Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / My Super Duper Me From New England Patriot Malcolm Mitchell

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My Super Duper Me From New England Patriot Malcolm Mitchell · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: So he checked it out. Yet the entire process of
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Malcolm, how are you doing today?
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  Speaker 2: Good morning? How are you very.
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  Speaker 1: Excited to share a conversation with you? Because I've had
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  Speaker 1: so much fun with your book as an adult and
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  Speaker 1: I just love it when you do things like this
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  Speaker 1: because it gives me the opportunity to set the book
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  Speaker 1: out and see how many people are you know, levitate
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  Speaker 1: toward the book. It was adults, a more adults god
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  Speaker 1: into it and they smiled and they sat there and
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  Speaker 1: they go, I want a mister Burton. Where's mister Burton
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  Speaker 1: in my life? I mean, it's You've got a book
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  Speaker 1: here that is for all generations.
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  Speaker 2: Dude. Nah. I appreciate that as a as a writer,
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  Speaker 2: and I know you are as well. You know how
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  Speaker 2: much that means.
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  Speaker 1: It does mean something because we're called to do it
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  Speaker 1: and and and it's one of those whereas writers, we
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  Speaker 1: sit there and we have our days of doubt and
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  Speaker 1: lack of hope. But then you know, you team up
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  Speaker 1: with an illustrator or a publishing company and all of
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  Speaker 1: a sudden, it's like, we got to do this. It's
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  Speaker 1: actually happening exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And to watch an idea that it's kind of brainstorming
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  Speaker 2: ahead come to life is magical, right.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And and the and the magical part about it
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  Speaker 1: is is that my wife is a school teacher. So
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  Speaker 1: that's the reason why I take writing so seriously. Except
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  Speaker 1: the party is that she wants to teach reading. I
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  Speaker 1: want to teach writing. You need both of them for
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  Speaker 1: it to happen. When did you realize it? It's like whoa, whoa, whoa.
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  Speaker 1: Malcolm is more than just a reader. Malcolm's going to
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  Speaker 1: make books.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's after I read so many stories. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I was inspired to kind of reflect on my own life,
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  Speaker 2: because you know that's what happened as a reader. You
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  Speaker 2: begin to reflect and I think to myself, I was
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  Speaker 2: thinking to myself, well, I think I have a perspective
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  Speaker 2: that I can share that may be a bit different
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  Speaker 2: than the traditional perspective, and that's what started me to
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  Speaker 2: have ambitions as an author, when I felt I had
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  Speaker 2: a story to share that I had not seen yet.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you've got an important step inside that story when
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  Speaker 1: you introduce all the different styles of books. Because I
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  Speaker 1: sat here for the longest time reading about old books,
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  Speaker 1: new books, books with sports, books with people, and I
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  Speaker 1: would sit there and even today as an adult, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going now, I knew exactly what I was looking for
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  Speaker 1: when I went to that library because I did have
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  Speaker 1: a mister Burton at Ponderosa Elementary School, but in everyday life,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have that luxury. And I'm hoping that your
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  Speaker 1: book introduces that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I hope so as well. I mean, I remember
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  Speaker 2: growing up, and you know, I didn't always understand the
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  Speaker 2: importance of readings. You know, I was an athlete, so
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  Speaker 2: I thought sports were more important. Then I realized that
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  Speaker 2: that wasn't true, that through reading you could be so
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  Speaker 2: much more than imagine that. You can get introduced to
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  Speaker 2: new characters, to new people, to new outcomes, to new circumstances,
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  Speaker 2: and through that you begin to dream bigger dreams. So
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  Speaker 2: if no one has a version of mister Burton in
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  Speaker 2: their life. I hope that my super Duper Me really
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  Speaker 2: is presented as a vehicle to help kids understand the
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  Speaker 2: power of books.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the book really grabbed my attention because that word
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  Speaker 1: me is not a selfish me. In my storyline, me
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  Speaker 1: is we are all the CEO and President of me incorporated.
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  Speaker 1: So when I see something like this, I'm going he
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  Speaker 1: gets it. He understands it that if I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: sit here and I'm going to become the best that
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  Speaker 1: I ever am, it starts with earning. You see what
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  Speaker 1: I mean. It is me, but I have to earn
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  Speaker 1: that honor in order to share that honor exactly.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, one of the lines in the book, when
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  Speaker 2: THEO meets mister Burton, is built around that concept of earning.
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  Speaker 2: I'll read the line here. It says, build your strength
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  Speaker 2: with each new term. The best things in life are
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  Speaker 2: the ones that you earn. And honestly, that comes from
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  Speaker 2: a line that my mother used to tell me when
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  Speaker 2: I was growing up, to us to always say that
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  Speaker 2: nothing in life is nothing great and life is given
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  Speaker 2: you have to earn it. So if you want to
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  Speaker 2: be the best you that you can be, well you
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  Speaker 2: have to earn that too.
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  Speaker 1: Please don't move. There's more with Malcolm Mitchell coming up next.
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  Speaker 1: The name of the book my super Duper Me. We
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  Speaker 1: are back with NFL great Malcolm Mitchell. Well, speaking of
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  Speaker 1: earning Malcolm, the one thing that I love about the
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  Speaker 1: size of this book for our listeners is the fact
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  Speaker 1: that this is one of those books that I call it.
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  Speaker 1: It's what I call a mine book. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: I see that our children and grandchildren picking this book
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  Speaker 1: up and going mine, Mine, This is mine. And I
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  Speaker 1: think that everything about this, THEO and mister Burton, the
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  Speaker 1: size of the lettering, the pictures, the illustrations, everything in
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  Speaker 1: this makes this book mine. And that's how does that
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  Speaker 1: feel as an author, knowing that it went from you
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  Speaker 1: to mine.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's the magic with writing, because once you
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  Speaker 2: tell the story, once you wrote it down on paper,
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  Speaker 2: and once it's printed you know this, you kind of
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  Speaker 2: give it up and it becomes it becomes whoever encounters
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  Speaker 2: the story. It becomes theirs, and they can interpret it
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  Speaker 2: as they see fit. So if students are interacting with
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  Speaker 2: this story and they feel a sense of ownership, that
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  Speaker 2: that brings me great pride because there comes a lot
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  Speaker 2: of vulnerability in telling stories. Feel has a lot of struggles,
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  Speaker 2: similar struggles that I faced, has to go through this
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  Speaker 2: process of transformation through books, which is one that you
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  Speaker 2: know that I experience. So if any student grabs this book,
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  Speaker 2: interacts with the story and walks away hugging it, saying
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  Speaker 2: it is there, that's something I pay great pride in it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be that book that's gonna put
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  Speaker 1: them away from that, from that notebook, I mean, and
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  Speaker 1: from that that smartphone that parents like to shove into
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  Speaker 1: their kids' hands, I mean. And that's and I think
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  Speaker 1: that's the reason why I'm so charged up about the
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  Speaker 1: size of this because little ones love big books. They
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  Speaker 1: love to sit there and put their fingers and their
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  Speaker 1: face and everything all over it. And you guys went
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  Speaker 1: the right way with this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what. I have two young children.
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  Speaker 2: I have a six year old and I have a
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  Speaker 2: two year old, and I tell my wife all the time,
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  Speaker 2: let them interact with the book however they see fit,
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  Speaker 2: because as long as they're not staying got a screen,
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  Speaker 2: we got them right, world we want.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, as I grew up, I grew up
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  Speaker 1: with all the you know, the Mother Goose movies and
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  Speaker 1: movies as well as stories like that. But the thing
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  Speaker 1: is is, I'm so jealous of this modern day generation
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  Speaker 1: because of writers like yourself that said, yeah, I had
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  Speaker 1: that too, but we need to have something different here.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, you even cover that when you take the
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  Speaker 1: subject doubt and you give it a real kind of
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  Speaker 1: appeal to it in the way of saying it's soft
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  Speaker 1: and low and that the courage itself will tell you
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  Speaker 1: to shout and get up. In other words, you we
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  Speaker 1: all have doubt, but you're teaching us get up, get
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  Speaker 1: up and keep going. You've got the courage to do it.
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  Speaker 2: I tell you what that may be the athlete and
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  Speaker 2: me coming out in the story. In a story, there
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  Speaker 2: are a lot of quotes that I use that I
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  Speaker 2: took from my experience as an athlete. I'll give you
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  Speaker 2: another one. You are not less than you are more
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  Speaker 2: than you know. You must keep going for your story
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  Speaker 2: to grow. I remember being in training camps, wanting to
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  Speaker 2: give up and just persevering, and through that perseverance, man,
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  Speaker 2: so many great things happen. I'll tell you another one
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  Speaker 2: of my favorite lines, and this one I got from
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  Speaker 2: reading the World's Greatest Wonders. Refused to conform. Why blend
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  Speaker 2: in when you are made to transform?
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, I go.
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  Speaker 2: I go to so many schools and everyone's trying to
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  Speaker 2: be like each other on social media. And it's like,
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  Speaker 2: as when you become an adult, you realize the power
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  Speaker 2: is to be exactly who you are, and that's the
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  Speaker 2: greatest gift that you can give to the world. So
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  Speaker 2: I hope that my super dude for me just encourage
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  Speaker 2: students everywhere to read, to embrace books and be the
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  Speaker 2: best that they can be.
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  Speaker 1: Well, one of the training projects that you've had also
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  Speaker 1: as well, is that you've been with the Patriots, and
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  Speaker 1: we here in Charlotte have a big connection to the
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  Speaker 1: Patriots now and the reason why is because of Drake May.
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  Speaker 1: He was our favorite, favorite high school student that went
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  Speaker 1: on to the unbelievable Patriots. And so now anytime that
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  Speaker 1: a Patriot walks anywhere near me, it's like, you're taking
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  Speaker 1: care of my boy, right, I mean, he's our boy.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you guys, can you have him for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: But Drake has always been our quarterback when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to high school and up, dude.
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  Speaker 2: I can embrace that. He's an extraordinary player. I did
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  Speaker 2: not get a chance to play with him, but I
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  Speaker 2: have had a chance to become a fan of his,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm rooting for him. He's extraordinary.
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  Speaker 1: Are you working the way of getting your books such
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  Speaker 1: as My Super Duper Me into animation, Because you know
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  Speaker 1: how Netflix and Hulu are, their door is flying wide
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  Speaker 1: open to get authors like yourself to step in because
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  Speaker 1: it's real writing, it's authenticity when it comes to human emotion.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I haven't been presented with that opportunity yet,
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  Speaker 2: but I will be more than happy to explore it
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  Speaker 2: if something came along. I think any opportunity to connect
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  Speaker 2: with students in a meaningful way, whether it be through
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  Speaker 2: writing books, or writing scripts or an animated series, should
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  Speaker 2: be explored. There's so many ways to connect with students now.
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  Speaker 2: As you mentioned earlier that if you're not willing to
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  Speaker 2: explore those areas that I think you really kind of
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  Speaker 2: sell the work short. So if there's any opportunity, I'll
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  Speaker 2: definitely kind of walk into that with you know, an
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  Speaker 2: open mind to try to see what we can make happen.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that I want to do and
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  Speaker 1: I want listeners in re readers to also understand this
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  Speaker 1: is it. I want them to go into the deep,
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  Speaker 1: deep soul of the NFL in the way that I
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  Speaker 1: have always been so inspired by how the players are
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  Speaker 1: community driven. This book is community driven. It just seems
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  Speaker 1: like anybody who participates with the NFL, you've got something
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  Speaker 1: involving the community. My God, I love that. And for
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  Speaker 1: your heart to be so open and to welcome so
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  Speaker 1: many people in right now. That takes teamwork as well,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we're all in this together, yes, you know it.
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  Speaker 2: Really we got to think of community, not just as
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  Speaker 2: in where we are currently physically existing, but all of
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  Speaker 2: us being on this journey together. What we do as
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  Speaker 2: individuals impacts the entire group. I think this country could
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  Speaker 2: benefit from being more literate. I think communities can benefit
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  Speaker 2: from being more literate. So, you know, my world on
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  Speaker 2: the team, I believe, is to inspire as many kids
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  Speaker 2: as possible to read and embrace the of books.
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  Speaker 1: And not just read, not just read, but also write
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  Speaker 1: because they because you started somewhere, somebody taught you how
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  Speaker 1: to write.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is a There are many people who have
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  Speaker 2: played a huge role in my journey and just sitting
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  Speaker 2: down with me understanding things and learning along the way.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned your wife is an educator, and I think
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  Speaker 2: that's one of the greatest assets that this country has
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  Speaker 2: as educators.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Malcolm?
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  Speaker 1: Because I know that you're on this this is authentic.
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  Speaker 1: It is really reaching out to young adults.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you can find more find out more about me
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  Speaker 2: and my foundation to Read with Malcolm dot com. You
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  Speaker 2: can also find my super Duper Me at your local
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  Speaker 2: independent booksellers or anywhere online. All you have to do
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  Speaker 2: is type in my super Duper Me and it'll pop
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  Speaker 2: up for you.
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  Speaker 1: Please come back to the show anytime in the future.
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  Speaker 1: I know we got the Caro a lot of panthers
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  Speaker 1: down here, but we got kids down here that and
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  Speaker 1: they're more than just a football fan, you know, So
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  Speaker 1: please come back. I will love that and be be
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  Speaker 1: brilliant today.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, yes, Likewise