Dear WinkWorld Readers,

The harvest of my career: This is how I think of my time on the Board of Regents in South Dakota (BOR).  I am honored, and my new friends on the board know all sorts of things that I don’t know.  Recently, after a long series of BOR meetings with a very demanding agenda, we had the most unbelievably fabulous experience of meeting a young woman who is a refugee from Chad, deep in the heart of central Africa. Somehow she has made her way from her home in Chad to the University  Center (UC) of Sioux Falls, SD–no small feat!  Meeting Nadifa was truly a gift to us.

I am grateful that I could be there for this transformative moment in her life.  I hope that this will just be the beginning of the story of Nadifa.

After she  spoke to the gathering of legislators and regents, she and her mentor had to leave early, but three of us went back to visit with her a bit more with her.

As I approached Nadifa, I noticed that Barry Dunn, President of South Dakota State University was speaking quietly in the back of the room with Nadifa. He took off his SDSU lapel pin and gave it to her along with his card. He invited her to come to State and promised her that he would help her. Barry and Nadifa both had tears in their eyes. Next, I asked her if I could write about her; a few more little tears appears. Finally, one of the regents, Jim Thares, joined our little group. He offered her his business card, and whisper to her that he would pay her tuition.  A flood of tears.  

At this point, I know very little about Nadifa, but as she spoke with us I could hear that she has an important story to tell, and I hope to learn much more from her.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

As I mentioned in the previous WinkWorld, people begin to create amazing gifts to give to an author after her book is published.

For example, Missy Urbaniak, created a visual Table of Contents (TOC) for me during the long months when I was writing.  I have shared the chapter-by-chapter TOC previously.

Preface 

Chapter One, Loving That Literacy

Chapter Two, Loving Those Stories 

Chapter Three, Animals and the Alphabet

Chapter Four, High-Stakes Stories 

Chapter Five, Of Immigrants and Imagination 

Chapter Six, Into the Cloud 

Chapter Seven, Patience and Fortitude: The Future 

Next, Susan of Susan Henley Design, ExcellentWebs.com  put all of these together for me on one PDF.  Incidentally, Missy lives in SD, and Susan in CA, and they have never met.  I know you cannot read the post below as it may be too small, but my PDF is very readable.

Being able to  glance at my visual TOC, while working on the book, has been very helpful.  Thank you, Missy and Susan.

Later, the publisher removed my 4-level TOC from the book, but I have placed it right here  for your convenience.  I am an avid TOC-user.

Last week I received a surprise package in the mail, and Susan had also created a large poster of the visual TOC as a gift for me.  Thank you so much Missy and Susan. I really love what the two of you created together – without ever meeting each other.

Have poster. Will travel.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

There is such joy in finishing a book and finally holding it in your hands. 

The good is that people do really nice things for you, and the bad is that the publisher wants you to get to work and market, market, market–if I have learned one thing through the years, it is that I am not a marketer.

So, I have decided to share with you some of the beautiful things which have happened in the last couple of week, and I will simply tell my publisher that these new stories are my marketing plan. 

First, let me introduce you to my surprise Mighty Marketers: Steve Krashen and Dawn Wink.  High praise, indeed. 

Steve Krashen surprised and thrilled me when he began to post on his Facebook pages some of my quotations .  I am humbled.  Dawn Wink then shared/tagged to my page so that my Facebook friends could read, too.  How kind is that! Thank you from the bottom of my heart and my hard drive.  

Below are some of the quotes, which Steve and Dawn posted.

“… summer reading … is not to be confused with a mandated summer book list, which can loom over any family’s less hectic months of the year. The summer reading, which I am encouraging, is self-selected.” (Joan Wink, The Power of Story, p. 24).

“ … language and literacy are free gifts buried inside of stories.” (Joan Wink, The Power of Story, p. 47).

“When you attend professional development, are you hoping to hear good stories …. or do you prefer death by PowerPoint?” (Joan Wink, The Power of Story, p. 58).

“… it can be so annoying for a writer to find that the world keeps spinning – even when she thought her writing was done for this manuscript.” (Joan Wink, The Power of Story, p. 130).

Thank you so much, Mighty Marketers.  And, as always, my thanks to Katie Knox for her charming images of readers.

Joan-it-takes-a-ranch-Wink

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

The birthing of a new book: There is just nothing quite like it.  After months/years of musing, walking around staring, procrastinating, and finally writing and agonizing privately over words, ideas, sentences, sections, paragraphs, images, permissions, citations, and sleepless nights, it all suddenly is worth it when a box of books arrives.

Through the past couple of years, I have periodically posted about my writing, and in this WinkWorld, I will do a couple of things: (a) tell you a little about the book; and (b) I will share (again) the visual Table of Contents (TOC). The real TOC can be found by clicking the icon of the new book on my webpages. See below.

The Power of Story

The book is now available on Amazon, my webpages (which is a re-direct to Amazon), and ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited, my publisher.

First, this book is all about linking literacies through the power of stories, both oral and written.

This book is for anyone who loves reading, kids, and/or stories. 

Readers will discover that this book is not filled with data in the form of pie-charts, graphs, and arches; rather the truth of the research will be grounded in authentic stories which reflect, not only the interpretation of these data, but also the transformative nature of literacies and libraries.

Finally, in my life as a writer, I have finally been able to share some terrific images and photos.  Most of the images came from Katie Knox, who is now living in Japan.  I can only hope that my words say what her images capture so beautifully.  Here is one example.  Thank you, Katie!

Friends have shared photos with me, and I have used as many as I could.  Here is one example.  Thank you, Christy!

Second, I would like to share the visual Table of Contents, which I have previously shared.  Thank you, Missy.

1 LOVING THAT LITERACY

The Power of Story: Chapter One

2 LOVING THOSE STORIES

The Power of Story: Chapter Two

3 ANIMALS AND THE ALPHABET

The Power of Story Chapter Three

4 HIGH-STAKES STORIES

The Power of Story Chapter Four

5 OF IMMIGRANTS AND IMAGINATION

The Power of Story Chapter Five

6 INTO THE CLOUD

The Power of Story Chapter Six

7 PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE: THE FUTURE

The Power of Story Chapter Seven

So, what do I want to write about next? These kids at a rural school, k-8.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

I have recently learned that the software for WinkWorld dropped a few names from the readership.  I believe this to be a software glitch.  I use WordPress.org–not WordPress.com  

The reason I know this is because my name is one of those which was dropped.  

WinkWorld also goes out on some social media, in addition to being sent to those who sign up via email.  If you are on social media and see this post, you can check  @joanwink (Twitter)  and WinkWorld News to check to make sure you are receiving the blog post via email.  In addition, I usually post WinkWorld on my Facebook page, but I also post lots of other stuff there, so the blog posts are not all lined up in a nice chronological order.

If  you want to receive WinkWorld on your email,  just go to joanwink.com and sign up again (bottom right hand corner).

I’ve been lucky to enjoy a couple of great trips the last month. First, I went to California State University, Stanislaus to cheer wildly while President Emerita Marvalene Hughes was honored when the reflecting pond entering the campus was named after her. It was wonderful to see lots of friends and colleagues from the Central Valley. I also snuck in some treasured days with friends/family in AZ.  I am posting photos  from some of these great experiences.

Mary Ann, Nancy, and I have been friends since the 70s.

Below,  Annie and I are walking our beloved San Pedro River.

Some of you will remember my special friend/colleague, Dr. Fay Shin.

I was happy to be invited to Literacy Connects, an amazing grass-roots group in Southern Arizona dedicated to promoting literacy from pre-K babes to adults.

Joan Sandin and I took a fabulous bike ride all over Tucson.

 When Joan and I were biking through the University of Arizona, we happened upon a group of people raising money to fight breast cancer.

 If you want to know more about Joan Sandin, you might like to check out this book–I love it for many reasons.

And, finally I found another night-blooming Cereus cactus, which blooms only ONE night.

Project GLAD(R): I was also so happy to be able to share with the wonderful teachers of Project GLAD(R) in Southern CA. I have previously written about them on WinkWorld, 

GLAD: Guided Language Acquisition Design

Finally, Happy Birthday, MJ.

Dear WinkWorld Readers

Did you ever wonder what a cyber attack looks like? Dakota State University has an wall-sized monitor in a very large public room which captures visually where the attacks come from and where they go. The huge monitor is real-time, and it is mesmerizing to see it. Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences of DSU is a leader in cyber security education.

Below, I am posting an 8 second video which captures a bit of the action. Next, I am posting one still photo of the wall monitor. Finally, I am posting a link to more information on the cyber security program.

Click HERE to learn more about the DSU cyber security programs.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Diane Ravitch is generously sharing with all of us the opportunity to hear Linda Darling-Hammond, October 19, Thursday, 7:30 EST.  It will be live-streamed, and a video will be available after the presentation.

Below I am attaching Diane’s announcement and also a link to her page for more information.

Thank you, Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond!

Diane’s announcement on her blog.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

I am still lucky enough to work with a few doc students, and this post is specifically for them. 

To those doc students (you know who you are), this post does not relate to your individual dissertation plans, but it is always good to hear to what Judith is saying.

Thank you, Dr. Green for sharing with us.

Joan

ethnography as intercultural work and interdisciplinary logics-of-inquiry.