Ocean Vuong

Like being in Stop and Shop, this local grocery store, and my mother like counting how many tomatoes she can afford.

And I just think, as a kid, you're sitting there, you're standing in line, and you're watching the cashier who's not that older than you.

look away because we're all in one ecosystem.

They're not making that much money.

So it's just like poor folks together.

But what's unspoken is that deep shame.

And none of us knew why or how to ameliorate it.

And so you're sitting in line and you're watching your mom push two little plum tomatoes back.

In the conveyor belt.

And you're watching this kid who's probably four years old and you look out, look away because he knows, you know, out of respect.

Again, that dignity, you know, like offering each other a little bit of dignity to look away.

I'm sorry.

Why are you apologizing?

Because I want to be clear and my voice, it wobbles.

Gosh, Mel, thank you so much for that counter and that opening.

I'm so grateful for that moment of grace because I think one of the things about moving through class systems is that you always assume what you're going to say is going to be not legible.

And I feel like both you and I know, and maybe a lot of your audiences knows too, where you walk into a room and you say, well, do I really say it like it is?

And if I do, are they going to look at me like I'm crazy?

or am I just outside the frame of understanding?

And so you try to assume that what you're saying is a breach.