This event organized by The Orange County Heritage Council and by the City of Santa Ana. Being the first Juneteenth festival, it was important to center black voices, black stories, and black leadership from the Santa Ana community.
“We taste life twice through words and pictures – in the moment and in retrospection.”
www.lambzauthorsandbeyond will be up and running soon!
My second Indie Author Day participation – this time with my documented memoir, Badge of Color, Breaking the Silence (Book One)! Again, I was honored to be a part of such a distinguished group of SoCal authors…and to top it off…I was surprised with a family unknown to me up to this time!
Never have I had such a warm welcome from so many. Professor Sharon Sekhon and her students invited me to attend their end-of-semester celebration. Daniel Lynem and I fielded questions from the students, gorged ourselves with pizza and other goodies.
The History-class students had been privy to my Badge of Color-Breaking the Silence manuscript as a school project. To my astonishment I received the most wonderful gift(s) from the students – their assignment? To respond to my memoir in written and/or visual format their take-away from the history of Santa Ana’s first black police officer. I received letters, poems, and artwork to cherish–too numerous to share here (although as soon as I learn how to thumbnail the photos, I will add them to this post!). However! One post was so personal and beautiful it is on pages 332-333 of my memoir: Rainbow Protector by Isabella Beltran.
Honored to receive an award, as Prestigious Honoree, a plaque “For Outstanding Service to the Orange County Community.”
