>>We hustled toward
the east porch,

trying to beat the full
force of the coming rain.

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

it's handsome brick and
double storied windows.

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

sunk in mortar. My Monticello.
The words formed low

and unbidden in my throat.

>>Terri Allard here with
Charlottesville Inside Out.

Today I'm spending
time with author

and former public
school art teacher,

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, to talk
about life in our community

and her acclaimed
book, "My Monticello"

which is on track to
be a Netflix movie.

Come on.

>>Yeah, that's crazy.

(laughing)

Yeah.

So, the novella is
getting made into a movie,

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

But it's really exciting, right?

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

someone else is
writing the screenplay,

and to see another
creator, like, adapt

and think about what you made

and how your idea goes
out into the world

and becomes other things.

The book "My Monticello"
is five stories and novella

all set in my home
state of Virginia.

And a really big question for me

was about this idea
of home, right?

So, Virginia is kind of
unequivocally my home.

It's my home state,

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

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

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

by August 12th here
in Charlottesville

where we, our town was
kind of the unwitting host

of a white nationalist
rally, a violent rally.

Thinking about how to
respond to that, right?

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

was writing, writing about it.

Writing a novella about it.

Responding in words and fiction.

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

So having been here before,
having built relationships here.

Our son was born here.

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

and now my parents
have moved here.

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

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

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

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

We have all these roots here.

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

and going and
seeing people's art.

And so we have really
great organizations here

around all kinds of arts.

We have, like, Live
Arts for theater.

We have the film
festival that comes here,

the Festival of the
Book which is wonderful

and gone and seen all
kinds of authors and panels

about topics that
I'm interested in.

There are a ton of writers here.

And for me, going to
places like WriterHouse,

the local nonprofit that
supports writers here,

and taking classes
and workshops there.

And then, for example, one
of my workshop teachers

ended up starting
a writing group

in which I have been
in for over 10 years,

just from taking that
class, meeting people there

and kind of building
that relationship.

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

about outcomes so much and
worry about the process.

So what am I curious about here?

What sounds and feels right?

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

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

So, the things that
happen around you,

the conversation you
have with your neighbor,

the storm that blows through,

getting in a fender bender
at the Wegmans or whatever.

All those things are gonna
influence how the story unfolds

but it's all under the
kind of the umbrella

of these questions
you're asking yourself,

these big questions.

(bright jazz music)