Two years ago, I went to the hair salon for a routine visit. Though I had only been frequenting a few months, it possessed a familiar feel: the women, both stylists and clients, spoke like old friends of the news, television, and, of course, hair. “You should cut off the relaxed ends,” my stylist suggested. She knew more about natural hair than anyone else I knew. “They’ll only break off if you don’t. Plus, you’ll feel freer.” ...

“I need you to separate all the square-shaped yellow and green legos from the rest and put them in this bowl,” the librarian in the children’s section told me. “We need them for bingo.” It was nearly 7 pm, one hour before the library was due to close. This was by far the strangest task I had ever been asked to complete. Still, I dug through what had to be thousands of legos without complaint and had a fun time...