It means I have to stay open to other ideas thoughts and actions by carefully considering differing viewpoints. It means I must consciously enter into relationships with people who don’t look sound or act like I do. It means remembering how it feels to be in other.

In boarding school, I didn’t fit in with the rich white girls. It was the 1960s and a failed experiment of adding to the boarding school a handful of black girls from Chicago and a handful of indigenous girls from the Red Lake reservation.

I have reflected on my friendships there and how they influence me even now. It also means I have opportunities to meet and learn with women who are not American citizens and learn about their home countries and what they look forward to in the United States.