Monday, May 19, 2008

Arcade Fundamental Middle School

Arcadian Anarchy!

Well, my visit to Aracde Fundamental Middle School in Sacramento was one to remember. I gave two speeches to the kids. The first one was to the eighth graders and some sixth graders. About 300 of them, I think. It was Friday afternoon, it was hot and the kids were going crazy--from the heat--not me. Okay, it was a little me.

Anyway, I received a rock star welcome and the kids were loud. REALLY LOUD! They stayed loud the whole time, despite requests from me and the teachers to quiet down. The speech went well and I really liked the crowd. I enjoyed talking with some of the cool kids in the front row: DeShawn and two cool girls--you know who you are--who I teased by telling the crowd that they were looking for dates for the dance that night and that the boys still had time to grow a pair of (cencored) and ask them out. I sure hope DeShawn makes it as singer. He seems to be a kid with big dreams and I hope all of the kids will follow theirs.

The speech went well, despite the loud crowd and I hope they got a lot out of it. I sure did. I'm always learning when I give speeches.

The second speech was harder to give. The 300 7th graders were even louder and crazier. They were talking and murmuring during the speech and students who were asking questions couldn't be heard. They would not quiet down, until a teacher named Mr. Strange, chewed on them and asked them to chill out. I could not handle them on my own.

It was a Friday, and they wanted out of there, but it was pretty rude. I've received email from a student who apologized for the incident. The student was very nice. Their initials are D.R. and I appreciate them very much.

Then I went to the book signing at the Borders Express. I met Susan, the assistant manager and loved her. The signing went well, I sold out of all the copies of The Golden Cord, and signed copies of Fellowship Fantastic to be sold later. I met some cool guys and gals during the signing. It was great and my cousin Joanna V. was with me lending support the entire time. I just love her and her husband, Ed. He's a neat guy.

My Sacrament trip was wonderful because I got to meet some great kids at the school, and some excellent teachers and the best librarian: Sandy Sowa. I'm very impressed with her.

The really cool thing was that I got to hang out with my long lost cousins, who came to dinner at Joanna's. It was so special to meet them all.

Life is good and the book is selling really well nationwide. The online stores have more copies now!

Best wishes to you all.

Paul Genesse, Author of The Golden Cord





They quieted down and it went pretty well.

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