The Harlem Event: Afterthoughts

Hi All

There is so much I'd like to say - but I'll do my best to keep this (fairly) brief.

This is a tale of how multiple things can go wrong and for everything to still work out okay in the end.

First - I want to thank the Harlem Arts Council for hosting me yesterday at the Harlem Arts Center for poetry readings, meet-and-greets, and book signings. And a HUGE thank you goes to poet Catherine Zickgraf, storyteller Kelly Celery, YA novelist Santita D'Anjou, artist Faye Wallace, and to children's author Tunisia Williams for joining me and for being awesome!

It was a super fun day!

I'd also like to thank everyone who attended the event - whether at the Arts Center or virtually! You attending means the world to me!

For those who tuned in virtually - a few blips happened during the live broadcast and I've received a few questions about what happened.

The filming kicked off with the video "House of the Rising Sun" (by the Animals) and as soon as the song ended, the wifi briefly cut off - ending the live session. We were up again 3 minutes later - but, I know some viewers were a little confused. Then - after my second poetry reading (live), I made a mistake. One of the other author's reading session was shorter than originally planned, so (at my request) we played the music video for Arcade Fire's "Creature Comfort" and, as soon as the broadcast ended, Facebook removed the reading because we had violated copyright by broadcasting the music video. Due to this, Facebook wouldn't allow my third reading session to be streamed live and Facebook removed my first reading session soon after. So me - and the other authors - were live on YouTube (only) for awhile - until YouTube hit us with copyright violation and removed everything from their site.

Oh my. Yesterday was a learning experience for me - and a very valuable one ()!

And as far as the sound for the recordings - the equipment was tested the evening before and was tested again upon arrival to the Arts Center. 5 minutes (literally) before the live stream of me reading my first poem, the main sound cord stopped working. Fortunately, Briana, who filmed the event, had a Plan B cord that made the quality of the sound a bit different than originally planned - but - it worked and I'm very glad it did.

I am very thankful for how everything turned out - in spite of a few hiccups along the way. The evening before, the catered food for the event was delayed because the caterer wrote down the wrong date for the pick up - but they made everything as quickly as they could (took about 40 minutes) and I took the items - they were super fancy - with me. Me - not realizing the food should be packed in ice (I only used one bag of ice), the food spoiled by the time I arrived in Harlem and - so as not to food poison the guests - it all had to be thrown out. Then, while in my hotel room, two hours later, I accidentally spilled water on my computer and it stopped working. And, yesterday morning the security guard scheduled to stand watch over the event didn't show up - fortunately, there were no incidents or disruptions.

The day (and the evening before) were filled with mishaps - but, in the end, it all turned out fine.

Thanks for all of your support!!!!!

Photo: Jimmy Broccoli's author table (yes - the table cloth is wrinkled so - for next time - I'm investing in an iron - LOL) at the Harlem Arts Center - March 26th, 2022.