00:02 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
so if you love children's literature, if you love inspirational humans, you are in for a real treat. I am so excited to welcome one of my very favorite people back to this show. Um, if you want to learn more about her, I'm going to tell you to go back to um podcast number one, but we have the one, the only, vanessa brantleyley Newton, on with us today, and we're going to be talking about all things, including Shake it Off, her new book. We're going to talk about her PBS specials and we're going to talk about the cool art classes she does online that provide so much inspiration as well. So, if you are ready for a dose of inspiration, settle back and enjoy this episode of the Adventurous in Learning podcast. Vanessa, welcome, I'm so glad to see you.
00:50 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I am so excited to see your beautiful face and your beautiful spirit just brightens up everything, so it is good to be here, hi, everybody.
00:59 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And that's how I feel about you. So it's been. I think we talked this time last year or a little bit after this about your books, because you had Nesting Dolls coming out. How was the reception for Nesting Dolls? How are you finding people received?
01:15 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
it. It was very well received. Very well received, um, you know, it's colorism, even within our community has long roots, unfortunately, and so a lot of people said it touched home where they were concerned, you know, and them embracing themselves and the beauty of their melanated skin was so very, very important, and to send that message to children as well, that they need to embrace themselves, you know, if you're spending your time being somebody else, who's being you?
01:49 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love that. That's one of my favorite, vanessa-isms, and you have a brand new book that has just made it into the world. Shake it Off. I'm going to do my own personal plug for this book right now. I read it, I loved it. The resilience, the idea of being able to pick yourself up and work your way out of difficult situations is just so beautiful.
02:14 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
So, vanessa, tell us a little bit about what led to writing this book and we attended church, there was this gospel quartet group called the Williams Brothers, and the Williams Brothers were the best storytellers in gospel, as far as Christendom was concerned it was. The Williams Brothers was going to always give you a story, and I remember when they came up with this story about this little goat and they got it from somewhere else as well, but there's so many variations to the story. But as a child, when I would hear this story and they would always, you know, in the very gospel way, shake it all and pack it under, and that would stay with me. It would just stay with me like, oh my gosh, and what do I need to shake off? What do I need to get rid of?
03:08
And sometimes it was the mean things that people would say, or my sister and I would have a fight and we would have to make up, and you got to shake that stuff off. You know bad thoughts that come and want to invade your mind and your space and change the energy around you. You got to shake that stuff off and pack it under, you know, and as you do so you find yourself rising above every single circumstances. It might not happen right then and there, but gradually you keep packing it under and getting over. And those words, it was the words and the way they would say it. I would feel so encouraged after every time they sing it. I felt so encouraged afterwards that I had to do this book. I had to do the book.
03:55 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Yeah, and I just I love this book. I know you don't happen to have your own copy at this point, um, but is there a favorite page, one that you would like to share with folks?
04:06 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Oh, yes, there is a spot where she is climbing up on all of the dirt that has been thrown down into the well on top of her and she shakes this off and it's so. You know. I'm trying to now be more. How can I say consistent in always having a blank page where there are no words? You get to tell the story the way you want. That is my favorite page of the book, the whole book, and if you get a copy you will see there are words. I've collaged words there sure are.
04:48
Yeah, and you know a lot of librarians. I don't know that they will get this, but I hope that they will be able to listen to this podcast and get a better understanding of why did Vanessa put words on the ground. Because words are very much like dirt. Because words are very much like dirt. They can be very organic and help to grow things, or they can bury things. And words sometimes parents, we say things to our children in that moment when they're very upsetting us, and we say things, and sometimes even saying I'm sorry doesn't take away the damage that's done. And all I could think about Diane was the words that were spoken over me from teachers, teachers. Oh, she's never going to get it. I've even heard out of a teacher's mouth she's dumb, literally.
05:41 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And those words are like death sentences.
05:43 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
It's like death sentences, but they're words and if you allow them to be planted in you and for a time it was planted in me, it was. I thought I was dumb, I'm a stupid girl. I'm a dumb girl, you know, because the adults have said it must be true. You know because they're an adult and you don't know the damage that you're doing to children when you say things like that to them. And it wasn't until I became an adult and began to yes, get some counseling, we need it. Yes, we do. And I got the counseling.
06:17
And it was awesome to hear somebody say to me you don't have to live up under this kind of stuff. And I was. I was surrounded by I don't want to really put it out there, but I was surrounded by narcissists, people who were very much into themselves, didn't really care if the kid made it understood, whatever. And I think as I got older, diane, I began to see the worth inside. Vanessa, that's important when you see what you bring to the table and when you begin to have a relationship with yourself. This is for adults and children to take the moment to say in the morning I love me. Stinky breath and all you know, ratty clothes and all. I love me and I'm getting better and better every single day. When you start saying little things like that to yourself, just little things, that is you packing it under and climbing up on top of every single word. When somebody says, oh, that dress is ugly, oh, I don't like your hair, shake it off and pack it under and rise and keep rising until they can't ignore you.
07:42
So well, and this sounds like metaphor for your career at this point. Oh yes, that you would even go there. You are brilliant. I will tell you, I have been through hell and back in my career, from racism to classism to oh, she's dyslexic, she has synesthesia, she stutters, you know, and sometimes we're looking at oh well, it must have been the white people that did that. No, no, they're people that look just like me and they felt comfortable enough to say those things to me. You know and it's so funny, diane how I climbed up on those words because those same people are trying to come back now yep which is the weirdest thing because I'm like you didn't want me, then why do you want me now?
08:31 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
just because you are now the successful, incredibly powerful little goat at the end of this story. The one who is singing her own song in the trees?
08:46 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Yes, yes, absolutely. And it's not just you know, I'm angry with them, not angry with them. I don't have time to be angry with anybody, and anger tends to not just move me in the right direction all the time. So I let it go so that I can pack it under and move forward and move up. I had a mentor that told me back in the day, diane, that mediocrity is around the bottom, but when you start thriving and growing, that's at the top. Thriving and growing, that's at the top. The air is thin and not too many people can deal with that, and so they would rather stay down in mediocrity.
09:34
I don't want mediocrity, not for myself, not for my readers, not for my parents who read to their children. We're living in some times right now where there is just ugliness all around us, yep, all day, every day. And what I want to teach you because I know a lot of people are like, oh, I don't believe in that manifestation stuff or whatever. It believes in you. Whether you believe it or not, it believes in you. So if you say, hey, I'm dumb, I'm stupid, oh, that was so stupid of me, I don't know why I didn't, you know, even if you say that next door. Your response after you say that is but I'm not going to do it again, I'll be smarter next time.
10:15 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Yep, I'll learn from this and move on.
10:17 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I'll learn from, I'll learn and I'll grow from this Exactly, and so it's what I want to give to children who are being bullied in school, who are being overlooked. You know that if Miss Vanessa can make it, you can make it too. I just got back from Shenandoah at a book conference and I got to meet up with a beautiful young man. His name is Lucky Diaz and he is a fantastic singer. He's amazing and has done books with my friend Micah Player as well, and the two of them together are like ice cone and ice cream. They are amazing, wow. And I got to be with them and we were in the room talking to parents and children and people just think you know, oh, vanessa is going to give up. She's going to talk to the kids.
11:05
Never Because I'm trying to give my adults do-overs. You deserve a do-over. Life has.
11:12
I'm pretty sure, even if you've had the perfect life where you had parents and was loved and everything else, I'm pretty sure there was a day when you felt like what in the world is going on and what I wanted to leave with the parents is I see you, I see you working hard, I see you coming home from work and you're just exhausted. You don't even want to talk to your spouse, let alone your kids. You're just exhausted and I just need a moment. Haven't had a vacation in over three, four, five years, you know. Worried about your mortgage, worried about is my kid going to make it, or whatever, and that's the thing right there. He's not getting it as fast as everybody else. Well, she's a lot smaller than everybody else, her size and her age she should be. He should be a lot further along than he is and you put those burdens on yourself and then you put them, you put the fear of those burdens on you to your children and they pick up on it.
12:11
And they pick up on it. And they pick up on it. It's a vibe. It really is. It's a vibration and if you're living under that vibration, that's what you're attracting to yourself. So you're attracting all the Ds, all the Fs, all the fear, all the anxiety around everything that they do. How do I change that? I mean I know you're everything that they do. How do I change that door? I mean I know you're calling it out, but how do I change it?
12:34
You start with you. What are you saying about yourself in your own head? I'm a failure because you didn't get the promotion. You're not a failure because you didn't get a promotion. You worked hard and they may have passed you over, but you can talk to the universe and tell the universe what you want. You know, or better yet, of course, I got. You know.
13:00
That's another law. It's called the law of assumption, but it is a law and it works. Y'all, I don't care if you're a Christian, I don't care if you're a Jew, I don't care if you're Muslim, you know. Whatever it's true, it's true. What you think about, you bring about, and what you talk about, you walk it out. So if all you're doing is talking about gossip and all the horrible things that are happening in the world. You're attracting. We're magnets, so you're attracting that particular thing. You can change that energy anytime you want. Put on your favorite record, dance it out, find your favorite song and just groove to it. I don't care if it's Smokey Robinson or if it's Queen. Put it on and just rock to it and have a moment where you're just happy and content. Oh, absolutely. And save yourself little tiny things like you know what? Today is going to be a great day. It's going to be a real good day, and watch what happens.
13:58 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
It's amazing I got to tell you. If you had told me when I was 16 that Prince was going to be my go-to for days like that, I don't know that I would have believed you, but it 100% is. I have had so many dance outs with Prince.
14:18 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I love it, diane. You and I could spend a whole lot of time together. My husband is one of the biggest Prince fans on the planet. He loves Prince. Oh, my gosh, prince will never be dead in his heart. He's an ancestor Absolutely I, but, but it's it's, you know, listening to some of those things, and one of the one of the songs that he did was positivity. Yes, have you had your plus sign today that that song stays with me when I'm trying to get a vibe. I love it. This is a vibe, so you and I definitely were, as you were talking.
14:51 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I'm realizing so much of what you're saying about talking to the parents. When we work with kids, we're really reaching out to these grownups and, like when I'm doing workshops for kids because I've been doing a lot of STEAM workshops with children, where I connect picture books and the hands-on learning what I'm really doing is modeling for those teachers at the same time and hoping that they're watching the way I'm engaging with the kids that they're seeing.
15:21
oh, there are these possibilities. And the cool thing is I go in with no assumptions because I'm, you know, in there for a couple of hours. I don't know these children, so to me every child is that rock star. They all have that potential, because I'm not coming in with preconceived notions.
15:38 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Absolutely.
15:39 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
They rise to that because I'm treating them with fresh eyes. They're able to do the things, and so the best compliment I ever heard was this spring. There were two teachers talking in the hall and I heard one say to the other that was amazing, I had forgotten that so-and-so could do that because I've been so caught up in calling them out for all the things that they can't do and I thought mission accomplished.
16:04 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
And that's why we love you. Yeah, that's why we love you and we need more of you, because it's getting dreary.
16:14 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I just shared your books with a woman who is going to be on the podcast shortly. Her name is Dr Tiana Velasquez-Smith and she has the most amazing literacy tutoring service. She works with kids who are neurodivergent and she's teaching reading to pre-K through two and it's largely, you know, kids who maybe have been socioeconomically disadvantaged black and brown children, neurodivergent kids and she teaches it in playful ways and she goes with their interests and their passions. She's just amazing and we were talking about, you know, I introduced her to your um, your books, cause I was like, ooh, you know nesting dolls or becoming Vanessa or this, and she's like I've never heard of this author and she was immediately ordering your books. But she goes. That to me is special because she's like you know, it used to be that I only found one or two books that featured people who looked like me and she goes. Now there are authors I don't know and when I run into an author I don't know, I jump up and down for joy because that's a new discovery.
17:19 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Absolutely, absolutely, and she's right. She's right. We need to see more people of color in publishing, but not just in the writing process, also in the editing. Absolutely as well, to allow certain books to be told not just to brown children but to children. Yes, so when you don't tell a child, you know. I know that we have this whole thing about. We don't want white children to feel bad about slavery because of whatever, but it's a part of their history, just like it's a part of that Black child's history.
17:57 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And it has to be acknowledged for the pain to heal. There you go there you go, you know.
18:02
I've been this summer. I'm working with a couple of UVA classes on children's literature and we're talking a lot this week about Dr Sims Bishop and windows and mirrors and it's been so much fun for me to sort of see this evolution in my students thinking because these are all teachers, these are people who are seasoned, who are going for master's in reading or their library certifications, and there have been some who've gone. You know, I've always thought of it as you're giving kids mirrors. She's like I never thought about the windows part, the fact that we need to be able to see each other's stories to be able to move forward and to advance, and I was like, okay, we're making progress.
18:45 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
It may be tiny progress, but it's so important because it's so important.
18:47 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
It's a tiny progress, but it's so important because it's so important. I'm reading Black Boy Joy right now and I got to tell you that book has done my heart so much.
18:58 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Let me tell you oh, that you even mentioned that Because I got to meet. What is her name? It slips me right now, not Marisol, it's Mallory, kwame's wife. I got to meet Mallory For the first time at the PBS. I got to meet her at the PBS Summit and we hugged and we spent some time together getting to know her and Kwame wasn't able to make it. He had other things he was working on. But I told her that Black Boy Joy is something so fantastic. It is a gift. It really, really, really is a gift. It's such a gift and I'm like this is you tell Kwame? I told her you make sure you tell Kwame. He did that.
19:48 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Absolutely, and I'm hoping to get him on the podcast. I met him at a conference this spring and we talked and I'm really hoping he'll come on and talk about that book and his Tristan Strong series and all of the amazing things he's done.
20:03 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
He's done a lot of amazing things. Absolutely he, really has. You know how to pick them, girl.
20:08 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I'm a good reader and I love books, but let's talk about PBS. What's going on with PBS?
20:15 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
So about six years ago my agent told me. She said, vanessa. She said I got a feeling you're not going to be doing books your whole life. She said you have such a personality and you care about people. She said you really love children. She said and there's a whole bunch of artists out here and illustrators who do children's books, writers even who don't like children.
20:39 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Yep, which is crazy to me. How can you write for kids and not write?
20:42 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
for children. It's crazy, but you know what they're not writing for children.
20:45 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
They're writing for themselves. They're writing for their inner child to heal.
20:49 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
They're writing for their inner child and how to get that one healed. So she said I want to put a sizzle reel together. So she put a sizzle reel together and she sent it to a fabulous producer named Tone Time. And Tone has been working in Hollywood for a number of years. Actually, I think his brother is an actor, a famous actor as well, but Tone, amazingly, diane. I get to meet Tone for the first time in California and I'm sitting across the table going this man looks like somebody I know and I was like I couldn't stop staring at him and I'm looking into his eyes and I'm going, oh my gosh, it's, oh my goodness, it's the character from story. What is it? Oh my god, woody from Toy Story, tom Hanks. He was the model for him. Was he really, my God, woody from Toy Story, tom Hanks. He was the model for him. Was he really? He was the doll model and the model for the character that's amazing that you would put those two things together.
22:04
Yes, right and I'm sitting there going, oh my God. And he smiles and he looks just like Woody. That's hilarious. I was like this is amazing, this is amazing. I love that. It was one of the most amazing moments ever.
22:18
He said, yes, I was the model for the Woody doll and for the, the, the, the movie. And I was like this is amazing. What a crazy job. Yes, I know Right. So he took, he took the, he took the um sizzle reel and he said you know what? You really got something here.
22:37
And so they do something called the bible. They write the bible for the show. And so he writes the bible for the show. And, uh, I'm so blown away by how this man knows me without really knowing me, you know. And he sat there and he says you really love children, don't you? I said I love and adore children. And he said well, what about adults? I said I'm always trying to give adults a do-over, because you deserve one. You deserve one. If you didn't get picked for the baseball team, I got you. Come on. You know they didn't let you be in the club. I got you, you know. So it's watching them. Put this whole thing together. So the show is going to be a live situation where it's going to appear on what I think YouTube, I think Okay, and it's going to come into the cracks. It's going to come in between things like Arthur and Sesame Street or Bluey.
23:35 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
The short that fills that time between.
23:38 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Exactly, it's going to be a seven minute short. I will come on and we will do art together. That's what I'm really excited about. We'll do art and we're going to do music together. I'm very excitedbs is even more excited. I think that I am. And when is this going to air? Well, we're working on the pilot right now. So, uh, we've casted, uh, for several children to come on, as the show is for children between the ages of three to eight my favorite people, people, yes, my favorite people, yes, so I'm excited for it.
24:17
Even got to see Kwame Alexander, nice, and yes, and he's got a great show that's getting ready to come out on PBS and that's called Acoustic Rooster, one of his books.
24:29 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I remember that book. Oh how fun.
24:32 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
He's going to be teaching children jazz and I'm so excited about this program, so we learned about a whole lot of different things that are happening. But Tone and Lori my agent Lori really worked on this show. The show is called it's Me, miss V, where we have a small guest that comes in and they get to create art. We talk about it. It becomes animated. They get to see their own work animated on screen and then we sing a song and then we say goodbye. So I'm really excited for it.
25:03 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love that. Well, if you ever need a guest, you know where to reach out. Oh listen, you're already on the roster, Cause I will gladly come do art and.
25:13 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I got to tell you all talk about do-overs.
25:18 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
This lady has given me an artistic do-over. I have been doing her Zoom art classes and it is so much fun to discover that the girl who thought she couldn't do art can create, and I have been having so much fun with you, Vanessa.
25:33 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I'm so glad. I'm so glad when Koi, my sister Koi, and I came up with this class, I told her. I said I want to give people back what's been taken from them with life. Just, you know, the first time, diane, I think, you hear somebody in school when you're drawing and you're doing the best you can and you're already doubting yourself and they go oh, that's ugly. It does something to your spirit, it does something to your soul, your emotions. You know, and you begin to doubt everything after that. You know it's. I watch the reaction of children and sometimes I see them do this, when you know, kind of protect their work yep and it is.
26:17
I wanted to create a space where adults could come who have had maybe that same moment and it's stuck with you. And now you're 40 and it's still in there, or you're 60 and it's still in there. I'm here to help you get rid of it, so that you can move forward and do whatever it is that you put your mind to. If that is, I want to travel, and everybody say it's none of your business, this is not your dream, this is mine, and we have to really be careful, even who we share our dreams with. So when we have this common collage, you get to express yourself in a way that is freeing. We do a meditation.
27:00
Yeah, we do a meditation and then we do some collage, and collage is I call it the laxative to blocked anything If you're blocked emotionally to block anything If you're blocked emotionally, if you're blocked with your vision. Maybe you're trying to. You know, I'm trying to start a business and I don't even know where to start from, or whatever. This is going to help you ripping paper, tearing paper, cutting paper, pasting it down. It doesn't have to be a beautiful picture. It just has to be a beautiful moment of you being calm and relaxed, because when you are, you can start figuring out what it is that you need to do. And that's what I'm here to do. That's what we're here to do is to help you find your way through art.
27:45 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love it. So, ms V, in all your spare time, are you taking on life coaching people as well?
27:55 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
My sister said the same thing to me the other day, but I will tell you, diane, the tears that have fallen from my eyes with women that have come on, because it's mostly women, but I want to do men and children as well, of course. But I had some women that came on and one woman said this is my safe place, and it just brought tears to my eyes. She said I work hard during the week and she said whenever you have this calm and collage, I will be there. She said, because this is where I get to breathe, I get to be and not be judged. And that was everything to me, because that's exactly what I wanted it to be A safe place where you can create and not you shake off the judgment and pack it under and you rise above. You know. So it's good to see people slinging paint or a magic marker or a pen and not even really thinking about it.
28:49 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Just, you know, because when, when you draw, it becomes meditative it does, and it's a beautiful, safe place, and what you've done is you've created a beloved community where you've got people of all races and all ages and intergenerationally working isn't that awesome it's beautiful so I love. I highly recommend for those who are listening. If you need that break, follow Vanessa on Facebook, pay attention to her Instagram and when you get a chance to sign up for this class, do it. It's going to be the best couple hours of your week.
29:23 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Absolutely.
29:25 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, that feels like it's almost a good place to pause this, but I do want to ask before we go are there any other new projects on the horizon, things that are bringing you joy?
29:35 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
Oh, my gosh Right now, honestly dreaming. You know, I don't mind telling your audience. I was this person who slept with the TV on for a long time, many years, and I did it, and I want to be honest with you and your guests and tell you I had a fear of the dark. I really did. I had a staunch, very big fear.
30:02
My aunt, my family, is from Lowcountry South Carolina and my aunts are Gullah Geechee, and they would tell these stories about the boo hag, and the boo hag would come and she would ride you and what actually would happen is I would end up with sleep paralysis and it was scary. It was so, so scary. And they would tell us these stories every night, and every night I had sleep paralysis and so I would beg for them please leave on the light, don't turn off the light. I'm 61. Time to turn off the light, and I wasn't dreaming and you can't dream when the blue light is constantly there and so I had to turn it off, and so now I'm just reclaiming a whole bunch of things. Diane, I am walking in the grass, standing in the sunshine, sometimes crying, just listening to birds hugging trees. She's a tree hugger. Yes, I am a tree hugger there's nothing wrong with that and it's very, very healing.
31:10
People don't sleep on it and even down to taking off your shoes and walking in the grass.
31:15 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Absolutely.
31:16 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
It's grounding Walking meditation the.
31:18 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Buddhists do it all the time and I got to say it's a powerful practice.
31:22 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
It's a powerful practice and so just really taking the time to do that and then drawing afterwards, it is the most fabulous, healing, miraculous thing I've ever done. I've never been this grounded before ever.
31:40 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I love, the happiness and joy that's radiating off of you. You clearly are living off or living up to Shake it Off and I'm going to drop links to your original podcast to your website, to all your social media so that folks can follow you. Thank you so much for coming back to the Adventures in Learning podcast. I always like getting to catch up with you.
32:02 - Vanessa Brantley Newton (Guest)
I love you.
32:02 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Thank you, I love you too.
