It is a rare person who earns a PhD in tuba performance.
It is even rarer for a Black American to claim that distinction. And Richard Antoine White faced a few more challenges along the way, like growing up on the streets of Baltimore with his alcoholic and often-absent mother.
It's a long way from those streets to New Mexico, where Richard plays in an orchestra and teaches music at the University of New Mexico. He adds details in his memoir I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream.
In this session of The Keenest Observers, Richard Antoine White joins the JX's Angela Decker to talk about the dream and its pursuit.