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It’s a beautiful day to vote. Back in December, I was anticipating this. I thought maybe a confetti cannon would go off when I filled in the box to the left of my name. (It did not.)

I was ballot 1,238 at 2:17 pm at Carpenter library.

City Strong. Public Proud.

Public schools are a public good. The call to support them should be uncontested. You can support the Mann Elementary PTO by buying a shirt like the one I’ve been wearing on the campaign trail.

If you’d like a sign for your city business, drop me a line.

I biked to and from work today with heavy precipitation on the way in and 25 mph winds during both trips. My newer co-workers couldn’t believe it. I’ve ridden in much worse weather. If you get used to doing difficult, uncomfortable things, you’ll know you’ve got it in you when the time comes. On the way home, Lewis Clayborn, the crossing guard at Tower Grove and Vista, yelled “How’d you do?” in reference to yesterday’s primary. In the moment it took to get through the intersection (and with a car and lot of wind noise between us), I wasn’t able to explain that there wasn’t a primary election for the Board of Education and that I’ll just be on the general election ballot on April 8, so I yelled back, “Good, good!”

I explained my absence from the primary ballot several times yesterday while handing out business cards for eight hours at Buder Library. Interacting with voters at the polls forces you to condense your initial pitch and quickly read people and iterate to figure out what works to get literature in hands. I was the only school board candidate there. I also had volunteers (thank you, Amanda Doyle, Anita Doyle, Byron Kerman, Kate Malorin, Christine Ingrassia, and Vanessa Carroll!) at six other locations.

I’ve been going at it hard since I filed on December 10. In campaigning as in life, I believe in starting early and consistently putting in the work. It’s just how I’m wired. I’m hoping the effort is reflected in the election results, but even if it isn’t, I’ll know I made a solid attempt.

Before today, the last time I saw Lewis was February 25. Before that, it’d been a long time because I rarely go into the office anymore. I hopped out of the passenger seat to talk to him, and he immediately recognized me even without my distinctive pink bike. I told him I was running for school board. He enthusiastically offered to be my campaign manager and planted one of my yard signs at the corner.

When Lewis is with you, you can’t lose. The great thing is that Lewis is with a lot of people. He’s a genius with a mental catalog of thousands (tens of thousands?) of faces. When I was commuting to work five days a week, he was often the best part of my day. St. Louis has a lot of problems, but I love this city because of people like Lewis.

From my campaign manager, Amanda E. Doyle:

Hey, friends: in honor of Black History Month, and even though I can’t seem to get my book banned despite it discussing accurate American history, here we go again.

For the month of February 2025, I will be donating my profits from the online sales of Standing Up for Civil Rights in St. Louis to the Left Bank Books Literacy and Justice Project, providing free copies of banned books to households that request them (often, these are books written by authors who are Black, brown, female, or LGBTQ+…or a combination of these!) 

To buy a copy of this IPPY award-winning book (co-authored with Dr. Melanie Adams), here’s the link, and I’m happy to personalize and ship it to you for no extra charge.

This is a lot to process.

While I was at the Touhill Performing Arts Center for the MLK celebration today, Friedens United Church of Christ at the corner of 19th and Newhouse was burning (video). I’ve spent some time on that corner. It means a lot to me.

I was last there for a walking tour of the Hyde Park neighborhood in August.  I took a bunch of photos.

Previously, I was the director of North St. Louis YouthBuild, a construction training and GED program housed at Friedens.

Before that, I was the treasurer of Friedens Neighborhood Foundation. Before that, I  helped organize a breakdancing competition at Friedens and attended the free community lunches on Wednesdays.

I’ve maintained an unreasonable hope that something would breathe new life into those buildings. Now it seems they’ve passed on to the other side.

If you had plucked my alter ego Mosh Hard out of the pit at an Urge concert at Kennedy’s in the early 90s and told me that in 30-something years I’d be running for school board and Steve Ewing would endorse me, I’d be like, “Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” Steve’s brought so much joy to my life. Four Years of Flavor, the photography book about him, is dropping in about a week.