WNBA.com features story on Meek's book
The following is a portion of an article by Frank Della Femina, WNBA.com:
WNBA.com: First off, what made you decide that you wanted to write a children’s book? Temeka Johnson: My interest from the start has always been kids. Giving back to them and letting them know that it’s OK to make mistakes and know that people believe in them and their future and the society as a whole, with kids making decisions a whole lot earlier than we really had to make decisions. I’m not that far removed from them and I think it was fitting for me to do it. The book actually depicts my life but it’s in the children’s form. I started out wanting to write a biography, but through my foundation, the marketing manager Quency Phillips was like, “Why don’t we start with a book series?” And I agreed on a children’s book series.
WNBA.com: What’s the emphasis and focus of the whole book? TJ: It’s about decisions. I prioritize it. Of course, I’m a basketball player and basketball is my passion, and I always said, “I’m going to do my homework as soon as I come back in,” or “I’m going to make my bed as soon as I finish this,” or “I’m going to study for this test as soon as I finish playing.” Basketball sidetracks me throughout the book and I’m faced with decisions and consequences throughout it and I think that’s something that we as people and kids go through on a daily basis. WNBA.com: Is there a theme to each individual book? What are the decisions involved in this one? TJ: To answer your first question, this one here is the first one and the hardest thing was finding what audience to try and channel it to. I grow up in each book so of course all of them will be different, but this one is basically the decisions of which you go through as a young child, elementary school: study for your tests, coming home to do your homework and do as you need to do and then you are able to go and play basketball. Do your chores before you can do anything else. It’s dedicated to my grandmother because she raised me. It’s her in there also. I know when my family first saw the pictures they were amazed because the drawing of my grandmother actually looks like her also. WNBA.com: Did you give the artist something to work with? A few pictures to base the drawings off of? TJ: You know what? Quency surprised me with the pictures because I didn’t really give him many pictures because he had a couple himself. He surprised me because he knows how passionate and how strong I feel about my grandmother. So the pictures of my grandmother were a huge surprise and I was very please with it.WNBA.com: Talk about your website and organization a bit. Is the Jewel Johnson Scholarship in honor of your grandmother?
TJ: Yes it is. That’s the scholarship part of the foundation. That’s to give back to underprivileged kids, to give them an opportunity to further their education. Since I can remember many people have come up to me after a game, during the game or a visit or something and told me how much hope I give them or how much hope I give to them, when in actuality they wouldn’t realize how much hope they were giving me to continue to do what I’m doing in what many people call a big woman’s game. I didn’t have much of a choice. I knew that was the best thing to come up with with my foundation. I’ve always wanted to give back and I’ve always given back but not in the form of a foundation or whatnot. I just wanted to help people, and threw the foundation I’m able to do that. Hope comes in so many different shapes, sizes and forms. It can just be giving someone a hug, lending an ear for someone, helping someone to understand something or come to the realization of anything. There’s so many ways to give hope and I’m so happy I can give a small part of it. WNBA.com: Well not even small, but all of it. All the proceeds from these books are going towards the foundation. TJ: That’s what it’s about for me. I’m comfortable with myself and my living and everything. I just want kids to know that there are other things out there. There is a better life if you want it and you make the right decisions. So everything from the book proceeds are going to go towards the scholarship.Read the entire article at: http://bit.ly/avtf5c