Color Me In
Page 31
As an only child, my friends are also my family, and I am fortunate enough to say that there are a lot of you. So many that I am not sure I have the space to thank you each individually, but special shout-outs to my ILC loves, my Beacon ’05 high school loves, and my Wesleyan loves. Your friendships are what keep me going. Thanks for sticking around as long as you have. Please don’t ever leave me.
To Iluminada, Denis, Lusmaia, Dania, and the whole Díaz family, thank you for trusting me with your history. Sharing the surname Díaz with you is an honor and a privilege.
To my sister-in-law, Carla, thanks for getting it and reminding me that the words would flow again, even when they felt gone forever.
To my in-laws, Karen and Armand, and stepmom, Uta, thanks for being such enthusiastic cheerleaders!
To Rabbi Lisa Rappaport, thank you so much for your input. Your insight and advice were my guiding lights as I wrote this book. (Thank you to my cousin Debbie for the connection!)
To my generous and kind beta readers, I owe you the world. Satya, I cannot wait to offer you and your words the same support you gave to me and mine. Your writing is a gift, and the world ain’t ready for you! Sacha and Nicki and Julie, thank you so much for reading through uncorrected drafts and giving me the most thoughtful and helpful feedback. You were the doulas to my book birth, and I can’t properly articulate how useful and necessary your support was to this process.
To the Las Musas, muito obrigado eu agredeço mais do que você sabe.
Real talk: good teachers can change your life. I’d like to thank my teachers at the Beacon School. Specifically, Mr. Lehmann, Ms. Binder, Ms. Matthews, Ms. Radin, Lublin, Bay-bay, Mr. McKenna, Geoff, Mr. Streep, and Mr. Miller. My high school years remain the time in my life when I felt most comfortable in myself. Thank you for prioritizing an educational environment that allowed students to strive far beyond the confines of what the public education system dictates. Thank you for recognizing that the best way to educate young people is by putting an emphasis on their individual strengths and encouraging us to think outside the box.
To my husband, Matthew, who wakes me every morning with whispers of support and lulls me to sleep every night with the hum of unadulterated love, I thank you. Without your unwavering belief in me, I might have never had the courage to turn this book-shaped hole in my heart into Color Me In. Te amo mucho y siempre, mi amor.
And last, to Black and Brown women, the people who made me and raised me: thank you for your strength, your laughter, your sisterhood, your wisdom, your strength, your beauty, your tenacity, your resourcefulness, your power, your sense of self, your unyielding ability to press on with grace…aka your strength. I see you, and I will continue to fight for you.
With love and thanks,
Natasha
About the Author
NATASHA DÍAZ is a freelance writer and producer. As a screenwriter, Natasha was a quarterfinalist in the Austin Film Festival and a finalist for both the NALIP Diverse Women in Media Fellowship and the Sundance Episodic Story Lab. Her personal essays have been published on The Establishment and HuffPost. Color Me In is her debut young adult novel. Originally from New York City, Natasha now lives in Oakland, California.
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