It’s not every day that you pick your daughter up from the airport. And today is even more special because my daughter lives a continent away. She’s coming back home and we are going to get to hang out for ten precious days. One of my fondest memories of San Fransisco is when my daughter graduated from San Francisco State University. It was a magical realism author’s dream come true as Isabelle Allende was one of the speakers at graduation. But Gavin Newsom was also an amazing speaker and he had some great advice for the graduates that I’ll never forget–STAY GREEN. Meaning, keep learning. Don’t stop. What great advice. And what I’ve found, and what my debut young adult novel Winnemucca is about, is that so much of our learning takes place out of the classroom. Just like so much of great writing is about what isn’t said. It’s off the page.
I remember my daughter all decked out in her purple graduation robe and purple lei. Here’s more on graduation day:Â What I Learned At My Daughter’s Graduation from University: Words of Inspiration I can’t wait to see her again and I can’t wait to have another San Francisco Story.
If you want to learn more about what inspired Winnemucca, my guest post about Latinas & Mariachis is on Alicia McCalla’s amazing blog.