LHHS grad’s latest novel

MS. WRITE

The LHHS graduate behind the 1991 hit Rush just published her seventh book, Neglect ›

Interview by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB Photo courtesy of KIM WOZENCRAFT

Since graduating from Lake Highlands High School in the 1970s, Kim Wozencraft has seen some horrible, fantastic and incredible things. Fortunately for us, some of her most harrowing experiences have fueled riveting works of fiction.

Her latest novel, Neglect, is about a financially struggling mom who joins the Army Reserve. That impulsive decision leads to a tour in Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress, addiction and a woman’s fight for herself and her children inside an infuriating system.

Wozencraft’s seventh book is an intense page-turner, but her first, 1990’s Rush, remains the most famous. Its film adaptation stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as an undercover narcotics officer who becomes addicted to street drugs, has a love affair with her partner and lands in prison for falsifying evidence. The story bears strong resemblance to Wozencraft’s real life. From her home in upstate New York, Wozencraft speaks about then, now and why coming back to Texas still makes her nervous.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE SEEING YOUR LIFE PLAYED OUT IN THE MOVIE, RUSH?

It was bizarre, but I never saw that as me. I saw that as my character, her own person. It did feel fantastic, gratifying, to see the book made into the movie. It was a long time coming and a lot of work.

YOU MARRIED AND DIVORCED YOUR REAL-LIFE PARTNER — HAD YOU KEPT IN TOUCH?

No. I think he died a few years ago.

WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU KNEW YOU WERE IN TOO DEEP WITH DRUGS?

Yes, and at that point, as I testified in federal court, I went to the chief of police in Tyler, Texas, and told him. And he said to get back out there and make more cases.

WHEN WRITING RUSH, HOW MUCH WAS TRAUMATIC VERSUS THERAPUTIC?

At the time, I felt like it was therapeutic. But I struggled with addiction for many years before, during and after the book. I didn’t realize until maybe 12 years ago the degree to which I had PTSD and how it was impacting my life. Also, at a time when I should have been developing my own personality, I was assuming personalities. I suffered from stunted growth in that area for a long time.

Even though some of the experiences I had were horrible, I feel like they’ve helped me understand the world in a way that I never would have. That’s true for everyone — we all have our understanding of how we walk on the planet based on what we’ve been through.

HOW DID YOU WORK THROUGH THE TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, GUNFIGHTS, THREATS ON YOUR LIFE?

Once I was released from Kentucky prison, I had to do a halfway house in Dallas, and as soon as I finished there, I left Texas as quickly as I could. I was scared somebody would try to kill me, and it took me a long time — I still am not completely comfortable coming back. I just have to tell myself, that’s just your ego talking. Nobody wants to kill you.

I still grapple with it. For a long time I felt like I should be strong enough to get over the terror I went through — like waking up with a double-barrel shotgun pointing at me. I wondered why I was having flashbacks and panic attacks. Finally, I started therapy. You do the work and hopefully see some improvement, and then at a certain point, it’s time to try to just live a normal life. Humor helps. I like to make the joke that for me the word ‘trigger’ is a trigger. And I’m happy to be sober. Even when it’s painful.

HOW DID YOU END UP IN LAW ENFORCEMENT?

After high school, I was working at Town East Mall, at an ice cream parlor called Farrell’s. There were two criminal justice majors who came in on weekends and talked about it.

When I graduated in ’73, women did not have the options they have today. I could not see myself as a nurse, teacher or homemaker. I think those are all essential, wonderful things. But it’s nice to have more options. Even at Farrell’s, they only let girls work as cashiers or waitresses, not the fountain, which was the glamor job. But I worked my way up by showing I would wash dishes and bus tables. Finally they let me scoop ice cream.

BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING AT FARRELL’S WASN’T ENOUGH?

(Laughs) I felt there was more out there. I grew up in a Catholic household and had a pretty set idea of what was right and wrong, good and evil. Becoming a police officer felt like a good thing.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WRITING FICTION?

The real world can be a difficult place to live in. So it’s nice to escape from it into a fictional world. While the fictional worlds that I escape into are sometimes every bit as difficult as the real world, it is an exploration, a way to try to make sense of the world.

WHAT IS YOUR BEST WORK, DO YOU THINK?

Neglect. I feel like it was a leap forward for me as a writer. My agent is also an editor, and she made such a difference in this book. I think the prose is the best I’ve written. It was a very difficult book to write, because it is about tough subjects. But I hope it finds people who have been through difficult situations in life and are looking to see that experience portrayed in books.

WHERE DOES YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE FACTOR INTO NEGLECT?

There is my own experience of PTSD. Also, I teach college, and I had students who were coming back from Afghanistan, and I saw how they were struggling. Also, between my experience in Tyler and prison, I enlisted in the Air Force. But the FBI showed up and life changed track. I watched a lot of YouTube videos of battle scenes, and I had firsthand experience of being in shootouts.

Questions/ answers have been edited for brevity.

THREE CANDIDATES & THE STATE OF THE DISTRICT

OVER HALF-PINT BREWS AND SLICES OF PIZZA, THREE CANDIDATES VYING FOR RISD’S

DISTRICT 5 BOARD SEAT, which serves the Lake Highlands area, answered reader-submitted questions in late March at Oak Highlands Brewery. The Advocate’s Carol Toler moderated the event.

Candidates Rachel McGowan, Kile Brown and Jan Stell introduced themselves and discussed their goals for Lake Highlands schools and RISD as a whole.

There were emotional moments, and some moments brought pause and led to further questioning. At one point during the “agree” or “disagree” portion, where answers were indicated by red or green sides of a paddle, Stell twirled hers, indicating ambivalence related to questions about social emotional learning and mask mandates. She voiced concern about how much time is dedicated to non-academic tasks in comparison to time spent on academics when asked about social emotional learning.

Brown brought up his West Point education and corporate experience to drive home the importance of diversity and inclusion in schools.

McGowan pulled examples from her kids’ experiences at Lake Highlands schools and what difficulties they’ve had or where they’ve excelled and where there’s room for improvement.

Here’s how candidates answered a few of the pressing questions, in ballot order.

RISD HAS STRUGGLED TO FIND SUBS DURING THE PANDEMIC. WHY DO YOU THINK TEACHERS ARE LEAVING JOBS THEY TRAINED FOR, AND WHAT CAN RISD DO ABOUT THAT?

MCGOWAN: “I’ve had teachers talk about the training, the lack of training and things that they feel like they need more training, and they’re not being heard. They’re feeling like they’re not seen and heard from the district-level down. They’re just not feeling like they have been protected and taken care of overall. We’ve got to put the training in for these ladies and young men, and we’ve got to advocate and fight for our teachers. They are our greatest resource. And we’ve got to get creative.”

BROWN: “One of the key things we need to do is get a leader who’s had experience in developing a culture of professionalism, a culture of joy, if you will, if you can call it that as a teacher, but certainly enthusiasm for the job. But it’s also got to provide some structure within that framework to be able to give senior teachers a career path. And what we see from both the private and public sector is that that can make a difference in bigger ways than adding to their salary.”

STELL: “Our principals are key. They set the atmosphere in the classroom, for the teachers, they’ll back them up. Surely we can pay our teachers because, like you say, money talks. I think they need support. We should do surveys to find out; I’m sure each building is a little bit different. They either need more backup in terms of discipline, they need more backup in terms of counselors and not just looking at one size fits all. I think we need to look outside the box and make some hard decisions to take care of our most precious asset, which is our teachers.”

TEST SCORES HAVE DROPPED. WHAT CAN THE DISTRICT DO TO BOOST STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES?

MCGOWAN: “RISD does do Saturday school, which I think is a great concept, and we also do peer helpers at the high school level where they actually go to the elementary schools and hang out with the students. I think we could do a lot of those things better in our district. I think there’s nothing wrong with giving our kids a little bit more of an extension of the year after COVID, even if they’re straight-A students.”

BROWN: “Teach the subject as best you can. We’ve got key essential tasks within each subject. Focus on those should be incorporated with whatever our curriculum is itself and help kids understand and be ready to take a test, those that actually work.”

STELL: “We’ve all talked about COVID a lot. I actually went back into TEA and pulled our ISD, not by schools, but by the district. But I think we need to relook at what we’re embracing in terms of where we’re spending our time or energy. If we’ve been dealing with this for 10 years, obviously, we need a fresh eye on that. And we need to look outside the box. I’m concerned. Again, I think we’re a Blue Ribbon School.”

WHAT ARE THREE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF AN RISD SUPERINTENDENT?

MCGOWAN: ”They know our district, culture makeup and improvement and are financially savvy.”

BROWN: “They have experience raising the academic bar, love kids and teachers, and engage in daily tasks uninterrupted.”

STELL: “They are happy to be here, understand the culture and diversity and value the schools’ money, time and energy.”

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE INSIDE A DISTRICT 5 SCHOOL BUILDING?

MCGOWAN: “A week or so at Forest Meadow Junior High, helping son and teammates get fitted for basketball uniforms.”

BROWN: “At the Espree show a few weeks ago in the Lake Highlands High School auditorium.”

STELL: “At Moss Haven Elementary last Christmas.”

RISD OFFICIALS SAY, “ALL MEANS ALL AT RISD.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? AND DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT?

MCGOWAN: “I definitely agree with that. When those little people walk into these rooms in these buildings, all means all, I’m going to love these people just like, I want you to, like I love my own, right. And so I’m going to welcome them and take care of them and protect them and teach them because they are just little sponges and they can become many things they want to become. I want to see more diversity in Lake Highlands.”

BROWN: “That’s easy to say, harder to do. Because when diversity, if this is a journey, diversity makes it a lot more fun. The equality part of it makes sure everyone gets to contribute along the way. And inclusion means everybody makes it to the final destination.”

STELL: “Three little letters: A, L, L. All important letters. We need committed administrators, we need committed trustees, we need committed principals that bring their children who don’t necessarily speak English, but they want to give them equal access to be the best that they can possibly be.”

MAKING HISTORY

Our neighborhood high school’s first-ever African-American studies program

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

ON A TUESDAY AFTER-

NOON, a beaming strawberry-blonde teacher stands outside the Lake Highlands High School classroom where she has taught history for 24 years.

Passing teens pause to chat. She tells one she is sorry, but he’s not eligible for tomorrow’s field trip to a museum Downtown. He hangs his head in mock despair, yet smiles as if he knew what she would say.

The curriculum Casey Boland teaches on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons — focused on the history and culture of Black Americans — differs from her other courses.

Class starts — today’s lesson is about events leading up to the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi German regime.

“Why in the world, as an African American studies class, are we visiting the Holocaust Museum this week?” Boland rhetorically asks the class. “Remember, it’s the Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. The steps that go into producing autocracies and genocides are the steps that also led to situations in America where people of color are treated as second-class citizens.

“I want y’all to take some notes. This is going to get deep and heavy today.”

In April 2020 the Texas State Board of Education approved the elective African-American history course for grades 9-12. Berkner piloted it in Richardson ISD last year. This is the first time LHHS has offered it. Boland — who has taught college-level history for decades and believes “Black history is history” — was excited to

Students Keyilah Rowe, Jaden and Prince look through textbooks from the class.

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SUB SOLD SOLD Year-To-Date Year-To-Date Avg Days on Avg. Sales Avg. Sales AREA MAR ‘21 MAR ‘22 Sales ‘22 Sales ‘21 Market YTD Price YTD ‘21 Price YTD ‘20 1 5 3 6 11 11 $494,500.00 $375,181.00 2 16 3 17 26 21 $397,054.00 $303,602.00 3 12 10 20 22 23 $396,436.00 $297,367.00 4 22 23 55 55 27 $290,151.00 $241,873.00 5 6 11 20 20 34 $358,210.00 $358,788.00 6 4 2 5 8 51 $676,360.00 $497,910.00 7 8 6 17 17 20 $605,073.00 $490,000.00 8 3 0 2 11 40 $493,375.00 $585,400.00 9 5 4 9 16 51 $656,167.00 $503,004.00 10 11 16 37 21 28 $251,950.00 $165,972.00 11 0 2 2 4 5 $792,750.00 $817,013.00 12 1 2 5 5 4 $839,600.00 $640,400.00 13 16 9 23 30 32 $546,668.00 $428,145.00 14 2 6 11 4 14 $654,545.00 $509,375.00 15 10 5 13 18 26 $529,538.00 $441,528.00 TOTAL 121 102 242 268 387 $7,982,377.00 $6,655,558.00 AVG 8.06 6.80 16.13 17.86 25.80 $532,158.46 $443,703.86

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Casey Boland has been teaching history at LHHS for 24 years.

High school student Jonathan Ishimwe Shema sits at his desk.

lead the class, she says. But there was some pushback, because she is not African-American.

Student Fathia Fasasi says when she saw a white teacher at the helm, she almost dropped.

“Honestly, I was discouraged. I thought she was going to be like other teachers I have had, sugarcoating things. Now, I am so glad. She knows what she’s talking about.”

About 100 students, three of them white, are enrolled in Black studies this semester. Fasasi points out that in her other classes, mostly advanced placement, the demographics are the opposite.

“Look around this room,” she says. “The only white person is …”

“Me!” Boland says, smiling, but adding that the last thing she would ever allow is for this class to become a joke. The reason she is teaching it, she says, is that she is the only qualified teacher available right now to lead the class.

“In an ideal world, a Black teacher would teach Black studies class,” she says. “But it came down to, I teach the class or we don’t have the class.”

Boland says she has learned as much from listening to her students as they learn from her.

“I love doing this because of the importance of race relations and all the stuff going on in the world right now — all of the reasons that I should — but really, intellectually, academically, I am learning an astounding amount of things for someone at this point in her career.”

Fasasi and the pupils flanking her, La’Miya Sparks and Keyilah Rowe, have mixed feelings regarding the enrollment of more white classmates. On one hand, they like having what Sparks calls a “safe space” for discussions about hard topics. On the other, they think their white peers, like anyone, could benefit from the material.

Fasasi says she is studying the civil rights era in her regular U.S. history class, and this class is different, deeper.

Rowe adds that in other history classes she has been led to believe that America was always right, justified and “the good guys.”

“At a point, I started to realize that if I was in another country, I know we’d learn different stuff about the United States.”

Sparks adds that, before taking Boland’s class, she would often laugh along when her friends made racially charged jokes or comments. Now, armed with more knowledge, she tolerates it less, she says.

When discussions turn to racial inequity, police brutality or systemic injustice, Black studies students say they feel better equipped to engage in intelligent conversation.

“This class gives you so much evidence to help you make your case,” Howe says.

Olivia Fawkes, one of the white students enrolled in the course says that yes, it can be uncomfortable to be in a class where she learns of atrocities committed against Black people by white Americans, but taking part in educating her generation is worth some discomfort.

“Those are my ancestors, and I do not think the people in my class think that that’s who I am, but it is so important for me to know about it, to be here, to do what I can, when I can, to dismantle those (unjust) systems and beliefs in my community.”