What did you learn in high school?

by Sydney King

I was so alienated from school that I would walk in the hallways reading to avoid having to look at other students. I was picked on endlessly and I got many  comments in my first yearbook along the lines of  “Sorry I was so mean to you, you seemed nice.”  My self confidence was super low and I read books to escape the torture of being so different. I grew up in a strange community where I was one of the few white children and one of the very few middle class ones. Most of my peers were from the flat lands of Richmond, one of the most dangerous cities in California.  Most of the kids who lived in our town and were from families like mine were in private school by the time we went to high school. But not me, I went to Kennedy High on Cutting Boulevard. It was the height of the crack era and there were five on campus shootings in my senior year. To say that I didn’t fit in was putting it mildly. My parents were so absorbed in their own misery and hard work that I tried hard to not complain and make things harder on them. I insisted I was fine even when I wasn’t and made the best out of things when I could.