Okay, one more thing about YA Lit + Antiracist Teaching this semester: I’m co-teaching part of the course with a veteran ELA teacher in SF who was (wait for it…) a participant in my diss over 15 years ago! She was “Malaya” in my first book. She went on to become an ELA teacher and I’ve learned so much from her over the years. I cherish her friendship. She is redesigning her unit on The Marrow Thieves, so we are going to bring my class into the authentic challenges posed by this redesign and pitch solutions that she might take up next year. I’ve often thought about how teacher education might have “teachers in residence” like humanities programs often have artists in residence (very different from a cooperating or mentor teacher), but the timing and labor demands on teachers never allow it. But she is on sabbatical this year, so she can engage with our class in a deep and sustained way. And I’m surely compensating her for time and expertise.