There are many pros and cons to life in Spokane as a Black person. I moved here in 2017 and thought this town was weird, honestly. I’m so used to all the violence living in Seattle and us just minding our business. The schools in Seattle didn’t really care about your education.
Immigrating to the United States from anywhere and making a life for yourself is an unparalleled and admirable task. Both of my parents came from broken countries without knowing English and worked hard to build a life and provide for the family.
As a young girl growing up Black and Filipino in Spokane, I have not grown up around the part of my family that is Black. I didn’t always notice that I was racially different than most of my peers. When I entered middle school, it was the first time I noticed that my brown skin made me different.
They told me it did not matter the pigmentation of my skin / Or the way my hair coiled up tight unlike the straight locs / Even the amount of products I used could not falter the coils / Even the braids wound tight on my scalp failed to hide texture / They said that being different was a good thing
As I gradually open my eyes after a long night’s rest, the morning sun captivates me. I am aware that my day is about to begin. We never know what the day will hold or the lessons that are soon to be learned, but luckily that’s the beauty of life. Growing up, I personally have had a positive outlook on life.
The Northwest Passages Book Club in February will host a symposium to celebrate art created by high school students in honor of Black History Month. The book club, in collaboration with the Black Lens, is accepting Black art in all mediums that examines, expands and celebrates the Black experience.
Most of Victorya Rouse’s students have endured hardships that many American-born students could not comprehend. Bosnian students have smiled at Rouse and said, “’Hey, no one’s shooting at me,’” Rouse said. For almost 30 years, Rouse has taught English at Ferris High School to teenage immigrants.
Sundee Frazier’s was the first Black family to move onto Empire Avenue in Spokane in the 1940s. The award-winning author said she hopes her new historical fiction book, “Mighty Inside,” which is powered by her family’s Spokane stories, helps move the race-relations dialogue.
In the past couple years, there has been a special focus on multicultural and anti-racism literature. Sundee Frazier brings us an incredible novel that you can add to your collection.
Chris Kopczynski – a mountaineer who has braved the highest peaks on all seven continents over the course of his life – said he was “scared to death” when he printed the first 50 copies of his memoir. “I thought they would sit down in the garage,” he said. They didn’t.
Family history, personal experiences and a universal coming-of-age theme paint a stunning, realistic picture of racial relations in Spokane in award-winning author Sundee Frazier’s new book “Mighty Inside.”
For five days last month, Chris Kopczynski and his wife, Michelle Mullin, hiked and boated 46 miles of Oregon’s Rogue River. “That was wild,” the 73-year-old said. And Kopczynski knows wild. As a young man, Kopczynski – known as Kop to many – was one of the world’s preeminent mountaineers.
Chris Kopczynski wanted to be an astronaut but decided to keep his feet firmly beneath him. Instead, he reached as high as he could for the stars, his head above the clouds, without ever leaving the earth. As a child, he climbed higher than any adult would deem safe.
Sara Pennypacker has brought readers a sequel to her New York Times bestseller, “Pax.” Published in 2016, “Pax” is about a fox and his boy separated by war and desperate to reunite. Finally at the end of the book, they do find each other.
Sara Pennypacker often kept to herself as a child in school, the kid who opted to read quietly and kept a bright blue notebook with her so she could craft written stories. Once for a class assignment, she submitted one of those stories to her teacher.
