Ben with John Stossel & Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute

Ben and Coulson debate a NYC school board member

His interview will be part of MSNBC’s Education Nation, a special about improving the American education system. Hopefully this time around, MSNBC won’t misidentify him as the black Ben Chavis who once ran the NAACP!

MSNBC Education Nation special

I am looking forward to watching the taping on Wednesday in New York City!

Warwick’s sold all 45 of its copies, and there were over 70 people in the audience. It was an excellent event with an incredible turnout. Thank you all for coming!

I have never been so self-promotional in my life and am beginning to wonder if I should be banished to a monastery for all my effusive urgings to buy the book, attend a signing, etc. etc. Or perhaps this year on Christmas I’ll get coal in my stocking. One friend wrote to me recently, “No need to apologize for self-promotion. As my mother used to say: It’s a poor dog that won’t wag his own tail.” While I take comfort in that to some extent, I worry other friends are thinking of a different dog-related idiom, which is “Every dog has its day” and we hope yours ends soon so we don’t have to hear about it anymore.

Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal’s Triumph in the Inner City has only been out for two weeks, but there’s been a whirlwind of activity surrounding it. I’m in a perpetual game of catch-up. I’ve been working on a Facebook fan page, which I invite you to join, and I have been trying to launch this Web site with the help of my friend Eugene Kaneko. I have now dubbed Eugene “webmaster flash” (for the fact that he designs sites using flash though ironically advised me against using it here, for his flash of genius, and for what I imagine to be the flash of white eyeballs rolling as I talk to him on the phone about a new idea I have for the Web site). If patience is a virtue—and I’m not sure it is, though it is certainly a wonderful coping tool for those who have it, myself not included—then Eugene possesses even more goodness than the hapless recipients of my all too frequent emails lately about the book.

So, let me be apologetic on the one hand (see above) and completely promotional on the other (see below) as I share upcoming events and the latest media attention for Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal’s Triumph in the Inner City.

Upcoming Events

“About Our Children”, MSNBC panel featuring Bill Cosby with Ben Chavis as a guest, Sunday, September 20, 2009, from 4-6 p.m. PST (7-9 ET):

MSNBC will host a 2-hour special called “About Our Children.” It will feature Bill Cosby and be moderated by Michelle Bernard, the president of the Independent Women’s Forum. Ben Chavis will be a guest panelist on this special program about poverty in America and its effect on education, health care, and other issues affecting youth. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32676326/

Book Signing, Warwick’s in La Jolla, Monday, September 28, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.:

Dr. Ben Chavis and I will be at Warwick’s in La Jolla, California, to discuss and sign our book. If you plan to attend and have not purchased a book, please wait and buy it at Warwick’s. Hope to see you there! http://www.warwicks.indiebound.com/event/ben-chavis

Book Reviews and an Opinion Piece

• From the San Francisco Chronicle, Mitchell Kapor
  • http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/11/RV6919JUOI.DTL
• From National Review, Mark Hemingway
  • http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGI0NzBlMTNiODZkMjBlZjhlYTdhZGMwZWViY2YzNGY
• From CNN.com, a piece by Dr. Ben Chavis that contains excerpts from Crazy Like a Fox
  • http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/07/chavis.education/
• From Native Visions Magazine, by James V. Locklear
  • Note: this piece is not online, but info. on Native Visions can be found at http://www.myspace.com/nativevisionsmagazine

Radio Shows

• From NPR’s “Tell Me More”
  • http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112636486
• From Radio Alice (scroll down to “Sunday Magazine: Dr. Ben Chavis”)
  • http://www.radioalice.com/pages/2067168.php
• From The Gil Gross Show (It’s a full hour of radio, though, not just Ben)
  • http://bayradio.com/podcasts/Gil2pm090209.mp3
• From KSFO 560 AM, Hot Talk Radio (It’s a full hour of radio, though, not just Ben)
  • KSFO Hot Talk with Dr. Ben Chavis
    
• Upcoming: From KALW in San Francisco, 91.7 FM
  • It will air on Monday, September 28, at 5 p.m., and you will be able to listen here: www.crosscurrentsradio.org