My problem was not that I didn’t respect authority. On the contrary, I had a Southern child’s deep-seated reverence for my elders and, despite the above statement, first-rate manners. It was and continues to be my personality to (1) make a joke in tense circumstances, (2) have the last word, even better if it’s funny, and (3) take a righteous stand when I feel I or my classmates have been treated unfairly.
