A recent Wall Street Journal column by Peggy Noonan, “Becoming Who You Are Ain’t for Sissies,” resonated with me. At a recent college commencement, the graduates were advised to “Be modest, you’ll make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to try. Be ready to pivot.” (Wall Street Journal, 5/28/26).
Ms. Noonan shared her background as the child of a working-class family post-WWII. Her parents lived the unspoken “humiliation of the 1950’s of not making it work, of not being up to the American spirit.” As a seventh grader, an unkempt, ill-dressed Ms. Noonan was taken aside by a counselor, who told her that if she “cleaned up,” she could become a clerk.
My high school counselor told me I couldn’t transfer to Detroit’s magnet technical high school—think Lane Tech—from the business high school I was currently attending. My dream was to be a microbiologist. I didn’t want to be a clerk.
My friend Craig also was told transfer wasn’t possible. His parents wrote to the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. My parents did the same. I was soon called to the principal’s office, where she adamantly called me a “liar,” denying my counselor ever told me that.
I remember, in my squeaky little voice, to her power, repeatedly saying, “But that was what I was told.”
My transfer papers followed immediately.
Wall Street Journal published several letters from highly successful people who were told as youth that they were not expected to succeed. Holding my own with that principal was the first of many encounters with power. They all didn’t end well, but I tried and felt better for it. Sometimes I pivoted, but I rarely gave up.
Ms. Noonan has written speeches for two presidents. My friend Craig became the youngest Wayne County Recorder’s Court Judge, and then the longest-serving judge.
We didn’t allow negative perceptions, gender or race to hold us back — even when we were afraid.
