Our family reunion was this past weekend. The Kid, also known as the Princess of Snark or POS for short, falls into her own age group. She's too old to play with "those children" and not quite old enough to hang with any cousins. The closest cousin to her in age on the high end is 22. The closest in age on the low end is 12. You can see how this presents a problem for a soon to be 17 year old.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, our family is big on discussions. Imagine my delight, and her discomfort, when we ended up at a table with two of our uncles on Saturday. Barbecue hadn't even touched her lips before Uncle Michael started in with questions about what schools she was interested in, why she chose them, etc. Uncle Junior (okay, really his name is Jesse but according to my aunt, he only deserves his real name when he's 'acting right'. Never mind that he's 60something) chimes in. POS turns to me with "save me from these people" written across her face. After cackling on the inside, I try to help out by telling them about some of the schools and when we're planning to visit.
The mention of schools in Boston sends one of my uncles into a long story about the history of racism in Boston, with the other uncle voicing his sentiments five to ten minutes later like a delayed echo. The uncle that started the diatribe loves to hear his own voice and 20 minutes later his monologue is still going, but somewhere in there the topic of schools became about him and how he decided on where to attend undergrad, med school and his residencies. POS and I exchanged looks and continued eating while he continued talking, as we nodded appropriately.
Thinking back on their warnings about Boston, I remember that St. Louis is not the most forward thinking when it comes to race either, yet she's survived. This is a city clearly divided by what side of town you live on. The media often perpetuates the divide when reporting that something happened on the north side, which has become the code phrase for 'black people were involved," whereas something on the south side tends to involve white people.
POS has gone to very diverse schools since the third grade. I've often joked that her schools look like the United Nations in that there's a little bit of everything and everyone gets along well. I don't know that I picked her schools for this reason, but it's given her exposure to people of all races, religions, sexual orientations, etc. I don't know that she'll pick a school solely based on the diversity of the school, but I have a feeling that it will play a part.
