Behind the Pages: Shannon Luders Manuel Reveals the Untold Inspirations Behind The One Who Loves You
MDH: About a third of the way in you talk about meeting another biracial teen at your Christian youth group who disappeared after a few weeks. You write, “Someone told me he had joined the gang after police had falsely accused him of doing something wrong. I understood sinking to the level one is expected to inhabit.” You spend your formative and early adult years doing what others expected from you. What was it that made you realize you could step off that path and forge your own way?
SLM: If I share that, it’ll give away too much of the ending, but I can share the level I was expected to inhabit around the time the biracial boy joined a gang and how I stepped off the path I was on that time: Most of the teachers my freshman year wrote me off and didn’t expect me to succeed, and I fell into their expectations and had a very low GPA.
