Will Hammond

A Lesson From Mama's Casserole

My fondest memories of my days at Cathedral School are in the Boys’ Choir during my 6th through 8th grade years. Being one of the only Black students in the school (including my younger brother) made me feel like an outsider, in both pedigree and skin color. So music and singing allowed me to connect with the school by bringing a gift that I had inherited from my great-uncle and dad, both professional jazz musicians. I was immediately drawn to learning treble and bass clefs, wearing the robes and ruff I had seen in the hallowed walls of choirs past. My fascination of this new world seemed like a sanctuary from the world I lived across the bridge in one of East Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods. And as my single mother strove to raise two young boys and give them a better life, I was slowly adapting to a culture that I had not yet understood nor even visualized for myself at that time. I was simply surviving.