I Got A Phone Call
I worked on the Head Start Program. It would give low-income families a chance to give their children an early start like the more affluent families.
So again I get a call. I think you'll start to recognize how so much of my career came to me absolutely out of the blue. The word would get out somehow through contacts that I was available, and I'd get a call. This happened again, and again. It's one of the major lessons in my life, that if you just pursue goals and are ready for opportunities when they open, you just walk through the door and take them.
So yes, here I was, it was really rough, a primarily black community near Palo Alto, known for its high crime rate, surrounded by affluence. I went in completely by myself, and I never knew where they would have me do the interview until I got inside. They might put me in the kitchen table or in the back room. One time I came to a little apartment, and this person points down the hallway to a back bedroom. I went back and that's where the three-year-old is supposed to be. When I opened the door, a woman was climbing out of the bed. So I back out, embarrassed and wondering why they le me walk in. We finally did locate the three-year-old. And yet with all this going on, I never felt there was any reason to be threatened. I look back on it and think, "Wow, that was a fairly high-risk thing." But I didn't think about it at the time. It wasn't something I worried about. I parked my car, took my kit, and walked up to the door.
I was excited about the program. That was good enough for me. I knew the families I was going to visit wanted their children in the program, and so were happy when I was there. It was all very exciting.
