Identities: A short story collection – book signing (Chapters Metrotown)

Summer in-person book signing for Identities.

An Amazon review of Identities:

“Blind spots are blind spots. We all have them when we don’t know what we don’t know. We all need to listen and learn from each other more!” – The Conference (story 7)

This quote sums up the theme of this book perfectly. Reading this book, I was transported into worlds and stories and identities that I honestly know nothing about. It challenged me deeply to truly put myself in another person’s shoes. Even such simple tasks as how a woman prepares her hair were so new to me – I’ve talked about hair with friends from other races but it’s different when read in a beautifully scripted first person context. I’ve also never been asked by a total stranger where I’m “from” – that really exposes something about how we relate to strangers who don’t look like us – they must not be from around here.

This book has stories from male & female perspectives, young and old. I read about experiences that I know I will never in my life come close to having – a war on a college campus, being racially profiled, an African wedding, so many cultures and deep traditions that I did not grow up around.

These stories helped me to see this world from such a different perspective. When you read this book, commit to forgetting everything you think you know about people that aren’t like you. Listen to the stories and learn something new. Don’t be blind to your blind spots.