Another Year...

Thanks to everyone who attended the 2009 Mosaic Literary Conference. Each year, it continues to grow in popularity. Though, I am a little befuddled by the attendance results. We did far more outreach than last year --educators came from as far as North Carolina. We fielded more calls and email from schools and community orgs looking for information on the conference. The intern and I reached out --emails, phone calls, and mailings-- to over 200 high schools, community centers, and youth-service orgs. And the weather was perfect, sunny in the 50s --compared to last year's Nor'easter. All in all this year comprised our most aggressive marketing effort since the conference's inception in 2003.

So, why did it result in a smaller turnout than last year? I'll write it off to the recession. The promise of planned attendance that didn't materialize because that expected job did not come through, or an unexpected bill did. The feedback from attendees and workshop facilitators was fantastic. I was heartened by how committed the workshop facilitators are to making a difference and their recognition that I am doing the same.

As you can imagine, with running the event I didn't have much time to sit through any workshops, which is always a bummer. Next year I'm going to quintuple the volunteers because you can never have enough. I even put a cousin to work who had just stopped by to say "hi."

As a side, at lunch (yes, we fed folks, too), attendee and friend Charles Rice Gonzalez pointed out to me that we were the only men at the conference. I'm so used to being the only guy at literary-centered events that it didn't even dawn on me until he mentioned it. Where were are all the male teachers and administrators. What happened to all the program administrators I spoke to who are concerned about the education of black boys? This was your event. Later in the day, male writing instructor Ugarhon Serrette (aka Sugar Johnson) of the Childrens Aid Society sat through a couple of workshops.

Next year is the 85th anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X and the 45th anniversary of his assassination, and the publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. We hope to expand the 2010 conference to two days with the first day dedicated to examining the impact of Malcolm X and the continued relevance of his autobiography.