I was filming a new episode of People You Should Know at the Plumber’s Union in Queens, when a 13-year-old girl named Khamila Rose told me about the first time she got her period.
To be clear, I hadn’t asked her for this information. I’d come to Union Local #1 that day to do a story on a foundation called Tools and Tiaras, a terrific organization that exposes young women to a variety of skilled trades. Khamila was there that day, along with dozens of other young girls to learn about careers in plumbing, and I was chatting her up as she was fitting two pipes together. At some point, I asked her what she did for fun, and Khamila told me she liked to write.
“Really?” I said. “What sort of things do you write about?”
“Well,” she said, “I currently have two electronic books published on Amazon.”
“You’re kidding,” I said. “What are they called?”
“The first one is called Sista Spy Squad. It’s the story of a young girl who discovers that her deceased parents used to be spies. Then she goes through a time portal, meets her new best friends, and follows in her parent’s footsteps, as she and her team come face to face with The Sinister Six.”
“I see,” I said. “What about the second one?”
“The second one is called Blossom Tales: A Story of Menstrual Magic.
It was noisy in the workshop, and I thought she said, “Mental Magic.” But no, she said, “Menstrual Magic,” and Khamila took great pleasure in correcting me. She repeated the title of her latest book nice and loud as the camera crew captured my reaction, which was pretty much what you’d expect from a grown man who suddenly finds himself having a conversation with a thirteen-year-old girl about a very different sort of plumbing.
Moments like that stick with you, and later that night, my curiosity got the better of me. I downloaded Blossom Tales: A Story of Menstrual Magic and read it on my computer. It thought it was great. A perfect story, really, for any young girl whose body was about to start behaving in a completely unfamiliar way. I thought it deserved to be out there in print, like a real book, so I called my mother’s publisher, Jonathan Merkh, and told him about the thirteen-year-old aspiring female plumber who writes books about spy craft and menstruation. Jonathan read Blossom Tales: A Story of Menstrual Magic and quickly agreed to publish it, if I agreed to write the Foreword you’re about to finish.
And that’s how this book came to be.
In closing, I meet a lot of interesting people in my line of work, often by accident. Khamila Rose is one of those people, so it’s fitting that she wound up in an episode of People You Should Know, which you’re welcome to watch on my YouTube Channel. https://bit.ly/40m5euU Maybe she’ll be plumber when she grows up, or maybe she’ll be a writer? Maybe she’ll be neither or maybe she’ll be both? All I know for sure is that right now, Khamila Rose is filled with more curiosity, more ambition, and more work ethic than most adults. For those reasons alone, I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Blossom Tales. It’s a fine way to encourage the qualities we all desperately hope will define the next generation, not to mention a perfect way to prepare thousands of young girls for their first visit from Aunt Flo.
Get your copy here, and let the blossoming begin…
https://bit.ly/4kbwjZ2
Also – if you’re intrigued by this, you’ll love the attached video, which captures the exact moment I knew I’d have no choice but to get Khamila’s book published. https://bit.ly/BlossomTaleswithKhamila
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