On my very first day of teaching, I was standing outside my classroom between classes. It was the end of the 60s and the school was very different from what it was when I was graduated from there in 1961. It had become an urban high school. We understand that code … it was no longer predominantly White … and it was edgy, dangerous and alien to many of the seasoned staff. It was both an academic and a technical high school and the variety of kids was thrilling to some and frightening to others. On this, my first day as their teacher, one of the old guard, a lady who was teaching there when I was a kid, approached me, leaned in and whispered, “How many of THEM do you have?” I was stunned. I am absolutely fluent in White. I knew exactly what she meant. She wanted me to tell her how many black kids I had. I said to her, “I don’t know how many Tech kids I have yet.” There was no way she was prepared to clarify her query. She turned and left. She never spoke to me again and retired in June. So, years later when I complained to my dear friend, the Black Guidance Counselor, Sara Walker, that I had 149 out of 150 Black kids and said, “Do you know how verbal Black kids are?” … she replied, “Where do you want me to put them, Kathleen?” Thus my classes became what Sara needed them to be. And, I was a very happy teacher.