26 hours in Texas

Hello, everyone. I am tired! I’m writing this from the airport in Houston, TX, where I have been for a grand total of 26 hours. I knew I didn’t have much time, so when I landed I took a taxi straight to Houston’s most important landmark, Buc-ees.

O captain my captain

Cathy Berner, empress of Blue Willow Books, agreed to meet me at Buc-ees. We spent the whole time talking about boy bands, as is our wont. This trip was way smoother than my last visit to Houston, when a school district uninvited me for saying “fuck guns” on Twitter. To be very, very clear—fuck guns.

I thought Cathy was shopping too but she was actually just being nice to me

I bought presents for my family and snacks for the hotel and I could have stay for hours. Here is something that I did not buy, because it smelled as bad as you might imagine.

I also did not buy a Buc-ees waffle iron, though I strongly considered it.

Then I went to my hotel, bathed, and realized I did not pack any pairs of underwear. Nevertheless, off to dinner at Valerie’s house! Valerie owns Blue Willow and is fighting many legal battles over her right to run a bookstore that is not overseen by fascists. Let’s just pause right now to donate to an organization fighting book bans in Texas.

https://www.txftrp.org/donate

Donate!

Dinner was lovely, as it always is with kidlit folks, and then I went back to the hotel and fell asleep after one (1) episode of DDD.

This morning was the Bookworm Festival, a beautifully organized and run morning of programming for elementary school kids. There were hundreds of kids, and I was on a panel with Juana Martinez Neal and Liz Garton Scanlon, and they were both wearing chic sweater vests. We had a fabulous time.

I can’t say I was excited to come to Texas this month—Texas and its guns have always scared me—but this month in particular, being in a red state sounded like something to avoid if possible. I’m so glad I didn’t avoid it—Cathy told me it would make me feel better, and she was right.

The whole program was totally bilingual, and the students were as diverse as Texas, which is to say, very. They were charming and smart and sweet, as were their parents. If the future of Texas looks like that, we are going to be alright.

Here is a poster from the wall of the middle school where Bookworm took place.

It’s hard to feel optimistic when things are so bleak, but I’m trying to see the good when it’s in front of me. The librarians and teachers and booksellers I met yesterday and today are doing their best. If you can support their efforts, please do. Go to school board meetings. Join a group like Authors Against Book Bans. Do what you can to join the fight. We need everybody.

❤️❤️❤️

I should have bought it, huh.