Comfortable in Your Own Skin...

Shared post from www.taramichener.com from
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I felt the need to share this post with those who support the diversity community. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear your comments. (Tara Michener)
Comfortable in your own skin...
Why is diversity an important topic for young people? This is a question that I am asked often at book signings and events. Many feel that we should not complicate kids with the worries of culture studies and race. I have been told that it is better to let them just be and ignore color. In a perfect world this sounds adequate. Our world is improving but it is far from perfect. Diversity is an important topic for young people because it teaches them to learn to embrace people different from themselves and to accept themselves as well. When kids don't understand that the world is much bigger than one race or class it can be detrimental to their social development. As a young person I have had people touch my hair, ask me why I don't talk like a Black person and various questions about my ethnicity and background because of a lack of education on cultural understanding and etiquette. I wrote my book series to help kids to discover the importance of race relations, diversity and self-esteem in a fun and healthy way.
I think that my smile is the biggest when kids happily embrace the characters Janelle and Zoey. March is reading month and women's history month. If you think it would benefit your school or group to have a woman author give a presentation on diversity involving my books and or the topic overall. Please let me know at whoiamnotwhatiam@yahoo.com Feeling comfortable in our own skin involves us allowing others to be comfortable in their skin. -Read something great!