I did a student assembly while I was in South Florida for about 10 different high schools on Tuesday at the African American Library of Broward County (great facility, BTW) – and it was a home run.

So many of the kids had read my books before I even entered the auditorium that you could feel the buzz before I ever said a word. And by the time I was done, I think it felt to everyone in the room (the students, their teachers, the administrators in the district, me) that we had just bonded at a very deep level through books. Truly, it was a rip-roaring day.

And then I went to sign books – something I love to do cause hey, there were years and years and years of my life spent wondering if ever anyone was ever going to ask me to sign a book I’d authored (or if anyone was ever going to publish me, for that matter). The lines were long and boisterous.

I left feeling wiped out. Spent. I pour a lot of energy out when I am “on stage” – especially for student assemblies – but there was a feeling of contentness underlying the tiredness. At the risk of sounding immodest, I’d done good and I knew it. (However, it did takes me about 10 hours to prepare for those 75 minutes… another story indeed.)

But my grandfather could not make it to the event. He’s wanted to see me speak for years however, between the wheelchair, the early start time, the drive to the destination and so on, well… it was just going to be too much for him.

Yet later, when I returned to his side to meet up, he told me how proud he was of me. And I told him, I learned at the feet of a master. And then he told me a tale of Ravel and Gershwin.

Apparently, George Gershwin really, really, really, wanted to study music under Ravel. And when Ravel saw Gershwin’s stuff, he told him no. Refused.

Ravel told him, “You don’t want to become a second rate Ravel when you have the talent to become a first rate Gershwin. So go be George Gershwin.”

Which he did.

It was a touching moment between my grandfather and I. (I blogged the other day about me throwing a surprise 90th for him – and WOW, was he surprised. 75 people ended up making it from across the country, too – a real testament in so many ways to him.)

Now, I’m no Gershwin. But I have been raised by people who did encourage me to be me… and I fear that when I look out at our schools today, encouraging out kids to be who they are – as opposed to trying to force them into who we want them/need them to be – is a frightening and omnipresent phenomenon.

Even after nine decades, he still has more to teach. God Bless You, Grandpa Alvin.

Are we crazy? I mean can someone please just answer the question: Are we, America, nuts?

I guess the entire world is bonkers so America is just running par for the course but wow, I gotta say… there’s something about being an American which makes me, well… care about America.

And I think we’ve lost our collective minds!

Let me backtrack.

Last week I spoke to about 2,500 students over the course of 2 days at four different schools in Hammond, Indiana (just outside the Chicago area).

While doing PD for teachers is fun for me, doing student assemblies where the place is jam-packed with teens… now that’s the lion’s den right there. And I love it!

Really, kids are kids are kids and I have so much fun doing student assemblies. (I try to not only rock the house with fun and laughs through stories and the such, but leave the kids really thinking about how they need to/ought to/want to step up and truly represent for themselves because getting young people to take ownership over their own lives is one of my critical messages whenever I speak to large crowds of teens). Basically, I work hard to do great student assemblies and last week I did a bunch of them in some Title I middle and high schools that were about as rewarding to me as any work I’ve ever done in education.

(Added note: Today’s teens do care about their own lives, their own futures and the state of their own community and no one is more hurt by the tragedies of violence that permeate SO MANY YOUNG lives than the kids actually living the reality themselves.)

So the assemblies were fantastic. However, upon entering campus, I had to sign in… and the front gate’s officer was armed.

And wearing a bullet proof vest.

Middle school security officers wearing bullet proof vests? What is this world coming to?

And then, I saw this. It’s a story about a truck dealer who is running a weekend special. Buy a new truck and get a free AK-47.

Visit any urban school in the U.S. today and ask the students how many of them know someone who has been shot and you will see scores of hands rise into the air. To me that means we have a problem with guns.

And yet, buy a truck and you get a free toaster over… I mean free AK-47 sub-machine gun to, I assume, blow the freakin’ antlers off of Bambi.

Is it just me, or are we just nuts?

Yes, we have the right to bear arms. But do we not also need to mitigate that right with a wee bit of civil common sense?

I know, I know, guns don’t kill people; people kill people. (People with guns kill more of them though.)

I could go on and on and on because I meet and speak with kids like Alex ALL THE TIME! This isn’t an anomaly for me. I really do meet kids who have been shot or know another teen who have been shot all the time.

And they really do want the mayhem to stop.

And they really wish the adults in this world could get a better handle on this insanity.

America, are we nuts?

In addition to doing Professional Development for schools and districts, I also do student assemblies (with my YA author hat on.) And the truth is, while I like doing to adult events, the kids just smoke the grown-ups on the “fun for me” scale… it’s not even close.

Anyway, I did a really cool, very well received student assembly last year at Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA. Essentially, a great teacher over there named Devon Day nudged and nudged me to come, and when I was able to make the schedule work, I did.

The kids were great. The staff was nice. All in all, it was pretty good stuff.

I only mention it because this is the same Wilson High that has been in the news lately… for all the wrong reasons. Tragically, one of their students was fatally shot and killed after their homecoming game. It was front page stuff out this way.

A big theme of mine that day was about choices and trying to advocate for education over violence. As the author of the really popular YA book Homeboyz, a book many of their students just love, I feel it is essential to make sure kids are crystal clear as to why I wrote the book. It’s a cautionary tale, violent and raw and all too real. Studnets, like moths to the flame, are entranced by gangs in this day and age but this stuff ain’t no joke — that’s part of my presentations. Anway, Devon just sent me the following email as her school wrestles with how to move on in the aftermath of this tragedy.

Alan,

I am sure you have read all about the 11th grader here at Wilson High School that was shot and killed on October 30th after the Homecoming game. She died on route to the hospital but was shot at the cross walk coming into the C-side. Alan you’ve crossed it!

Tomorrow I am starting Homeboyz (Year 2 with your book). What a great piece of literature to get the students talking about the consequences of violence. I know I have some kids with street lives in my English classes this year. It will be an interesting time to get the students to open up and write about their experiences, especially with the recent death of Melody Ross. Tonight is a candle light vigil on the campus quad. We expect a huge turn out. I started with one class on Tuesday. I started out by reading parts of chapters one and two with the help of one of my returning students, Alejandro who loves to read out loud. When I told them they had to read the remaining pages to chapter 3 by themselves, nobody complained. I look forward to tomorrow’s activities. I am still using your BookJam curriculum.

Hope all is well.

Devon

On one hand, I am thrilled that a great teacher like Devon finds my work worthy enough to bring into her own classroom to try and teach and reach her kids. On the other hand, I am sad and empty.

I mean I live under the delusion that when I do free assemblies like the one I did for Devon’s school that it’s because it’s gonna make an impact and kids are gonna get it and things are going to change. Unfortunately, I do not have nearly the power I wish I did to help young people avoid the violence which plagues young America today.

It’s depressing. No matter what I do I know that individually it will never be enough. (I mean, I am working on 4 hours of sleep as I type this right now and my voice is so raw from teaching and speaking I am scared of creating scar tissue on my vocal cords — but I just haven’t had a break for weeks).

And yet still, we forge on. What more can we all do but forge on? Not give in to cynicism and bitterness. Not turn to anger or hate. All I guess we can do is put one foot in front of the other.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Melody Ross… and to the community of Long Beach Wilson. As adults in this world, we have got to find a way to do better by our kids.

Blame is easy. Solutions are a whole different matter.

This weekend, let’s all remember that bullets just took another young student’s life and no matter how much I think about it, it really just doesn’t make any sense.

Good luck, Wilson High. Hope you know there are people in your corner everywhere even if you do not see them.