University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

I am a storyteller. Akin to communication theorist Walter Fisher, I believe that life is a series of ongoing narratives that are shaped by our histories, culture, and character. As a child, I fell in love with words. I filled dozens of composition books with my daily thoughts, story ideas, and future aspirations. A few years after finishing my undergraduate degree, I read Shay Youngblood’s novel Black Girl in Paris. The novel spoke so directly to my spirit that I sometimes would find myself thinking about the characters and their experiences as if they were real. This novel reiterated that we live in a huge world that I desire to experience. I promised myself that one day I would visit Paris. Nearly 15 years later, Youngblood's words became more than a creative escape from my daily life, as I grabbed my passport and my suitcase and became a Black Girl in Paris.