.

It’s meant to make it deeply personal for White and/or privileged people, parents especially, mothers even more specifically. I have done something that scares the shit out of me—written revealingly about my own journey, missteps, joys—in an attempt to make this urgent conversation new and accessible, in order to move us past the Nice White Parents gawking and out-woke-ing and pitying and really face ourselves and each other.

So what does this mean for you, my dear community of readers?

It means: I’m hoping you want to come on this journey with me, which means doing really practical things, like for starters, pre-ordering the book. Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred, really substantive review. According to the crew of badass women (here’s looking at you Vanessa, Liz, Pam, and Massey!) at my publisher, pre-orders are the next most important thing because: “They signal reader demand to retailers and position the book for bestseller lists.”

• You can order it online or call your local bookstore and request it, speaking enthusiastically about the conversations you hope it sparks in your community.

• You can pick it for your next book club. (There are discussion questions included in the back of the book that I wrote with this in mind and I’m also cooking up a downloadable book club toolkit.)

• You can post on social media (twitter, Facebook, Instagram) about any of this using @courtwrites and #learninginpublic.

I am really proud of what I’ve created. I think it’s pretty beautiful—definitely the most revealing and propulsive book I’ve ever written (in a bus in my driveway during a pandemic, no less!). But the realization of what I wrote depends on the conversations, the relationships born and deepened, the truths finally spoken, the actions finally taken. Spreading the word about the book is a means to that immeasurable, thrilling possibility. Be a part of it, with me, but for all of our kids who deserve so much more truth and justice than we’re providing right now.

Maya and one of her classmates repainting some neglected art at the school.

*And if you’re wondering where the money is going to go on the sales of this book, check out this page on my new site that details how I’m sharing the wealth. As always, feedback welcomed!