My first notebook had a big chief on the cover. Maybe it was my first attempt to be like that big chief. To be black and bold and brave. I wanted that. I wanted to be brave. And so I opened the cover. Behind the strength of the big chief , I placed my pencil between the lines and I wrote. I wrote to not be alone. I wrote to hear the words inside my heart – the words that if brought to life would make me a warrior too. I didn’t have the words for that, words like warrior and fearless… but I had a big chief red notebook and I had a pencil. So I wrote. And I drew. And I came to life between the rules. I would live there. In lead and ink, first in printed, then cursive bravery — live there, until that warrior dared me off the page.