Roberto Germán:
Welcome to our classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of, but not limited to what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Rovelto Herman and our classroom is official. Welcome back to our classroom. Today I have a special guest. This is a person that is near and dear to my heart and the heart of my family, a close friend. My people, her and her family are individuals that we absolutely love and that we wish we got to spend more time with.
Roberto Germán:
When we were living in Austin, Texas, they were arriving. Shortly after that we were leaving. But we are still connected and we're grateful for that. Today I have Tiffany Rose with me. A storyteller, a mother, a radical imagineer she loves elephants and 90s reruns, as do I, and believes the key to life is to trust yourself, find your people and believe in magic and that justice, snacks and falling in love with as many things as possible are of equal importance. You can find [email protected] or on the apps at Rosewith, mainly on Instagram, though, folks, you could also find there in libraries, sniffing books and taking long walks under trees near water. Today we have the author of Pack Light. Yes.
Roberto Germán:
Folks, if you don't know, you better get with the program. We have the author of Pack Light, Tiffany Rose. Welcome.
Tiffany Rose:
Thank you. Oh, man. I think I want you to read my bio forever. That was beautiful.
Roberto Germán:
Listen.
Tiffany Rose:
Thank you.
Roberto Germán:
I'm with it. Just put that as part of my job description here.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes, thank you. Thank you for that.
Roberto Germán:
Well, it's good to see you. Good to see you. Good to hear your voice. I'm glad to have this opportunity to talk about your book. I've been digging in and I want to just get right into it because there's so much that I've been thinking about as I've been reading these poems and the probes and the untold stories. There's a lot that's surfacing for me in terms of my own curiosities, but just also thinking about life in different situations that impact our journey and impact our trajectory and the individuals that play a role in that positively and negatively as you've eloquently captured in your book, as you told your story. So let's start with the title of your book. Your debut book, Pack Light, was inspired by what you stated are lyrics I've been quietly singing to myself for two decades.
Roberto Germán:
One day autumn bags going to get in your way. So pack like Erica badu bag lady yet? I've been reading the book. I've been reading the book and I'm like, hold up, hold up. Make the title make sense, right? There's nothing light about well, there's very little light. There's some light moments, but there's a lot of heavy moments. The content that you covered here, you got to be ready. You got to be ready. Folks got to be ready to digest that.
Roberto Germán:
This ain't like I'm just going to sit around and eat ice cream while reading this book. Like, Nah. Now you got to do some debriefing. In thinking about your title, help me understand your thinking as it relates to Titling, your book, and how it aligned with the heavy content. Yeah, light align with the heavy content that you put out there for the world to digest.
Tiffany Rose:
In order to get to a lighter place, sometimes we need to unpack some heavy stuff. And that was the idea in the songs, he's talking about these bags. I didn't want to call a bag lady, but it's this idea of what am I still carrying? What do I need to put down? What do I need to let go of in order to move forward in this lighter way? And once I do that, how much space am I creating for other possibilities or other stories? It was hard to name this book because it didn't start with a book. Usually in my process, I start with a name, and then I know what I'm doing. This was something different. The content came before the title did. So in order to go back to these places and suss through all of these different stories, I had to transport myself. In the beginning of the book, I say I'm time traveling, so I'm okay, but I'm time traveling to another time where maybe I wasn't.
Tiffany Rose:
And in order to time travel, I'm listening to music. I'm watching the 90s reruns. I'm doing all the things. And I was having a really hard time with this book, and I'm sitting there with all the pages one day, just pulling out what stays, what doesn't. And Bag Lady started playing, and it was like once you open yourself up to the time travel, you can be transported. You know, bag lady starts playing, and then all of a sudden, I'm back in my car, leaving Lakeland Up, going up to Tallahassee, to college, and I can remember the feeling of, like, you know how when you're in church and the preacher starts preaching, and you're like, he's talking to me. He's talking to me. And only like, this is a message for me.
Roberto Germán:
Yes.
Tiffany Rose:
And it was like that. Yes. And it was like that. I was sitting there like, oh, my God, that's what I'm doing. That's what this is. It didn't really occur to me in that way until then. And as you know, I've been singing this song to myself on a regular. I got my go to Erica, Lauren and Mary J, and I'm listening to this all the time, but something about sitting there with all these pages and hearing it was like, wow, that's what I'm doing.
Tiffany Rose:
She's telling me, these bags have gotten in my way and I need to put them down. So that's what all of this is. So that was the idea. I'm a caller pack because I didn't want to call a bag lady.
Roberto Germán:
That's good. That's a good play on words, that's great context that you're offering us. And the content of your book includes poems, prose, and untold stories. Can you read the one poem, prose, or untold story in your book that you feel would serve as the best way to introduce yourself to an audience unfamiliar with your work and then share with us why you made that selection?
Tiffany Rose:
Okay, so I'll read it first. That we're doing. Okay. This one is called Show and Tell. It's on page eleven of the book. My mama gave me a Josephine Baker poster for my birthday because I love me some her. She's about the prettiest lady I've ever seen and a little OD too, like me. I can tell my mama smiles real wide when I'm excited, but I think she's sad, too.
Tiffany Rose:
Maybe because me and Miss Baker look more like we some kin than me and her, but that's not even all the way true. I got my mama hands and her smile. We even laughed the same. I see it sometimes, but most folks don't like that white lady who snatched my arm in Winn Dixie thinking I was bothering the same body that made me. But Mama set that lady straight real quick and she always makes sure I see the me she can't be and brown skinned ladies on TV and album covers, or my dance teacher and the lady who hot combs my hair for Easter since we moved. And now my aunties live a long drive away. So now I got my poster and my flojo Barbie doll and we listen to Sade and Tina Turner. On Saturday morning.
Tiffany Rose:
I dress up in Mama's nightgowns and her worn out work heels and play pretend when I'm supposed to help clean up. And it makes me feel better about what that redheaded girl said on the bus. My mama said, you your mama and your daddy is an abomination. Maybe I should take my poster and doll to school. Show and tell that nasty girl that nothing this beautiful could be anything other than holy.
Roberto Germán:
Wow. Yeah, this was one of the pieces I read that really, it struck me. You did a great job throughout this book of showing us your mother, showing us the relationship with your mother, honoring your mother with your words. And we get to see some of her character here, like the Winn Dixie situation. First of the certain things know, I used to live in Florida when I was younger. I live here, I'm in Tampa, but I used to live in Kissimmee. There's certain things that are, you know, you in that's dead. You know, for me, somebody who lives here, who lived here when I was younger, I could really see it, you know what I'm saying? I could really see the scene and what you described that happened at Wind Dixie.
Roberto Germán:
Unfortunately, these are stories that some folks are not unfamiliar with. Right. Folks who have a biracial experience, not unfamiliar with having gone through something like that. Infuriating unfortunate sad, though encouraged to see your mother's response in terms of setting the woman, because some people just need to be set straight. Some people, they need to be checked and check them at the door and check them quickly.
Tiffany Rose:
Right?
Roberto Germán:
We're not playing that.
Tiffany Rose:
Yeah.
Roberto Germán:
The name drops. The name drops for those that appreciate music, appreciate pop culture, appreciate these strong black women. Right? Josephine Baker, flojo Epic.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes. She was everything to me. Oh, my God.
Roberto Germán:
Tina Turner, rest in peace.
Tiffany Rose:
That was important to my mom. I think that was important. She knew. She was very aware early on. I'm very fortunate. Not everybody has that experience. But she was very aware that she couldn't be certain things and that I needed to see certain things, and I needed to see myself. I had a lot of questions.
Tiffany Rose:
I've always been a question asker. And it was interesting because I always felt a sense of myself in my house. In my house, I knew who I was. I knew what I looked like. My melanin seems to want to leave me the older I get. But I was very much a brown skinned girl identified as a little black girl with a white mom. So I was very clear, and I had access to my father's side of the family. But outside of my house, there were a lot of questions.
Tiffany Rose:
And that was confusing for me because I was so clear in my house, and my mom was very clear about my identity being mine, but also contributing to understanding identity in a very clear fashion. So to kind of come outside of my house and get these questions or really challenges about who I was, and then that's a very true story. Being called an abomination, my family being called an abomination, that's something I don't know if that's just Southern Baptist experience, but it was a real something. They couldn't even get married in a church. So that was confusing. I don't really love that word because there was such a clarity in my heart. But it made things complicated when someone's saying that to you and you feel like you know for sure because here you are. I idolize Josephine Baker.
Tiffany Rose:
Like idolized, you know? So how could anything I look like her. She looks like me. Look at who she is. Flojo flojo was know, basically a god to me. I had a Barbie doll that, know, nobody could touch. And so that was really confusing when this little redheaded girl, whose name I still remember, had this thing that she would say. It wasn't a one and only time that she said it, but I knew enough about religion and the Bible to know what that meant and to know that that didn't feel true. But she seemed sure.
Tiffany Rose:
So then it made me question some things.
Roberto Germán:
Wow. Yeah. And it's fascinating how people can take something in this case, take the Bible and interpret it for what they wanted to mean because they see you as the other, because they're uncomfortable, because they're confused. You don't need to understand this. It'd be nice if you did, but you don't need to understand this. But what you're not going to do is be out here insulting us. Right. What you're not going to do is out here taking the word of God to try to utilize that in a way that it's not supposed to be utilized.
Roberto Germán:
Right.
Tiffany Rose:
Right.
Roberto Germán:
Unfortunately, many people do that. And so, thankfully, your mother was savy enough to keep you grounded in who you are and provide that clarity and keep you connected to your roots. And reading the book, I could also see how your father's family, even in his absence, how your father's family also played a role in supporting, shaping, reinforcing your identity as a black woman.
Tiffany Rose:
Oh, for sure. And my mother stayed close to my grandmother, and so my grandmother and my mother are like my people. Those are my parents. And that was very important. She maintained that relationship. They had a very beautiful relationship.
Roberto Germán:
And.
Tiffany Rose:
Still did until my grandmother passed this year.
Roberto Germán:
What a blessing.
Tiffany Rose:
But yeah, a big one. Yes. It's very clear.
Roberto Germán:
Sometimes you have these rifts, and the families won't work together.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes. And there was plenty of risk. Thankfully, I come from a family who, as hard as we fight, we loved it a little harder. So as long as you can hang, the love will be there.
Roberto Germán:
Well, now, if you don't mind, I want to read one of the many excerpts in the book that stirred my emotions, and that would be Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.
Tiffany Rose:
Okay.
Roberto Germán:
Speak up, girl. My God. Say something. She is right here. He's at work all night. Hurry before the sun comes up and it's too late again. Hurry before you shrivel up and disappear again. Remember, predators will switch course to find their prey.
Roberto Germán:
A beast must feast, and your little brother is asleep in the next room. Ah. First of all, thank you for being vulnerable and sharing this experience with the world. You're strong, you're courageous, you're bold. Your story matters, and it's impactful. Why was it important for you to share the abuse that you experienced? And how did you find the strength to do so?
Tiffany Rose:
I feel like when I think about the things that happened, I think of them as part of a larger story, right. My story. And if I feel called as a storyteller and as a human to tell those stories, then that is part of it. Who I am right now, that went into building that person. So it's all part of the same story. And part of my own sense of justice that I've been able to cultivate for myself is owning that story and making it mine to tell however I want to tell. And kind of in doing that, I've shape shifted some of this painful stuff into poetry. And if I can do that, then that means there's space for other people to do that.
Tiffany Rose:
And if I can share my story and sort of dismantle some of the shame that gets kind of packed in around it and keeps us from ourselves and from connection and from our truth and other people's truth, then I hope that transmutes to other people and helps them sort of dismantle their own shame. Because when you can do that, when you can sort of get from under the shame that was never yours to carry in the first place, there's, like, endless possibility. And I've never considered myself a poet. I thought I had processed, I thought I had done the things. And it wasn't until I kind of was that first COVID lockdown that I was sort of challenged in a new way that I realized, like, oh, maybe I haven't. And then once I did start to unpack, there was all this beauty that I hadn't even accessed. And I don't know, that feels valuable if all it means is that I talk about this painful thing that feels worth it.
Roberto Germán:
Yeah. I'm deeply moved by not just this piece, but all the pieces that tell this story. And the journey that you bring the reader on. It's so deeply authentic. It is so real and raw, and I think many people can relate to it. Right. In one sense, it's unfortunate to even be able to say that. And then on the other sense, it's a blessing to be able to say that people can relate to you.
Roberto Germán:
Using writing as a tool to heal you, using poetry as a way to project your feelings out into the world, to tell your story, to take control. Right. It's empowering to be able to drive the narrative.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes.
Roberto Germán:
Right. And it's your story to tell. And one of the things that I think connects me to your writing, especially this context that you've given, is my writing. The origins of me as a writer is connected to traumatic situations in my life. When I was in 7th grade, a friend of mine that was two years older than me was shot. He survived, thankfully. The following year, a classmate of mine, we just finished 7th grade, classmate of mine drowned that summer. The following summer, another friend of mine classmate, teammate, basketball teammate was murdered the following year.
Roberto Germán:
Now I'm in 9th grade, I go to boarding school, and this dude that was a senior, and I played football with him and basketball. Whatnot? When I was in boarding school for that one year, he died that spring on the lacrosse field, had a heart attack. I had so much going on in my life in terms of serious loss and violence. I'm like, Yo, I'm going to go crazy if I don't have an outlet, I'm going to either resort to violence or harm myself or fall into a depression or get hooked on drinking or smoking, whatever the case may be. But thankfully, thank God, writing became a tool for me to let out all the things that I was carrying in the side, and I was carrying a lot. Hence the need to pack light, right?
Tiffany Rose:
And imagine I just think about at least for myself, I'm thinking about your book and how I read about some of this in your book. And for me, there's so much creativity, creative energy. There's so many stories I want to tell, but they get bogged down by these painful stories that I'm sort of trying to stay away from trying to write around, because I don't want to be labeled one thing. I don't want to get pigeonholed as like, oh, she writes about sad stuff or whatever. I want to be able to be funny or I want to be adventurous. I want to do what I want to do. And I was so afraid to dive into this, but then realizing it was the very thing that had to be written through in order to access that stuff, because the other stuff wouldn't come, not to its highest potential. And I think about even as you're describing, what if you hadn't written, what if you hadn't had some sort of creative outlet through music or through writing, to put that how it would have burnt you up inside.
Tiffany Rose:
And I feel like, for me, I'm so grateful for creativity. I'm so grateful for educators and coaches and friends and all the people who could see that I had something in me to give, something else that I could do or produce or make. And so much of our art comes from that, you know, that like, need to express. And, you know, we're the we're the history books in a lot of ways. We we keep measure on what was happening. We keep these imprints of what was happening in humanity and remind people who we were throughout all of these historical events, throughout history. And imagine if we couldn't access those things. Imagine if we couldn't uncover how much we would all be deprived of all this beautiful art, all these beautiful stories.
Tiffany Rose:
And I think about that, like, how lucky I feel that it came out this way and there was a lot of care that had to be taken. I definitely suggest if you're going to go mining painful stories, revisiting old versions of yourself that you feel calling to you to have a care system in place, because sometimes it can get a little murky. But there's just so much beauty in finding a way to express and putting it out. And I hope that's something that comes from and that's already been confirmed to me, which is beautiful. My little bitty sales, my little book that's out in the world, it's already been reflected back people who are finding their own versions of the stories that they need to tell and that just feels like that's it. That's what it is right there. I want more of that.
Roberto Germán:
Absolutely. And there's more happening than you probably realize because we don't get to see all the fruit of the labor. The book lands in folks hands that perhaps we never meet. And yet it's having a significant impact in their lives. They might not even reach out to us and never let us know. But it's doing the work that some of the work that we intended it for it to do and it's also doing work that we didn't necessarily intend for it to do. I commend you for putting this out. Wow, so much there, right? Even when you talk about the self care.
Roberto Germán:
Because in the process of writing, we don't even know how we're going to react to the pieces that we're creating. There's a few pieces for me that come to mind when I wrote my book, when I wrote Blue and Tears. But definitely the two at the end of the book that I wrote about my father, one of them that I wrote bedside in the hospital room in the final moments, final, literally final minutes, final seconds of his life. That was hard. I mean, I wrote it there, but then I had to edit it. So going back and going through the editing process, I'm just like, wow, I don't even know I'm going to get through this because I'm just tearing up thinking about it. Right. Or there's another one I wrote called Unexpected Tension about a relationship that I had with a mentor of mine and how that fell apart and how showed me his real colors.
Roberto Germán:
That hurt me deeply. I love this guy. I love this guy. I was in shock when things unfolded the way they did and then having, unfortunately, it being connected to this sense of white saviorism, that was hard. It was a hard reality for me to confront that now that this person has revealed himself, I have to see him in the light that he's presenting himself to me. I can't see you how I did before. Now I see what's really going on. Then you mentioned the whole not wanting to be pigeonholed, which I think it's a great point and I'm glad you brought that up.
Roberto Germán:
And that's attention I wrestle with also too, because a lot of the content that I cover is heavy content related to justice issues, equity issues of race. I know a lot of people don't necessarily want to hear about that. I get it, right? Do you think I want to talk about this all the time? I want to be racially profile. Do you think I like it when folks follow me when I go into the store? Do you think I appreciate having I can get into the law enforcement stuff. I'm going to piss a lot of people off. But I don't appreciate having those experiences. I don't appreciate people around me having those experience. What I'm going to do, this is my life.
Roberto Germán:
This has really happened. I write about what I live. That's why I told somebody the other day I was in a podcast, I'm like, she was telling me how authentic the book felt. And I'm like, I write what I live. These are not fables. These are not fables. These are real stories. So, yeah, it's going to make you feel a particular way, whether it really resonates with you or whether whatever maybe you're mad about the topic that I'm addressing.
Roberto Germán:
You think about a particular way you relate with a certain group that's on you to deal with. I'm not here to manage your emotions. I'm here to tell my story. And in doing so, I did find it important to try to bring some balance to it. Which is why I included poems like Lizards.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes, another one.
Roberto Germán:
There was one like somebody asked me, like, you put this line about a fart or something. Have you read my book? Man, I need a little break. Yes, you need to laugh as the reader, but I need to laugh as the writer. Man, I can't just write about heavy content all the time, and it wears on my spirit.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes, there was a lot of that. I kept asking myself, because I think I said it, where this wasn't necessarily a book, it was just me working through some stuff. And I did approach that writing process. Like, I'm going to go back in time. Little tip is calling to me. I'm going to answer. I'm going to sit with her. I'm going to bear witness and hear what she has to say because she didn't say a lot of stuff.
Tiffany Rose:
I know that. And going back to those younger versions, there's a lot there. There's a lot of different feelings. And so some of this stuff, it's interesting because I can read it, and that's my Quincy, Florida version of myself. That's like five or six or whatever and thinking about what it is outside of this little town and all the things. But it lets me know that I've always been multifaceted in a way. There's always been a little more to me than maybe was presented. And so that was also part of what needed to be worked through, is that I get to be all the things, and I've always wanted to be able to be all the things.
Tiffany Rose:
So that was healing in a lot of ways. I feel like that's another way that I hope people receive this, that they can see. Here's this girl who liked these things and did these things and played in this way and had this very country upbringing and then went into this other thing that she's done and then having these experiences. And I get messages from people who I went to school with who are in disbelief. They're like, I had no idea. One message just said, so these things happen to you where you know what I mean? Because here I was, doing all the things, vice president of my class, cheerleader, track star, all the things, and I had this whole other interior world, which was also true. All the things were true at once. And I feel like there isn't a lot of space for us, especially us, to do that.
Tiffany Rose:
It's like, you look a certain way, so you must be a certain thing, and I look a certain way, so I must be a certain thing. And it turns out I was never one thing. I've always been a wide open, expansive being, and I feel so blessed by that. And this was, like, my way of going back and honoring that. So in the pain, in the same pages that you can write about your father passing and those last moments, you can also have these moments of levity and comedy recalling other moments, and that's because that's who you are. All of that is who you are. And I really wanted to honor all of me, like, all the different versions, and get that into one little collection, just skimming the surface.
Roberto Germán:
You did the thing. You mentioned the word healing, and right now you mentioned the word collection, which makes me think about the end of the book. And I appreciate the fact that at the end of the book, you provided survivor support and mental health resources. Is there anything particular that stood out about these organizations that you have listed at the end of the book?
Tiffany Rose:
Yes, a lot of them are organizations for survivors of sexual assault and child abuse incest. Others are if you've ever had suicidal ideations, others are like, other mental health resources. And this idea because a question I constantly was asking, like, is this of service? Is this of service? That's why the book is the size it is. It was about three times this size when I finished writing, but a lot of that was for me, and this was like, this is a story that could be of service. I wanted it to just not be, like, retraumatizing. I wanted it to be of service in some way. And so still, just considering that it could still be difficult and create some pain points, reading through it, I wanted to make sure that people had somewhere to turn if they didn't already. And I had seen other authors do this.
Tiffany Rose:
Oh, my gosh, it's escaping me. But I had no idea what it was like to put together a book, because I self published, so I did a lot of studying. But you can't read the books because then it'll get in your head, so you got to stick to your own book. But then I'm looking at the books like, oh, how did she place that? How did she do this? And, oh, Lori Holtz. Anderson. She was one of the people that I knew had written a book that had a lot of sensitive content. She wrote a book called Shout. That's a beautiful book.
Tiffany Rose:
It's being banned everywhere, of course, but it's a beautiful book and it's her own Survivor story. And at the end of her book, she lists resources. And I just thought, that's a great idea. I'm going to do that. And these are things that I use like rain. I called that hotline many times as a teenager, and that was the one that was really the one that I knew of when I was younger. And it's still around. And just being able to even put that in the book and honor it in a certain way, like, this organization was there for me, it can be there for you.
Tiffany Rose:
So that just felt like a must, and it's just like another way to acknowledge the caretaking that these stories require. Still.
Roberto Germán:
Thank you. Thank you for doing that, for the thoughtfulness behind it and providing these resources. Because you're right. One, it's good for folks to be able to readily identify resources that deal specifically in the areas in which we're discussing. And also, as folks are working through your book, it may bring up some stuff, right. They may be triggered. So thank you for doing that, right? How would you encourage an educator to utilize your book?
Tiffany Rose:
I've been thinking about this. I've been thinking about this in a lot of ways because one of my ultimate goals is I want this book in libraries because I just want anybody to be able to find it.
Roberto Germán:
Yes.
Tiffany Rose:
And obviously I have a soft spot for education as my kids are making their way through school. I think the thing I go to two different things. So on one side, school for me was my safe space because home was not for so many years. So when I think about just the role of the educator and the role of the school itself, I think about how it can be a safe space for someone else with a similar story and where they need to be able to come and see themselves reflected and know their stories are safe and feel like they can live authentically within those walls or in that space with those people. So in that way, I think about the way an educator might receive this book and think of a student, think of someone that might be going through something similar and see that reflected in what role they could play in holding their story. So that's sort of a more abstract way that I think about it. And then on the other side, it's that same thing of like, I want young people to understand that their story is their own. They own their story.
Tiffany Rose:
They have the right to do with their story what they want. And that in that power and in that owning of their story, they might get to the place that I eventually got a little faster or might feel held in a way where, if they have access to my book, or gently, there might be some curriculum needs built in around some of the content. But if they had access to some of these stories that could be of service to them, they understand that, one, they're not alone, and that there is power in having control over your own story. Because there's so much as a young person when you're in these school age years that you don't feel like you have control over. But your story is yours, and it always has been and it always will be. And I think that could be the big takeaway from this book. With care.
Roberto Germán:
Yes, definitely. With care.
Tiffany Rose:
Yeah.
Roberto Germán:
Might want to make sure the counselors are ready. Right.
Tiffany Rose:
Just fold down a couple of pages, too. Maybe we talk about some other stuff.
Roberto Germán:
Yeah, we'll do some excerpts.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes.
Roberto Germán:
We get to the fun part of the interview. If you had an opportunity to have lunch with any author, dead or alive, who would it be and why.
Tiffany Rose:
This list is so long. Oh, this list is so long. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Even though it is a long list, I just want to acknowledge that so nobody's feelings are hurt in my spirit list that I have. But the top of the list is my angel.
Roberto Germán:
Yes.
Tiffany Rose:
I have so many questions. And also I know why the cage bird sings.
Roberto Germán:
That was on my 9th grade reading list for summer reading. I know why the Cage Bird Sings was on that list.
Tiffany Rose:
I did not. I did not have it. It was never part of my school reading. Right, I know, but I knew it existed. But I also knew there was something about it that people seemed to not want us to have access to it, which made me very curious.
Roberto Germán:
Especially in Florida.
Tiffany Rose:
Right, exactly. So then I remember picking that book up and kind of getting to the part where I could sort of sense what was about to happen in her own childhood assault story and closing the book and not coming back for years. Years, because of just being it wasn't it was actually Oprah who's also on the list. Oprah who talked about her own story and how she found the connection to Maya Angelou through their shared stories. And then me making that connection of, like, these powerful women have a story. Like like, there's another side of this. There's a whole other side that I can access to this. And that was a lifesaver for me.
Tiffany Rose:
So eventually, I made my way back to that book and then just devoured everything I could of my ansell, because she blew my mind with how she was able to be so joyful and take up so much space, and it just felt like she was magic. She had figured out magic somehow because she also was in a little backwoods town with not a lot of opportunity and had some family dynamics that were complicated and painful and all the things. And here we have all this in common, and she's like, look at what she did. Look at how she's living her life and look at how many different versions of herself she's been able to be. And that's my thing. I have so many questions for her. When she passed, I was devastated because there was in my mind, I'm like, I'm going to find her. I'm going to go take her class.
Tiffany Rose:
I don't know what I'm going to do, but she's going to be my friend. So now I have her a picture of her on my altar and her poem, one of her favorite poem, still I Rise on my altar that I feel connected to her, like I can access her in a way that I couldn't before.
Roberto Germán:
Still I Rise is one of our talks. Also, Angelo had this grace about her, and I had the opportunity to listen to her speak live when I was a 9th grader in boarding school in Newport, Rhode Island. Yeah, I know, I'm rubbing it in. Sorry. But I'm sharing this now because I want to share this before you get on the own network and blow up and forget about all the small people going to happen. You're going to be on the own network.
Tiffany Rose:
Thank you for that. Let's just go ahead and let that sit out in the universe.
Roberto Germán:
Thank you. That's why I'm like, I got to get the first interview in.
Tiffany Rose:
And you did. This is the first time I talked about the book. Yes.
Roberto Germán:
I'm ecstatic about that. I like to be the first. I like to set the tone. I'm sure Oprah will do a great interview with whenever that happens, but she.
Tiffany Rose:
Won'T be the first.
Roberto Germán:
She won't be the first. She ain't going to have that on her credits.
Tiffany Rose:
Yes.
Roberto Germán:
So what's a message of encouragement that you want to offer our listeners?
Tiffany Rose:
I say this in the book at the end, and it's kind of like my last little tidbit, which is if you feel the call of some younger version, some other version that needed a voice or needed to be heard or seen or witnessed or even just sit for a spell and be with answer. Just answer. Make sure you have your care systems in place, but answer because you might find poetry, you might be beauty on the other end, and I bet you it will be.
Roberto Germán:
Absolutely. Can you remind folks where it is that they can purchase your book and where it is that they can follow you?
Tiffany Rose:
Yes. You can find me at Rosewith, by the way. That's also my Angela nod. Rosewith. Rosewithwords.com. And at Rosewithwords on Instagram. The book is on Amazon and Bookshop right now, other places. As soon as I can push some buttons and get it there.
Tiffany Rose:
But yeah, that's where hey, folks. I'm only ever really on Instagram.
Roberto Germán:
Thank you for pleasure. It's our pleasure to have you here. It's been a blessing. I love your book. I love it. I love it, I love it. Wow. It's definitely moving me in a way that I wasn't expecting.
Roberto Germán:
I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest with you. I'm glad I didn't set any expectations. It's definitely moving in a profound way, and we need a lot of people to get their copy, read the book, utilize the resources if necessary, share these stories. We need folks to engage in these conversations, particularly the challenging conversations, situations that you described that happen to you. There's plenty of folks that have experienced that, and we need to be able to continue this dialogue in an authentic and healthy way, ready with the care supports, as you mentioned. But let's not shy away from some of the difficulties that we encounter in life. We want to be able to move forward just as you have, and we want to be able to take out all the baggage so that we can backlight Tiffany.
Tiffany Rose:
That's right.
Roberto Germán:
It's been a pleasure. Thank you for being here.
Tiffany Rose:
Thank you.
Roberto Germán:
Much success to you on your journey as author writer, storyteller. We are looking forward to much, much more. So once you're ready for the next book, you know where to find for sure.
Tiffany Rose:
Thank you so much. Thank you for the gentle care and the love. I appreciate you.
Roberto Germán:
As always, your engagement in our classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe rate the show and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race, bias, education and society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com peace and love. From your host, Rovelto Herman. It's.
