"Originally, Dakota had thought of teaching as a career, a worthy way to support her true and first choice, writing. After Dakota graduated on May 14, 2005 from the English Department's MFA program at Mills College, a private college in Oakland, she was invited to teach under the Peralta Community College District's Faculty Diversity Internship Program. She was going to teach a Standard English "bonehead" course, the level above the remedial courses for freshmen, and she would be supervised under the mentorship of Valerie, a former student of her father, Ichabod, who was a writer, editor and publisher. Valerie was to return to Mills College in the fall for her Ed.D. (Doctorate of Education). She'd received three Masters degrees at Mills the same day that Dakota got hers."