Roberto Germán [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of, but not limited to what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Roberto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session. Welcome back to Our Classroom. Today's guest is Christy Mihaly, an award winning author and poet who has written more than 40 books for young readers. Wow. Many focused on history, civics.
Roberto Germán [00:00:44]:
That's something that's lost in our education system these days and social justice. Her newest book, Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals, explores the life of the legendary cellist and activist whose art and silence became acts of protest. And by the way, Christy plays the cello, so Christy has that connection with Pablo Casals. Welcome, Christy.
Christy Mihaly [00:01:22]:
Thank you so much. It's great to be here.
Roberto Germán [00:01:25]:
Well, great to have you. And I learned about you through Lynette Marshall of the Flourish Collective. So shout out to Lynnette.
Christy Mihaly [00:01:36]:
Absolutely.
Roberto Germán [00:01:37]:
Can you start by just sharing what is your connection to the Flourish Collective? Because folks might not know, and they also might not know a lot about the Flourish Collective, but they are doing some awesome work and they have been great supporters and allies of me and Lorena, Multicultural Classroom. We really appreciate them and their partnership with us and us being able to serve as an impact partner. But can you share with us what is your connection with the Flourish Collective?
Christy Mihaly [00:02:10]:
The Flourish Collective is awesome, as you said, and I am just beginning to work together with them. I am doing a presentation for Earth Day with them about one of my other books, but Lynnette and I went to college together, and that is how we know each other. We've been working on some alumni stuff lately. So she. I was so pleased that she connected us because we are all. We are all in this world together trying to make good things happen. So.
Roberto Germán [00:02:46]:
Well, I'm glad that you and Lynnette are connected, but also that she connected us. And it gave me the opportunity to learn a little bit about your work as an author, to read some of your books. Thank you for sending them. And also we got to connect offline as I have a lot of questions and curiosities about writing children's book and children's books in the process. So I appreciate your insights and looking forward to writing my own children's book. But in the meantime, in between time, we're here to talk about you and your work.
Christy Mihaly [00:03:24]:
All right.
Roberto Germán [00:03:25]:
And I'm curious to know what drew you to Pablo Casals' story and why do you believe this was a story? Children needed today, you know, like who. You know, people are asking, who, who's this Pablo guy?
Christy Mihaly [00:03:39]:
Who's that guy? Right, yeah, exactly. Which is why he needed a book about him for kids. As you mentioned, Roberto, I sort of play the cello. I started taking cello lessons as an adult and I really, I strongly that, you know, the longer you live, the more you should take up new things that you don't know how to do yet. So I'm not good at playing the cello, but I have loved learning it and playing music with other people. So when you play the cello, you quickly find out who was Pablo Casals? Because he was a. He is a giant among the. In the cello world.
Christy Mihaly [00:04:19]:
He really revolutionized how people play the cello and think about the cello. So that was the first I knew about him. But I really. The more I learned about his life story. We actually spent a year living in Spain and I spent a lot of time learning there about the history of Spain. And I learned. And he is a big part of the history of Spain. So I learned more about his life.
Christy Mihaly [00:04:48]:
I became just enchanted with his life story. It's such an interesting childhood. He just fell in love with cello and he just followed that passion and gave up, you know, from an early age, gave up living at home, gave up living with his family in order to follow this, this dream of his. And at the same time, he had this, this moral core to him that led him to stand up and essentially full circle, give up that thing that he had loved so much and, and really made an impact that way. I also loved that he was not actually Spanish, he's Catalan. And what do we know here about, you know, the whole history of Catalonia? Nothing. And I wanted to share that story. I just felt increasingly so.
Christy Mihaly [00:05:38]:
I also wanted to say this story has been rattling around in my mind for about 14 years. 15 years, 16 years. Because I started thinking about writing it at the very beginning of when I was starting to write for K. Before then, I'd been a lawyer for 20 plus years. I put that away. I said, I want to write for kids now. And I began to think, you know, there's not a book for kids about Pablo Casals. I want to write one.
Christy Mihaly [00:06:08]:
But I didn't know yet how to do it, how to go about it, any of that. So I spent many years revising and rewriting and rethinking how I was going to tell this story. And increasingly, as those years went on, I realize we are in this time when his story is more relevant than ever. This age of self Aggrandizing rulers and so much cruelty. And here was this humble man ruled by kindness and love, and yet he was so strong and so influential and made such a difference. So that was eventually what I realized was the core of the story that I wanted to share with kids.
Roberto Germán [00:06:55]:
So important, so important. And my understanding is that many people know Casals as a musician, but not as an activist. So what do you hope readers understand about who he really was?
Christy Mihaly [00:07:13]:
Well, he really was an amazing musician and a person who loved music so much, but he himself said he was a human being first and a musician second. He. The fact that he loved music so much gives you the context for realizing what a sacrifice he was making when he just, you know, hung up his cello and he said, no more. I will not play anymore for you people. You have to listen to me. You have to make Spain free. He believed he. So I want people to understand that he had such a strong sense of what was the right thing to do.
Christy Mihaly [00:07:59]:
That's what I want people to know. And he did it. I mean, I consider him a hero. He's not like a superhero who can leap tall buildings, but he. What he did was make a painful sacrifice because he thought it was the thing he could do that would be most effective to help change the world and bring others to his cause of a free Spain. So.
Roberto Germán [00:08:31]:
And we need everyday heroes. We don't necessarily need people leaping from buildings, but we need folks that are willing to have enough courage to make the tough decisions, to make the sacrifices, to take the small steps forward that'll be impactful not just for one individual, but for a society of people.
Christy Mihaly [00:08:58]:
Right.
Roberto Germán [00:08:59]:
I'm still learning about Casals, but one of the most striking parts of his story is that he stopped performing as a matter of protest. What does it teach us when someone chooses silence rather than participation?
Christy Mihaly [00:09:19]:
Such a good question. When he chose silence, he wasn't choosing to say nothing. He chose not to participate in a system that he saw that was injustice. But his silence spoke loudly, Right? He was taking a loud stand. It's like a boycott. When we don't buy something because we don't want to participate in whatever system is producing that thing, we're taking a stand that way. It's not the same as he was not hiding. He was not sitting on the sidelines.
Christy Mihaly [00:09:59]:
He was. Well, also, he kept. He kept doing what he had been doing, writing letters, calling on world leaders to bring freedom to Spain. He was making a big noise with his silence. And so when we say someone is choosing silence, I think what it means to protest. I think what it means is we are refusing, refusing to go along with this thing, that this injustice. We're going to be loud by refusing to go along.
Roberto Germán [00:10:46]:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Reminds me of something. Former NBA basketball player Kwame Brown, when he's doing his lives, he talks about the get along, go along game. And we have to have individuals that are willing to go against the current. And in the line of work that we do here with multicultural classroom, we spend a lot of time in schools. We support a lot of educators. What my educators learn from Casals about using their gifts, voice and platform in moments of injustice.
Christy Mihaly [00:11:29]:
Okay, well, first of all, I do not feel worthy to advise educators, because in my view, educators are the superheroes right now. You know, you all are doing such important work with kids, teachers, librarians, oh, my gosh, all the things. But I do have some thoughts, because you do have a platform. And that's what Gonzalez had. He had a platform because of the work he had done as a musician. Not everyone has that. Teachers, educators have that. So we have to, again, if we see something that's happening that isn't right, what do we do? We try not to go along with it.
Christy Mihaly [00:12:17]:
We stand up and we say, what's wrong with it? It's not easy right now, as we see around the country. But, you know, that's what I can say is, you know, you're already doing the work, you're already representing the kids, but there's stuff going on that's not right out there. And we can model for our young people not going along, not going along with injustice.
Roberto Germán [00:12:49]:
And to that end of not going along with injustice, A brother, kb, who's a renowned music artist, Christian music artist, a number of times I've heard him say, you have to count the cost. And Casal's protests came at a real personal cost. Why is it important for us to teach children that standing for justice is often costly?
Christy Mihaly [00:13:20]:
So that's another great point. What are you, a teacher? Yeah. The sacrifice that Casals made is what brought attention to what he was doing. People knew that he was sacrificing hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, and he was giving up. The thing he loved to do most in the world is play his music for folks out there. And he was so famous and beloved as a musician that when he did that, people sat up and took notice. So the cost is part of what makes it powerful. I mean, I've researched and written about.
Christy Mihaly [00:14:15]:
I've interviewed people who were at the protests in selma, in the 60s and the children's march where young people, kids were marching, putting themselves in danger, getting arrested and beaten. It's happening now. People are standing up for immigrants. This is not without risk when we do these things, but it's, you know, every individual needs to make the, the, the, the calculation within their own soul. What am I willing to put on the line? How important is this? And this is what Casal said. What do I have to do to be able to live with myself? That's, that's really what it's about. How do I have to act in this moment so that I feel good about what I've done? And sometimes it costs something. And we do want young people to know that.
Christy Mihaly [00:15:15]:
I think of the young people fighting for gun safety laws coming out of Florida. Right. You know, it can take a very long time, and you, you know, you can sacrifice a lot during the, during the campaign, but that is how, that is how we make a difference slowly over time.
Roberto Germán [00:15:32]:
So this. That's right. Process is gradual, you know, you know, progress takes time. So where can folks follow you if they want to learn more about your work? They want to check out your books, they want to connect with you? Where can they follow you?
Christy Mihaly [00:15:54]:
Well, I do have a website. I think I've given you that link. I'm on Instagram. I am trying to stay off social media a little more these days, but I have an author page on Facebook and I do put announcements and news on, on those channels. On my website, there's a form where you can contact me. And I do welcome people to reach out if they've got questions or would like to chat.
Roberto Germán [00:16:23]:
So that would be Christy.mihaly.com Christy C H R I S T Y M I h a l y.com a and on Facebook, Christy Mihaly Instagram christy@christymihali so, folks, go ahead, please follow up, check out, read this story and learn about somebody that you did not know about before. At least I didn't. But I, I think some of y' all don't know about Pablo Casals. And you should learn about Pablo Casals. You should also learn about Christy and the, the great work that she's doing and the books that she's put out. But this, this particular book. All right, check it out.
Roberto Germán [00:17:06]:
Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals. Christy, thanks for being here. It's been a pleasure to hear from you, to learn from you, and look forward to digging into not just this book, but some of the other content that you have put out and that is to come.
Christy Mihaly [00:17:27]:
Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Roberto Germán [00:17:29]:
As always, your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race, bias, education and society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com Peace and love for from your host, Roberto Germán.
