Hello and good morning Alli. How are you doing today, Hi, I'm
good. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. Oh my god,
I'm excited to talk with you because I think you're that author that we
all want to be. We all want to talk about a subject that other
people call taboo, but you had the courage and the confidence to step forward
and say, hey, look, hey, look, I've got a story
here that all people can relate with. Thank you. Yeah. The reason
I wanted to do a story like this is because it's one that I wish
I had when I was little. I wish that we were talking about periods
openly for my entire life. So if I can contribute to that, and
you know, writing a book and speaking about it and make it a little
easier for other people to talk about periods and the role they plays in their
lives, I hope I can add that. You know what's really interesting about
this is that when I picked up this book, I was instantly shot back
to Ponderosa Elementary School in Billings, Montana when we went into the library and
there it was that book and you know which one I'm talking about, And
it changed every guy. That's what I think this book is going to do
too, because we're not talking about it, but every guy is going to
learn from this and hopefully find some respect for this. Yeah, And I
really think that's important because menstruation doesn't just affect the people that are having periods.
It affects our entire community. If anyone is missing class, we're all
harmed. If anyone's shrinking into themselves because they're feeling shame, we're all harmed.
And we all need to be involved in the fight for period equity.
And you know what's really interesting is that this stretches up into adulthood too,
because my essential job is working with every age group and when word gets around
only because we want to share compassion. I think that compassion started when we
first learned of what you're talking about, the period. Yes, So that's
why I wanted to start this story in middle school, because I think that
we need the stories from the first time or even hopefully before somebody has their
first period, and that if we learn about this stuff in middle school,
we're going to be advocating for our own healthcare throughout our entire lives. Now,
let me ask you a question, because I remember when my sister,
you know, started growing into womanhood. She was really upset that this started
to happen. And I've heard that story from so many people. How do
you embrace that where little girls now becoming women go, God, come on,
I didn't want this to happen. Now. Yeah, I think a
really important point to remember is that at any age that you get your period,
which we know can be as early as eight years old, it's definitely
an elementary school issue and middle school issue. It's not something that we can
wait to talk about until high school. But you are still the child that
you were the day before you got your period, and you're still going to
be dealing with these issues with your friends as you get older and go through
puberty. And so I really wanted to write this story because it was friends
that got me through these tough issues in middle school, and it was laughing
and really helping each other that got me through it. So I wanted to
write a story where kids do not feel alone, whether it's in talking about
periods at all, or whether it's in advocating for the care that they need
at school, because just like there's toilet paper and filp in the bathrooms,
they need the pads. And if we see pads in bathrooms. It's going
to become less of a stigmatized or shameful issue. It's just part of our
normal lives that we need to deal with. You know, one of the
invisible superstars in this story is the relationship between Helen and Gracie, and also
the voice they create so many times, so many young adults, especially in
middle school, don't feel like they've got a voice. Yes they do,
and you really kind of invite them to do that. Yeah. So there's
two parts of that. So the first is that when you read this book,
you'll see these girls are not born jogiters. They are absolute chaoff month.
What I want to do is write a book where you know the people
creating change. They're not the kids with the perfect grades. They're not the
kids who are on the student council. I want to remind students that everybody
has a voice, everybody matters, and you don't need to wait until you're
grown up to use that voice. The other issue is that because menstruation affects
everybody, we want everyone working together and through these kids. They are not
only just like constructing arguments or like looking at a budget. They kind of
use their chaos. They use making maxipad cupcakes and crocheting uteruses and making T
shirts. They use all that to make people feel comfortable and have fun and
draw them into the process as opposed to it being just a facts and figures
arguments. You know, as a writer, you made it a path.
You made a path that really kind of says there are moments where I can
laugh, and there are moments here where I can show the compassion. I
love the emotion that you put inside your paragraphs, and it's like, how
and when did you decide that. It's like, I'm going to hit every
single type of emotion in this book and make it very real but at the
same time very entertaining. Wow, thank you so much. I think it's
because at this age I probably felt every single emotion. It felt like every
single minute of every day. And so I think if we embrace that part
of our childhood as authors, we can help kids through it today, like
it's okay to feel like rage, Like how could they not understand that this
is affecting every part of my life while also feeling like I don't want to
have to talk about this with anyone. If we embrace all of that in
a story. I think it can make kids feel less alone when they're figuring
out how they're going to speak up, whether it's with their parents, at
their with their school, or with their friends about what they need and what
they're feeling. Was the principle of your principle, because I mean I really
felt like that I was looking into the eyes of mister Eshler at Riverside Junior
High School when you were when you were speaking of the principal storyline. No,
so I have to say that the principle in this book, like you
know, she really empathizes with the kids. She realizes that they need the
pad, but she also knows she's fighting for everything at school, right,
And so what I wanted to do is have a principle that really is seeing
that you know what they're going to spend their political capital on. As principles,
you know it's limited, and so they have to decide what they're going
to fight for. And so I think sometimes it has to be the kid
getting in their faces and saying, this is what's important to us. It
might be easier for you to get funding for like yet another sports team,
if that's what the parents are asking for, but we're telling you that what
we need is pads in the bathroom so that we can take care of ourselves.
God, you just you bring up so many See, adults need to
read this book too. This is not just for why A readers, because
you're gonna You're stirring up so many memories of what we went through in our
own schools. And I think this is such a connection. I really hope
that that that's the case too. So I'm really lucky that Scholastic is not
only publishing this book, but they've sent me around the country to talk to
thousands of people about this issue already before the book even comes out tomorrow.
And what I found is that so many adults have told me that it has
affected them, it's brought up these issues for them, and that they had
used it as an entry point to talk to their own kids. What I
found is that something sometimes it's easier to talk about things when we're kind of
doing it true character versus bringing on those eye statements. And so I hope
that parents can say, hey, you know, at some point I might
have felt like that Gracie in this story, or I might have felt like
Helen where I didn't want to talk about my period at all. And if
we're laughing about silly sweets like maxipad cupcakes and silly krafts like crochet uteruses,
sometimes things are easier to talk about for parents and kids when it's yarn and
sugar rather than you know, the stark facts about mentuation. You know,
you talk about everything that what you just said, and that's what makes it
more community and more opened to talk about. But we are living in this
woke world. Do you fear that right now that someone someone in Florida is
going to say, oh my god, Ali wrote this book? You know,
I would really hope not. What we've seen is that because this is
a student led movement, students are creeping up for their rights. In the
last couple of years, we've gone from a handful of seats that are providing
pads in bathrooms to now half the states in America are either providing funding for
the pads or requiring that the pads be in the bathroom. And that's because
it is a student led movement. Students speaking up for their rights. So
if someone is going to come against that, they're going to find themselves up
against elementary, middle school and high schoolers who's saying, we are not going
to accept that shame that you're putting on us. This is part of our
daily lives. We need this care to get our education, and we're not
going to stand for anything less. God, I love where your heart is.
Let me ask you a question. Right you talked about going around and
talking to people about this, is there a website because you know this is
still a very private issue for many young women and they need someone to talk
to or to find information. Sure, so if you go to my author
website, it's alichraace dot com that has all kinds of resources, both about
the book if you want to connect with the activities that you signed in the
book, and it can also connect you with other groups that are working on
this. I'm just going to mention too, because if you care about this
issue and you're a young student, you are not alone. There is already
someone in your unity working on it and you can connect with them. So
first is an organization called the Alliance for Period Supplies. The second is another
nonprofit called period dot like a period. If you look into those organizations,
they'll be able to help you find who is working on this issue on the
ground where you live and then working with your trusted adults, whether you're they're
your parents or teachers, you can figure out the best way for you to
get involved. Wow, Allie, you've got to come back to this show.
Ten minutes was not enough time with you. Thank you so much.
Erro, I love talking with you about this day and I want to thank
you personally so much for being out in front on periods and making it something
that everybody can talk about. Absolutely, be brilliant today, Okay, Alie, thank you