At family reunions and cookouts growing up, Rachel Young-Love was captivated by what she called the “special table”. It was the loudest, the most crowded. Everyone seated at it was either embroiled in smack talk, eyeing their partner to covertly check if they were on the same page or sweating to make sure they played their hands just right.
Her relatives were playing the card game spades, “one of the highlights of the event”, she said, and the stakes – bragging rights until the next gathering – were high. It wasn’t until she was an adult that Young-Love learned to play, and even still she had to bide her time before she was allowed a seat at the spades table.
