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I was an elementary school teacher.

And I was lucky enough to have teachers that really, really looked out for me and really encouraged all that. And in rural Louisiana, that was a rare thing back then.

For a little while, my mom was a school teacher. And I went to the school that she taught.

I was at a public school until I was in sixth grade when I moved to New York.

The first professional training I received of any kind was when I was 14 years old and we were in Kansas City, Missouri. I attended the Kansas City Art Institute for one summer.

I was on the San Diego school board for 4 years, where I watched children successfully matriculate into elementary schools from Head Start programs from all around our city.

I taught for 17 years in an inner city comprehensive schools.

I grew up in Indiana. My first four years of elementary were in the gym where Coach Wooden went to high school.