Despite mixed feelings about baring my soul, a few thoughts come to mind. My 6 years at HCHS were the most educationally inspiring time of my life. The combination of brilliant students whose parents chatted with them over breakfast and the NY Times, and instructors who were talented and accomplished in their own right, was a total shock to my Bronx-dysfunctional sensibilities. My family was neither professional, nor stable, so the idea of me having an intellectual gift was inconceivable. I finally took the Mensa test in college to prove my own theory since I was sure HCHS was a fluke. The joke was on me – I passed it as well.
I was a naïve 10-year-old in seventh grade, totally unprepared for this drastic change of borough. I boarded the IRT express, and got lost on the streets of Harlem as I tried, but failed, to find the local train. By grace I eventually found myself at the corner of 68th and Lex, or gargoyle-central (sorry but I just can’t adapt to 94th Street).

Every day was an assault on my intellect, and senses. I never felt adequate, not once, and was rightfully anxious given my lack of any serious homework or studying the night before – there was no allowance for it at home amid the unspoken chaos. But I did adore art classes with Marie Russo where I felt at ease. A third-grade teacher told my family that I had artistic talent, so the label kind of stuck. I was also enchanted by Mildred Lawton’s explanation of algebra. I can still see her, dress covered with chalk dust, with that Julia Child-esque voice, showing us how to give that poor “x” an identity. Little did I realize that these two living parentheses would form the basis for my professional life, decades later. Arts (creativity, strategic planning ) and math (logic, accounting) were my touchstones.

Eventually, my work involved me with divestiture attorneys at AT&T Long Lines. I felt the same attraction to them as I felt in art class. Long story short, I became an attorney in CA while working full-time at Pacific Telesis after the split-up of Ma Bell. After getting an LLM in tax law to make myself useful, I was drawn to accounting as a practical context for tax law. So, I became a CPA late in life, enjoying problem-solving with numbers.

I’m now so many miles away from the Bronx, gargoyles, and Madams Russo and Lawton. But each of these special people and places left an indelible mark on me. I’m grateful to have had these early, expansive but terrifying experiences that informed my adult life. I still carry sights and sounds from HCHS deep within, including the incomparable Acabulco, ole! I devote myself to higher education finance these days. It’s the perfect ending to a long winding road and combines the artistry of budget planning with the logical nuts and bolts of accounting.