My first writing retreat: Chautauqua Institution in Western New York

Kwame Alexander convinced me to say yes to something I’d never done: join a writing retreat. 

Nine authors, two of whom I already knew, convened [and lived together] about an hour from Buffalo at the scenic lakeside Chautauqua Institution [founded 1874]. 

front row: Kwame, Jordan Holmes, Nikki Shannon Smith, Tori Bachman

back row: Ann Marie Stephens, Sydnye White, Bonnie Berry LaMon, me, Malcolm Newsome

This was the first week of June, a tranquil period shortly before thousands flood the cultural arts education center/resort for summer.

ghost light

actual ghosts?

mysterious set of years on a door

The writing component alone was rewarding. But it was also a scouting-for-ghosts, scanning-for-Northern-Lights, sharing-home-cooked-meals, going-on-ice-cream-runs, watching-St. Elmo’s Fire * retreat.

In other words, I’ll be back.

You’re on notice, ghosts.

* The 1985 film was partially inspired by an experience the screenwriter had as a young man while working at a hotel at Chautauqua called...you got it, St. Elmo.

Visiting Rhyolite, the most photographed ghost town in Nevada

For the second year in a row, I came to Las Vegas to speak in schools for Nevada Reading Week. 

But first I went ghost hunting.

I've been to Vegas numerous other times, and I've ventured to the desert before, once to drive an ATV (loved) and once to drive a dune buggy (hated). But this was the first time I drove myself out of the city—two hours into the breathtaking landscape to see Rhyolite, which some consider the best ghost town in Nevada. Adding to the eerieness, it's on the edge of Death Valley.

(The only other ghost town I've visited is a much smaller one in the woods in Maryland.)

Wild donkeys roam Beatty, a town close to Rhyolite.

One Rhyolite welcome sign.

The town thrived only from 1905 to 1910.

Another. (Eighteen grocery stores?)

the school

a shop

the jail

No rattlesnakes in February.

Just outside Rhyolite is the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

This sculpture fits perfectly with the ghost motif.

So many opportunities to safely take a selfie

on a straight road that stretches to the

vanishing point.

Two schools and the Kutztown Children’s Literature Conference in PA

I spent three days with students, educators, and ghosts in Pennsylvania, though I saw only two of the three groups. 

On 4/11/19, I had the pleasure of being the 90th author (!) to visit Newtown Elementary in Newtown. Librarian Liz Dobuski has been at it for a quarter-century and has a stunning wall to prove it.

Among the dizzying array of sanctioned graffiti were a bunch of friends who’d blazed a trail there before me.

And I was especially excited to see one of my childhood favorites, José Aruego, illustrator of the immortal 1971 picture book Leo the Late Bloomer. I had never heard of him doing school visits. He died in 2012 (on his 80th birthday).

Liz’s students prepared for my visit in part by building a precious fairy garden.

I’ve come across my share of Boys of Steel postcards, but Liz had one I don’t recall seeing before.

A day later and 40 minutes down the road, I had a blast at J. M. Grasse Elementary in Sellersville. Librarian Kim Mulloy recruited a chatty group of students of all grades to join me for lunch, and they were so much fun to play around with. On her desk was a photo of her family in this frame:

Turns out the superintendent of her school district had gifted that frame to every employee. What a meaningful gesture in support of life-work balance.

On 4/13, I was honored to be one of four author keynotes at the 21st annual Kutztown Children’s Literature Conference on the campus of Kutztown University. The other three: Duncan Tonatiuh, Andrea Warren, and Brendan Wenzel, none of whom I had met before. The audience was engaged and humbling.

The other authors and I stayed in the charming Main Street Inn, which was probably also haunted. The only surface in my room suitable for a laptop was the vanity…in the bathroom.

And those ghosts? I believe I was the only guest at the Temperance House in Newtown and was hoping one would join me, but if s/he did, I didn’t notice. I did, however, take this photo…look closely behind me. Maybe you notice…?

Inaugural speaker for Pat Scales lecture series at University of Montevallo

On 4/19/18, I had the honor of being the inaugural speaker for a lecture series at the University of Montevallo. It's outside Birmingham, Alabama, a city I'd visited for the first time only a month before, for (elementary) school visits. The university used to be all-female; males began to attend through the G.I. Bill (apparently all-male and coed campuses did not have enough slots to accommodate the number of men returning from WWII).

The lecture was part of a larger event called the Forte Festival of Creativity. Its theme was "Heroes and Heroines."

In a case of near-perfect timing, the day of the lecture was 80 years and a day after Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 (April 18, 1938). A lovely group of educators, students, and other community members attended.

I've not met Pat Scales but I hope to. She attended Montevallo and went on to become an advocate for intellectual freedom and a crusader against censorship. I delivered the lecture in a room in the library newly created to house Pat's generous donation of papers and children's books.

The room was bedecked with fantastic vintage Book Week posters. I wanted every one of them.

I was further heartened to learn that Montevallo attracts students who did not feel they could be themselves out loud in high school in the South, such as those who identify as LGBTQ. The campus was clearly open-minded and artistic.

And not-so-clearly haunted. 

Around 9 p.m. the night before my lecture, I was taken to where I'd spend the night: the King House.

Note: This is not what it looks like at night.

Built in 1823, it was one of the first houses in Alabama with glass windows. It sits in the middle of campus where it has developed a reputation for being a hotbed of paranormal activity. One of those ghost-hunting shows filmed there…and picked up readings.

The woman who showed me around the house did not bring this up on her own, but when I asked, she was more than happy to share stories…even though I was about to stay there by myself. Again, I brought it upon myself!

She said grown men have refused to step foot in the house. One guest saw a black faceless humanoid form hovering over the very bed I would sleep in. A notable author called campus police at 1 a.m. and asked to be taken to a hotel (the nearest of which was, I believe, about 30 miles away). Some have reported seeing Mr. King himself walking his former property with a lantern, perhaps looking for the gold he'd allegedly buried centuries ago.

I was told I may see Mr. King (the gentleman behind me) later that night…and not in a painting.

Even though I am interested in ghosts and have written about ghosts and have long wanted to experience something ghostly, I was a bit spooked staying alone in that house. I admit I left on the downstairs hall light and the bathroom light on the second floor, adjacent to the room in which I would sleep. Scaredy-cat and Mr. King.

Around midnight, when I was still up, I heard one unusual bang downstairs, as if someone had dropped something heavy or slammed a book against a wall. I did not go investigate. 

Morning came without other additional incident—at least any I was aware of. In the light of day, I did a walk-through and did not see anything on the ground that could have fallen and made the sound I heard.

This was both fortunate and unfortunate.

One of the students who heard me present saw my social media post and reacted in charming disbelief.

King House is not the only campus location with ghost sightings. In 1908, a student named Condie Cunningham caught on fire in her dorm room and ran down the hallway in panic, later dying from her injury. Some have reported that she is still around—and that her face "burned" into the door of what was her room. The door has been removed and is now stored in the campus archives.

Wondering about the possible implications of taking a photo of it, I hesitated at first. Then I figured that because I survived King House, maybe I'm not an unwelcome presence among the unexplained of Montevallo.

Thank you again to Anna Mary Williford for inviting me to Montevallo. Your introduction humbled and tickled me; thank you for allowing me to quote part of it (lightly edited):

I have been at the University of Montevallo for just over a year now. Prior to that, I was a librarian at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in Pennsylvania where I had the pleasure of coordinating their annual children's literature conference, which is where I met Marc. About a year before the conference, I received the first of what would be many emails with subject lines like, "Batman at Pitt Greensburg in 2015?" or "Batman, you know. Superman, you know. Nobleman, you will know." And I would think to myself, "Who is this guy who will not stop emailing me?!" I booked him as one of our keynote speakers for May 2015, a decision that I've never regretted!

But I will admit that at the time, I assumed his persistence was simply because he was doing his job, part of which was promoting the books he'd written. After hearing Marc speak, though, I realized that presenting his work was so much more than "part of the job" to him. Sharing his research with a wider audience was an essential part of his quest for the truth about Batman to finally be acknowledged. For a lot of authors, simply publishing Bill the Boy Wonder might have been enough—the book was out there now, people could read it and learn about what happened for themselves. But that wasn't enough for Marc, who wants to personally deliver his message to as many people as possible. I'm pretty sure that he set out to turn every student, teacher, librarian, or conference attendee who crossed his path into a soldier in his army for justice for the legacy of Batman, and I think that's exactly what he's accomplished over the past few years.

So when I watched Batman & Bill, I had to laugh at the fact that the first word Marc's wife uses to describe him is "persistent," as he is definitely one of the most persistent people I've ever met, but in a good way! That persistence is why he's here with us today, in more ways than one.

That's the passion Marc has for his work, and it will come across when you hear him speak in just a minute. On the subject of passionate folks, Pat Scales unfortunately couldn't join us this afternoon. However, she is familiar with—and a fan of!—Marc's work, and I am certain she'd be pleased with the fact that the inaugural speaker in the lecture series named for her is someone who shares many of the same values she's championed throughout her career: the desire to see the truth prevail; the importance of literacy and education; a calling to correct injustice, whether that injustice comes in the form of a banned or challenged book or a buried legacy just waiting to be uncovered and brought to light.

And thank you again to the plethora of Montevallo staff and students for extending me such a warm welcome.

If I come back, I want another shot at the King House…