Teaching YAL- Interview with a Young Adult

Interview with a Young Adult about Young Adult Literature

By Krista Becker

Jalen’s eyes seem to dance.
We’re having a real conversation.
No cellphones, well not really…
Mine’s recording our words.
We’re talking books, speaking language,
We’re having a moment of truth.
I can see into her brain a little bit deeper,
Touch the edges of her soul through conversation.
Her laughter and mine in unison…
Every time that we misfire, with each new mistake.
She is my beautiful niece…
Crimson hair curling off of chestnut roots.
She is young, vibrant…

Has a wrinkle free smile with a dimple in the corner.
She rants…
“If only I could get Veronica Roth to change the ending…
Ahh Allegiant… WHY?”
She raves…
“I completely spazzed out…

Meeting Lorie Halse Anderson?
I’ve read everything she’s written.”

She stumbles on words elegantly,
Even her slip ups are cleverly covered.
She was born in 2000,
Old as the year after May 10…
Fourteen going on 30.
She is wise…
She knows that the world needs to communicate through art,
Understands that there are problems to be solved.
She is literate,
To her, books equal the essence of awesome,
Second only to real life relationships.
She is a poet,
Formed by her love of reading, shaped in part by me.
Now I realize,
I am her ultimate fan,
And I am speaking to my favorite young adult author.

*Note: Maybe some of you will have read Jalen Flaherty's work through the Johnny Green at Weedsport. I am blessed to have had her share some of her more personal pieces with me and she has touched my soul, not just as my niece, but as a young adult author. She was fourteen at the time that I wrote this piece, but is now sixteen and will be off to college soon. I found this piece and thought it would be a great thing to share with you all.

Probably my favorite piece that she's published to the Johnny Green: http://whsjohnnygreen.org/arts-and-entertainment/2016/03/09/its-been-awhile-an-original-poem/

Allow Me to Introduce Myself, Lover of All Who Are

Hello,

I am unsure in what state this blog-post is reaching you. I am also unaware of whether or not I know who you are. Regardless of the facts, you are incredible, simply because you are. I want you to know that your existence is important. We have numerous opportunities simply by being. I hope that love has reached out and touched the very fibers of your being many times throughout your life, but if it hasn't, know that I love you, reader. You are amazingly complex because all living things (even non-living things) are.

Now, I know that if you're cynical, you're thinking, "Oh, I get it, another bleeding heart, tree-hugging, hippy mongrel idiot blathering on about lovey dovey crap AGAIN.". I can assure you, I will write about many topics and I will not avoid writing about my pain, the shared pain of others, and about the hatred that exists in the world. However, I wanted to take a moment to thank you, yes you, even the cynics out there for reading a piece of my work even if, to you, this is just an insignificant part of my larger life's work.

In addition, I want you to grasp how much meaning I give to being and especially to my reader's or listeners. This may find you through the vocal chords of another who stopped doing whatever else they might have done, so that you may hear my words. I want you to know that I appreciate you too, listener. Whoever you are, wherever you are, thank you for lingering with me for a moment's time.

I am just another who lives, who exists in the lines on the page, who thrives in the melodious lyrics of any given song, who ebbs and flows through the leaves in the trees and in the ripples dancing on the edges of any body of water. I am... and in being, am thankful for the opportunities that I have been given. I teach students and advocate as often as possible for those in need of advocation. We are all students, so I teach as often as I can and I also learn from other teachers, like you. You could teach me something and probably already have, just by being a part of the world that I so love.

No matter what state this finds you in, you are worthy because I believe in you. Even if you have done something nameless or have no words to convey your shame, you are worthy because you are capable of completing gargantuan tasks, of loving, of creating, of being many different versions of you. One of those versions is a hero. One of those many yous is a lover, not the kind most think of, but the kind that spreads out love to all who desperately need to be loved, and the kind who cannot help but to give aid simply because love consumes their very being. That is you, as is the you who has made mistakes or has brought great sadness into the world. You deserve to be cared about because you are not the mistakes made, you are simply a being who has made mistakes. You are not the sorrow built, but are one who has dealt out sorrow.

You can be a lover into your deepest depths, but I believe people are not sorrowers at the core. Something tragic normally happens to create sorrowers, to create hate, to create murderers and other monsters out of those who started out as beings capable of greatness. Even after the atrocities, many are still capable of returning to greatness because there is such thing as rehabilitation, which involves a great deal of caring by others and a knowing that we are not inherently evil. If this comes to you, some version of you that is monstrous, you are welcome to come back to the fold of creators and helpers. There are people who are willing to help, who are full of understanding and love, even for you reader. I am one such person. You are not worthless because in your existence is infinite possibility.

However this finds any one person or any group of people, I hope that you will appreciate all beings, for in all of existence, we are infinitely capable.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.

Krista Becker Copyright 2016