Alberta has been afforded the opportunity to visit the Ella Baker School, an NYC public school named for the African-American civil rights and human rights activist Ella Josephine Baker (1903-1986). Ms. Baker played a key role in some of the most influential organizations of the time, including the NAACP, Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

She was affectionately known as “Fundi,” a Swahili word for someone who passes skills along to the next generation.

Fittingly, Alberta is here to participate in a discussion with the students about recycling and creativity.

The students are extremely welcoming. They show a very flattering interest in Alberta, and she feels right at home. They ask a lot of great questions, including whether or not she has a pet. They also overflow with ideas about how they, too, can make use of discarded materials around their homes.

Alberta has the honor of meeting Pablo the Fish. Pablo became a celebrity in 2015 after the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Ella Baker students’ dilemma over whether or not, having raised Pablo and a number of his companions as part of an aquaponics project, they ought to make them into tacos. You can see which side prevailed. Alberta doubts she will, from now on, ever eat tilapia.

Alberta also meets Principal Josh, who takes some time to read with her. He tells her it’s all right for her to sit on the table, as it’s important to accommodate even the smallest students.

Every wall of the classrooms is covered with both color and information.

It’s a lot to take in, so Alberta spends some time hanging in the playground to clear her head a little.

There’s so much to learn.

Alberta is made from a worn-out bedsheet. The sheet was, well, white as a sheet, so I stained it with tea so Alberta wouldn’t look stricken or frightened. It was my first experiment with tea-staining, or to be more accurate, intentional tea-staining. Accidental tea-staining seems, interestingly, to be much darker.

I had a special consultant for this blog post, Niv, who suggested what Alberta might want to wear to visit school. Her high-tops and backpack are made from two swap table fabrics found by my mom, neither of which I could envision a use for until Niv suggested high-tops and a backpack. Then suddenly they were exactly what I needed. This is why it’s imperative to save every scrap of fabric that you ever come across, even if it doesn’t seem useful initially. Okay, don’t take that advice. It is a fine line that separates a hoarder from a thrifty, resourceful, normal person. That line, I think, might have something to do with actually, at least once in a while, finding a use for at least some of that stored-up stuff.

Thank you, Niv, for keeping me just on this side of that line. And many thanks to everyone at Ella Baker who shared part of their day. I wonder if there is a Swahili word for members of the younger generation who educate the elder.

Give light and people will find the way.

—Ella Baker