The Culturally Conscious Board

2 Table Culture

My wish, my continuing passion, would be not to point the finger in judgment, but to part a curtain, that invisible shadow that falls between people, the veil of indifference to each other’s presence, each other’s wonder, each other’s human plight.

EUDORA WELTY7

Crystal shook herself from her memories, just as Phil, the board chair, loudly cracked a gavel on a wooden block, precisely at 7:00 p.m. sharp!

“All rise! I now call the board to order. We will begin tonight as we always do, by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.” The gavel clacked on its wooden base three times, each amplifying the nerve-rattling effect of the other in the echoey commercial kitchen.

They sat at a table someone had pulled out. This table had its own ...