Affirmative Action Saved Me

Adapted from The Girl in the Yellow Poncho (Duke University Press, August 2023)

It was late afternoon, long after the three o’clock dismissal bell had rung in my journalism classroom. But I wouldn’t be going home any time soon. I was co-editor of The Sheik Press and we were on deadline, hunched over sloping architectural desks, carving out typeset print with an X-Acto knife. I stood tall, stretched my legs, and glanced at the clock.

“Going to McDonalds,” I called out to the others, reaching for my purse. “Be right back.”