A conversation with Connie Schultz: Author, columnist returns home
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Mar. 2—ASHTABULA — Connie Schultz spoke to a sold-out theater at the Ashtabula Arts Center on Saturday.
"This community raised me," Schultz said. "Especially the arts community. Everything I am started here. I've always felt a great deal of loyalty to Ashtabula."
The Arts Center was excited to host the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author.
"She's our hometown girl," said former Executive Director Lori Robishaw "We're going to talk about growing up here and where she may have received some of her first inspiration to become a writer."
"When you grow up in any small town so many people remember you from your parents," Schultz said. "I received a private email from a longtime resident who said, 'Can't wait to see Chuck and Janey's girl'. That was in reference to my parents who have been long gone. That is when I started to feel incredibly emotional."
Schultz growing up didn't realize writing could be an option for her as a career.
Joe Petro, who was the guidance counselor at Ashtabula High School, saw her writing potential and asked her if she ever thought about journalism.
When she started at The Daily Kent Stater, it became her life.
People regularly asked her, "How did you get that quote? How did you get the Sheriff to say that?"
"I look so harmless," Schultz said. "It has definitely been my superpower. Now I'm 66 so I'm invisible too. People will say anything to you."
The idea for her book, "Lola and the Troll," came from social media. Trolls often share false information to create confusion or controversy. After blocking one in July 2021, an editor saw Schultz jokingly post on Twitter, "I think I'll write a children's book and call it 'Tom The Troll Has Been Blocked.'"
Within an hour of this tweet, Schultz' agent was in touch with her and asked her why she was writing a children's book when she was supposed to be writing her next novel.
Schultz responded that she wasn't and her editor said, "You are now," after Razorbill Vice President and Publisher Casey McIntyre convinced her that it could, in fact, become a children's book.
Lola loves school, recess and her imaginary dog, Tank. The one thing she doesn't love is the walk to school where she has to pass the neighborhood bully, who wears a troll costume and mocks everything about Lola, according to a blurb.
"It's about accepting that you're great just the way you are," Schultz said. "You don't need to change yourself for anybody who is criticizing you."
According to the National Association of School Psychologists and Together Against Bullying, more than 33% of elementary school students reported being bullied in school.
Parents and grandparents showed up with their own copies to get signed.
"Everybody needs to feel a sense of belonging and purpose," said Ashtabula resident and Kent State sociology professor Jessica Leveto. "When you start to feel as though you're an outsider, it's really difficult to learn. As an educator and a mother, that's my primary goal here. It's important that they know that sometimes when people are saying things that are hurtful to you ... they are hurting themselves."
"I loved the book," said Mentor-on-the-Lake resident Judy Meador. "We bought it for our grandchildren that live in Kissimmee, Florida. I think Lola is a lot like our granddaughter Leila. She has big curly hair and gets teased a little bit. The book shows that you can stand up to a bully and maybe someday that bully will be your friend."
A lot of people at the event had been following Schultz's career as a columnist and that of her husband, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), for quite a while.
Everyone was happy that Schultz returned to her roots.
She said that she'd seen the road sign welcoming her back to Ashtabula.
Schultz received a letter from a mother with a 12 year-old-girl. In the letter she said, "We went past your sign for the first time today and I told her ... you see ... you can be a girl from Ashtabula and become a writer. If somebody had that kind of sign for me when I was 12 ... I would have dreamed bigger."
Schultz said she saw that sign in a different light after that.
"That's the message that I hope children get in particular," she said. "You can come from Ashtabula and the world opens for you. Your dreams are just as important. Your dreams can be just as big."
