clinger and she looked at it and said okay, i am going to read this.k it home and read it over the weekend. she came back, called me up after class and said to me i am going to give you an a for this course but i am really not capable of judging this material. you need to send it to a professional. and i'm going a professional what? i am a kid from a house in chicago. i didn't know any professional writers. she said send it to this woman called gwendolyn brooks. do you know who she is? i said yes. she was a poet laureate in illinois. she teaches at this college. send it to her and see what she says about it. here i am, this kid. i bundle up my manuscript and send it into gwendolyn brooks. all i knew this she won a pulitzer prize and was a poet laureate and was someone important. several weeks later i get a call. i am living with my parents and i get a call at home and does gwendolyn brooks called and she said you have to come and talk to me and i did. she was teaching at a college called northeastern university on the north shore of chicago. three buse

clinger, and she looked at it and said, okay, i'm going to read this.r the weekend, came back, caught me up after class that monday, and she said to me, ellis, i'm going to give you an a234 this course, but i'm not capable of judging this material. send it to a professional. i'm going a professional what? i'm a kid from chicago. i didn't know professional writers. she said send it to this writer gwyn blacks. -- brooks? do you know know her? i said yes. i sent it to her, i'm this kid, bundling up any script, and i send it in to this brooks person who all i knew about she had won a pulitzer prize and was somebody important, and several weeks later, i get a call. i'm, of course, living with my parents. i got a call at home, and it's brooks on the other end of the phone saying, ellis, you have to come talk to me, and i did. she was teaching at a college called northeastern university, north shore of the chicagoment i took three busses to meet her. she was the most gracious individual you can imagine. she sat me down in front of the big desk and had scrawled