Thanks to Shelly Shaffer for writing this post during her vacation so I could enjoy a bit more of mine. Oh! Shelly has contributed in the past and you can find her earlier posts here and here. Check them out. They are both worth a click.
Academic Life, Summer Vacation, and Striking a Balance
By Shelly Shaffer
I’ve been traveling around in an RV for the past 30 days, visiting Yellowstone, San Antonio, the Black Hills, and numerous other places, along with various family members. It’s been the road trip of a lifetime, as Johnny Cash said, “I’ve been everywhere, man!” (Mack, 1959)
We live near Spokane, Washington, and between June 20-July 16, we drove a 5000 mile loop through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, and then back through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, back home to Washington. (Note: I did not drive even one mile of the trip…. All of the driving is thanks to my husband, Jeff, who doesn’t mind driving!). In Yellowstone National Park, we got in an hour-long traffic jam—because three buffalo were walking down the road. Old Faithful spouted its stinky wonderfulness. In Wyoming, our RV had to grind its brakes to get down the 11% grade into Jackson Hole, which is nestled in a beautiful valley. After Jackson Hole, we hoped not to get blown over while driving toward Laramie. Fort Collins and Loveland, Colorado brought its own adventure. At Carter Lake, we saw a tiny deer with its mother (so cute!) and rode our mountain bikes around the lake—getting our first sunburn of the year. Texas was hot! We planned to stay in Amarillo at Palo Duro Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of Texas,” but it was too hot for our two bulldogs, and we ended up driving straight over to Livingston, to my in-law’s house. My husband and I detoured to San Antonio, where we visited the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and several of the missions of San Antonio, which are all still functioning churches, hosting mass almost every day of the week.
In Livingston, Texas, my two little grandchildren, my mother-in-law, and I went to the public library for a Fourth of July event and our pictures were featured in the local paper. After one of the best fireworks shows I’ve seen (put on at my in-law’s house), we headed out to visit the backwoods of Missouri and Arkansas where my parents are building a house. We actually had lunch in a restaurant called “The Cave,” which is located in an actual cave carved into a mountainside in Lanagan, Missouri.
I was born in a small town in Iowa, and my husband had never been there although we’ve been together for more than twenty years. He’s been there now! Lake Ikaria and Corning, Iowa were unchanged: humid and stifling, but homey and picturesque. After one night of visiting family and old friends, we headed toward Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit my niece. Falls Park, in downtown Sioux Falls, rivals some of the prettiest waterfalls I’ve seen. The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore did not disappoint. Even though we only had one full day in the Black Hills, our experience included a bike ride down the Mickelson trail, a visit to Mount Rushmore, and a drive through Custer State Park. (I couldn’t help but think of the YA book, Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth (2018), where the main character, a Native American youth, lives on a reservation near a town where a restaurant own has named his place “Custer’s Last Stand.” Although not the main focus of the book, Gansworth writes of the insult celebrating Custer is the Native Americans. So, for me, entering Custer State Park felt wrong and disrespectful.)
I was born in a small town in Iowa, and my husband had never been there although we’ve been together for more than twenty years. He’s been there now! Lake Ikaria and Corning, Iowa were unchanged: humid and stifling, but homey and picturesque. After one night of visiting family and old friends, we headed toward Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit my niece. Falls Park, in downtown Sioux Falls, rivals some of the prettiest waterfalls I’ve seen. The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore did not disappoint. Even though we only had one full day in the Black Hills, our experience included a bike ride down the Mickelson trail, a visit to Mount Rushmore, and a drive through Custer State Park. (I couldn’t help but think of the YA book, Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth (2018), where the main character, a Native American youth, lives on a reservation near a town where a restaurant own has named his place “Custer’s Last Stand.” Although not the main focus of the book, Gansworth writes of the insult celebrating Custer is the Native Americans. So, for me, entering Custer State Park felt wrong and disrespectful.)
As a new professor, I have figured out that most of my traveling can be a combination of business and pleasure. So, this entire trip revolved around my acceptance to present at a conference. After learning that my colleague and I were accepted to present in San Antonio at the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) annual conference. I planned the rest of the trip accordingly. And, this is one of the ways that Young Adult literature fits into this column. Our presentation focused on the Intersectionality of Comfort and Conflict in LatinX Literature. We examined children’s, intermediate, and Young Adult books to discover the ways that authors treated culture and conflict in children’s and YA books. What we found was that picture books, such as Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match (Brown, 2011), often featured “comfortable” conflict. For example, I Love Saturdays y Domingos (Ada, 2002) features a character who goes to grandma’s house on Saturdays and goes to Abuela’s house on Domingos . Everything is comfortable and the character’s two cultures don’t conflict.
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In René has Two Last Names (Colato Laínez, 2009) the main character goes to school in the U.S. and that teacher only uses one of his surnames. He struggles because he feels like half of his family is being forgotten because the last name isn’t there. When he gets the chance to create a family tree, he takes this opportunity to educate his class and his teacher why his two last names are equally important and the conflict resolves nicely by the teacher saying she’ll always use his two last names from then on. For the most part, children’s picture books featuring LatinX main characters had comfortable conflicts that were resolved easily without too much discomfort for the characters or the audience. Even in the book Antonio’s Card (Gonzalez, 2005) where the main character lives in a less traditional family, with two mothers, the conflict that could have occurred does not. The issues that could have been discussed are not.
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However, a few books pushed the boundaries on this, such as Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs which begin to explore conflict in more realistic ways; however, most teachers would view both of these books as “safe” choices to include in the curriculum. Although Ryan’s book has been challenged, the way immigration and Esperanza’s experiences are presented are not nearly as gritty as the way some YA novels approach the same topic.
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I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Sánchez (2017) explores LatinX identity and experience in a more uncomfortable way. Exposing the ways Julia (hoo-lia) gets frustrated when her name is mispronounced, is expected to act by her parents—especially after her sister’s untimely death, hides her crush with a White boy from her family, and struggles with depression and anxiety. The way the author writes about each of the conflicts that Julia experiences are uncomfortable and realistic, which is a contrast to the safer exploration of similar topics in intermediate and picture books. Similarly, one of my favorite books, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero (2014) explores multiple difficult topics, as Gabi goes through her senior year. In this novel, Gabi’s best friend gets pregnant, her best friend comes out to his parents and is kicked out of the house, her dad is on drugs, her mom doesn’t want her to attend college, and she also struggles with body image and self-esteem. Each of these issues could affect real-LatinX teens, and because of this, this book crosses into uncomfortable territory. In the end, Gabi’s dad is still on drugs, her friends still face their own struggles, and Gabi still struggles with the expectations she has for herself versus her family’s expectations. It’s not comfortable, but that’s okay. This presentation, in the heart of Texas, at a time when immigration and children’s separation from their families was being protested, felt raw and emotional.
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But, San Antonio was not the only place where YA was a part of my road trip. In many of the places we traveled, there was little or no cell service or Internet access. We get spoiled. We’re used to being able to get online to check our social media or send an email. However, in my RV, I have a bookshelf, and on that shelf are several Young Adult books that have been on my “to read” list this year. On this shelf were: Wrecked by Maria Padian , The Cruel Prince by Holly Black , The Inexplicable Logic of my Life by Benjamin Alire Seanz, and When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon . What can be better than sitting by a lake, relaxing in the shade with a book you’ve been wanting to read?
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This trip reminded me to appreciate the different experiences and lives of people throughout this vast country. This trip reminded me how grateful I am for my husband and my life. What other job allows so much time out of the office and the schedule to have a trip like this in the first place? I’m lucky.
Shelly can be reached at: sshaffer1@ewu.edu
Shelly can be reached at: sshaffer1@ewu.edu
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