Right.

I don't like to say ghetto, because we were not dirt poor, but it was an inner city situation.

There weren't that many opportunities for advancement.

But somehow in the midst of that, things just kept coming to me.

I mean, someone else paid for my s- my piano lessons, you know?

Mm-hmm

... and, uh, her mother was a drama teacher.

But because of their interest in the arts, um, they came into the Black community and made it possible for a lot of folks like me, children like me, to compete, uh, for monies.