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>>We hustled toward 
the east porch,

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trying to beat the full 
force of the coming rain.

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Still I managed to take 
in that view of the house,

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it's handsome brick and 
double storied windows.

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I couldn't help, but 
imagine black hands too,

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sunk in mortar. My Monticello. 
The words formed low

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and unbidden in my throat.

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>>Terri Allard here with 
Charlottesville Inside Out.

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Today I'm spending 
time with author

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and former public 
school art teacher,

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Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, to talk 
about life in our community

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and her acclaimed 
book, "My Monticello"

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which is on track to 
be a Netflix movie.

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Come on.

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>>Yeah, that's crazy.

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(laughing)

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Yeah.

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So, the novella is 
getting made into a movie,

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which was not anything on my 
radar ever in a million years.

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But it's really exciting, right?

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But also it's just really 
fun to see another,

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someone else is 
writing the screenplay,

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and to see another 
creator, like, adapt

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and think about what you made

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and how your idea goes 
out into the world

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and becomes other things.

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The book "My Monticello" 
is five stories and novella

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all set in my home 
state of Virginia.

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And a really big question for me

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was about this idea 
of home, right?

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So, Virginia is kind of 
unequivocally my home.

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It's my home state,

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but I was thinking about the 
ways in which I feel at home

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and the ways in which sometimes 
I don't feel quite at home.

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And so an example of that, 
I was inspired in part

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by August 12th here 
in Charlottesville

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where we, our town was 
kind of the unwitting host

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of a white nationalist 
rally, a violent rally.

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Thinking about how to 
respond to that, right?

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So one way I responded to 
this event, this public event

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was writing, writing about it.

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Writing a novella about it.

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Responding in words and fiction.

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I think there's a way in which 
home becomes like a habit.

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So having been here before, 
having built relationships here.

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Our son was born here.

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So, we bought a home here, 
so this kind of became home

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and now my parents 
have moved here.

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So, it's back to 
that idea of home.

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It's like, I've taught 
here for many, many years.

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I have all these students 
that I've known here.

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And, so, it's a really 
familiar place, right?

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We have all these roots here.

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I'm always up for hearing 
people talk about making art

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and going and 
seeing people's art.

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And so we have really 
great organizations here

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around all kinds of arts.

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We have, like, Live 
Arts for theater.

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We have the film 
festival that comes here,

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the Festival of the 
Book which is wonderful

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and gone and seen all 
kinds of authors and panels

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about topics that 
I'm interested in.

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There are a ton of writers here.

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And for me, going to 
places like WriterHouse,

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the local nonprofit that 
supports writers here,

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and taking classes 
and workshops there.

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And then, for example, one 
of my workshop teachers

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ended up starting 
a writing group

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in which I have been 
in for over 10 years,

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just from taking that 
class, meeting people there

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and kind of building 
that relationship.

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What I find really helpful is 
you kind of have to not worry

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about outcomes so much and 
worry about the process.

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So what am I curious about here?

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What sounds and feels right?

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And, you know, there's a lot 
of asking yourself questions

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and then living life and 
then pulling in how...life.

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So, the things that 
happen around you,

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the conversation you 
have with your neighbor,

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the storm that blows through,

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getting in a fender bender 
at the Wegmans or whatever.

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All those things are gonna 
influence how the story unfolds

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but it's all under the 
kind of the umbrella

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of these questions 
you're asking yourself,

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these big questions.

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(bright jazz music)