This article describes how a group of black women read culture, class, and other social relations, analyzing the process and skill of reading linguistic and paralinguistic cues in allowing individuals to navigate across multiple discourses. I draw from one ethnographic study of talk in a Midwestern hair salon. Such research seeks to strengthen ties between the disciplines of anthropology and education, and relatedly between those who work within universities, classrooms, and everyday settings. (Contains 1 note.)