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< Back Hellen's Story Hellen describes the way her house represents Africa from the mustard-yellow color on the outside to the smell on the inside and the white lace sheets over the doors. Her parents incorporate many pieces of Kenya with them in their home in the US, and continue many traditions from their past. 00:00 / 03:42 Previous Next

Hannah talks about the risk that she took in studying abroad in Amsterdam and her experience amercing herself in the culture by herself and how it impacted her future career path. Hannah's Story Hannah talks about the risk that she took in studying abroad in Amsterdam and her experience amercing herself in the culture by herself and how it impacted her future career path. Scroll to listen Hannah's Story 00:00 / 02:07 Would you tell me about a time that you took a risk? A time I took a risk was going abroad last semester, my fall semester, senior year to Amsterdam. And I know it's like cliche like, oh yeah, you like go abroad, whatever. But I really wanted my abroad experience to be as natural as possible. I didn't want to go to an American school in a foreign country. I didn't want to go to a school where I knew I was going to be surrounded by other American college students. I really wanted to just like go abroad and experience like culture shock like head on. So I decided to go to fret university type in Amsterdam, like by myself. I didn't know, I didn't know it was. So when I got there, I literally like booked my flight a week before and just got on a plane and shipped myself off to Amsterdam knowing no one. And yeah, that was the time I really did take a risk. And what did you learn about yourself? Did learn that taking a risk is not only can I do it and I'm very capable um but like it just gave me that confidence that I can take risks in the future. And that taking risks actually is a good thing. And I have so many positive outcomes from doing it and I really have made some of my best friends um throughout the world just doing that experience. And so post grad, I'm a senior. So I'm graduating next at the end of the semester in like a month, which is terrifying. But I, I decided to take a job in South Korea, um, teaching English, which I never, I never would have done, had I not taken that risk to go to Amsterdam because it's like a similar situation where I don't know a soul there. I don't know a soul in Seoul. Um, but I, I don't know anyone there. I'm just going by myself to a country that's thousands of miles away, um, with a 13 hour time zone, like, and I'm ok with it and I'm excited for it and I'm, I'm not crying because of stress this time, but I'm really excited.

< Back Eden's Story In this story, Eden’s generous neighbor teaches her a valuable life lesson. The irony of this significant story is unique as the neighbor has no idea of the impact and life shaping this had on Eden. 00:00 / 03:47 Growing up both my parents worked. My mom would work later and my dad got out of work around 4 o’clock. So there were a couple of hours in the day after school where I needed someone to watch me and my neighbor, Paula, was the most gracious woman. She’s taught me a lot–definitely an influence from my childhood almost like a second grandmother and I looked up to her so much and loved her. There was a brief period where she couldn’t get me off the bus for about a week or so; I was probably 7 or 8 I can’t really remember but I was young. I remember my parents said ‘Oh, Paula’s sick’ but didn’t really get into anything. I don’t even know if they knew but she had been in the hospital. To this day, I still don’t know what illness she had but she got me off the bus when she was feeling better and I hadn’t seen her for about a week or a couple days, which was rare because I had been seeing this woman every day. So it was weird to not see her for a couple of days. She got me off the bus and we were just talking and I said ‘Oh, Paula, where have you been?’. She said she had been in the hospital and I kind of brushed over it and didn’t really know how to react because I was younger and didn’t know the complexity of certain illnesses. I didn’t ask her how she was doing or if she was feeling any better and it was the first time an adult other than my parents had checked me as a person and kind of put me in a place where I needed to reflect on myself. My parents had done it in more disciplinary ways, but this was deeper than that where it was about self-reflection and how I treat other people. I can remember like it was yesterday… the look on her face, she was so disappointed in me and hurt. She just looked at me and she goes ‘Eden! Are you even going to ask me if I’m doing okay or feeling any better? My heart sank because this was the woman I looked up to so much and loved and adored and would never wish ill on her ever, but she was right. I didn’t know what to say so I looked at her and said ‘I’m so sorry, Paula. Are you feeling better?’ She looked and told me ‘No, Eden, that’s not the point now that you asked. It’s that you knew that I was sick and you didn’t ask if I was feeling better or if I was doing okay and that hurt me because I thought that you would care’. She treated me as an adult, which I respected but it sat with me for a very long time and it definitely taught me this life lesson of how to be a compassionate person because I think when you’re a kid, you have this tendency to just naturally think about yourself and you don’t quite know how to express compassion for other people other than just being a nice person and having respect and treating others the way you want to be treated but I think compassion goes deeper than that. There are always going to be situations in life where you don’t really know what the right thing is to say, and I think about this memory when I go into situations like that when I know someone needs that extra support and compassion. You know, it’s better to say something than nothing at all and it's an important lesson that she taught me. She doesn’t even know that she did this and probably didn’t think much of it after the fact, but it’s just always stuck with me! Previous Next

Sally's Story Sally talks with Mia about her role in creating the first public library in the township where she lived and the impact it has had on her life. "Libraries always remind me that there are good things in this world." - Lauren Ward Scroll to Listen Sally's Story 00:00 / 01:19 What am I most proud of? I think the fact that I was very instrumental in establishing a public library and little township where we lived this township that we moved to had five little village. Just collections of houses, 30 miles outside of Philadelphia. And there was no center of town really, except the elementary school and then the library right next door. And then the township building across the street. So we were in the center of town and we felt that role strongly so that we tried to have community events there, sector and so forth, immediate community projects. Up until 1958. And we moved there in 1960. There had just been five little one-room schools in the township. And in 1958, they put a consolidated elementary school in, but they say they sold off for the one room schoolhouses, but saved one, hoping that somebody day that would be a library. I had never lived where there wasn't a good library and it really bothered me that there was no library. And so I got involved right away and ended up being the librarian there for 20 years. Once I started having children at that age, those days, you didn't work. As soon as my youngest child was Liz in preschool, then I was working in the library pretty much full. It made for quite a very involving job. Certainly, the thing that comes to mind fastest was the day I was training a volunteer because we always had a volunteer on the desk and this little one-room library had no running water. I unlocked locked the door and we went in and the first thing we discovered was a mouse that had gotten trapped in the wastebasket. And we had to dispose of that. And then a little boy came in with his mother and threw up all over the children's corner and with no running water and quite to the school, getting, finding the janitor to get a bucket mop and clean it all up. And I have to say that volunteer never came back when you were in a small, rural library, anything can happen. And so it's been fun to watch it now grow.

Leslie's Story In this clip, Leslie shares her passion for improving the quality of life for people with disabilities with a specific focus on young children and families. Scroll to Listen Leslie's Story 00:00 / 04:07 Leslie: So my passion has been improving the quality of life for people with disabilities with a particular focus on young children and families in my professional roles. When I was a teenager, I became interested in what we called at the time, “mental retardation”, today known as “cognitive impairment” or “developmental disabilities”. One of my first professional jobs was working in a grant funded program for visually impaired children and adults in a state institution. I was fortunate to be part of the movement in the 1970s to expose the abuses of these institutions and improve the conditions as a result of state and federal lawsuits with subsequent funding. Leslie: As we developed this new program and learned about the ravages of trauma and deprivation of institutional life on those children and adults, we understood that we needed to develop relationships with many other staff. Including those in direct care roles who had been there for generations and were wary of so many new young professionals. When I left that position a few years later, I knew I had learned a lot understood, that I had cultivated some good advocacy skills and appreciated that teamwork was a very powerful approach for effective change. Working in that state institution was a jarring and humbling experience. When I left the position, I was aware that many of the people I had worked with had no one to advocate for them. Leslie: I subsequently became a legal guardian for a woman, Diana. She had been born in the institution to her mother, another resident, who had been abused and suffered from syphilis. Subsequently, Diana was deaf limited vision in one eye. I was able to use my knowledge and relationships with staff to improve the quality of Diana's life, first in the institution, later in a group home. Leslie: In contrast to my first position at the institution, I was honored to be part of the progressive approach to including these children and their communities and supporting parents in providing for their child's needs. Service delivery was based on interdisciplinary teamwork, including parents, educators, nurses, social workers and speech occupational and physical therapists. Our philosophy had that parents and families were the most important members of that team and without their investment, we professionals would not succeed. I often tell the story of one of my first home visits with Bonnie, our team nurse. I remember sitting on the floor observing and interacting with the baby while Bonnie was sitting on the couch talking with the mother. Initially, I was annoyed that Bonnie wasn't assessing the child's needs, but quickly recognized that the conversation and relationship with the mother was the most important part of the visit. Leslie: When I moved into an administrative position in the public schools in the early 2000s, I worked collaboratively with guidance counselors in the high schools for students with disabilities could have more equal access to academics and extracurricular activities. In these public schools I thoroughly enjoyed my role as a team leader, facilitating meetings with parents and staff to create appropriate educational programs for each student. Leslie: The teamwork during my early intervention years and some relationships built at that time remained today. There have been several reunions over the years. We rallied over Zoom during the beginning of the pandemic to honor our colleague, Bonnie, who had passed away and had been a mentor for many of us. We recently had a physical reunion just a couple of months ago, about a dozen women, some from out of state. In addition to discussing everyone's current activities and families, the conversation always comes back to what great work we did in those early years and how important that teamwork was to our success.

< Back Eddie's Story Eddie reflects on his senior year during the pandemic as a time of confusion and inner conflict, despite appearing to have a stable life on the surface. Through isolation and daily meditation, he realized his friendships and sense of identity were not as authentic as he believed, especially due to pressures around masculinity and ego. Ultimately, the experience became a period of deep self-reflection and personal growth that helped him better understand himself. 00:00 / 03:54 My story is from the pandemic, yep, a senior in high school. And we were basically on lockdown, as you know, everyone was on lockdown. And during this time, I was quite confused on where I was in my life. I mean, it seemed like everything was working out. I had friends, I had, I was about to graduate, come to UMass, you know, things were looking okay. Um, but there's a snagging sense deep inside me that just felt like something was off. Yeah. And so I couldn't enjoy the activities I normally enjoyed, um, which include playing basketball, which, in, you know, just hanging out with friends. So, I began to just kind of question things and feel a sense of needing to retreat in my own layer. Um. And so I went inward, and I started to meditate quite frequently, nearly 30 minutes a day. And what I learned through this was a lot of patterns I had built up to convince myself, almost, I was happy because these were the aspects of life that I've worked so hard for my whole life. To be, uh, admitted to college, you know, to be, um, in a, in a, in a sustainable friend group. The problem was, though, I wasn't in college; I was still in high school. And I was not in a friend group that was truly sustainable, um, even though I was telling myself I was. Um, and that was really hard for me to like swallow, um, because it was everything that I had built up in my mind to what was the perfect friend group, you know, it's just a group of, um, kind of guys and, admittedly, very just childish and unserious and foolish. And, um, that, that wasn't the bad part necessarily, but this sense of quote unquote, toxic masculinity, um, was definitely present in a way where I felt like I could not express my heart, felt like I could not express who I was cause I didn't know who I was because every moment was surrounded by this need to be, act strong or something or act like tough or act like I can't or I'm too good for, um, my expression of singing or, or, uh, any kind of dancing or, um, even just complimenting others or, um, feeling, like, pride is the only emotion I can show, which is really stupid. Um, but I'm a pretty prideful guy by nature, and just having that around me was, I guess, that's why I attracted. So I was, I Learned a lot that it really wasn't as, um, important to me to impress others, to have this pride, to have this ego, to not challenge my friends, to not challenge, um, the status quo of being a man. Um, and, and, and just letting myself sit with that fact was very uncomfortable. Um, but I think the meditation was what really propelled me. And so this transformation, basically finding my inner truth, um, was doing this inner work during Covid. Um, and while COVID was genuinely, um, a terrible time for many, for me, it was a time of self-blossoming and growth, and I wouldn't be who I am. Previous Next

< Back Gail's Story, 2024 Allie and Gail discuss Gail’s early childhood years and her struggle with loneliness and isolation, due to how people viewed her because her sister was Autistic. Gail discusses as she grew up how she experienced loneliness, how she advocated for autism in her teaching career, and how she overcame isolation. 00:00 / 02:56 n my younger years, I grew up, with a mom who was mentally ill and a sister who was severely autistic. I endured years of shunning with my sister whenever I would go out because her social skills were really rudimentary. And, when we would go somewhere, there were plenty of times when her behavior was not good, so people shunned her. I began to fear rejection, and I still do today. Loneliness took over when I was with my sister, and I was rejected or felt that way. Since I had been so involved with an autistic person, I began to care for her as others, and others with my mother because no there was nobody else to care for them. I had a mother, but her mental illness limited our relationship, which I so desired. So that was more loneliness. I I had no one to talk to. So, I just buried my feelings. I was embarrassed to speak to friends about my life. I feared being a failure with friends that I had, and I tried to smile and laugh. I used to try to joke a lot, but I never told anybody about my house, things that were going on. And I'd never developed close friendships. I had lots of friends, but I didn't have any close friendships. And I find that even today, two years after my sister has passed, that I almost need to take a course to help me attain close friendships. And I took a quote from the book that I really enjoyed. It says, if you don't let people in and you don't let yourself get too close, you can't get stomped out again. Loneliness seems to be the antidote against threat of hurt, although it imprisons you. And that's how I was. I just didn't I, I would talk to people, but I would be afraid to go too far. My risk of loneliness has been very high. Because I had adverse childhood experiences, both mental illness and severe autism left me afraid of life. So in in search of therapy, I was able to get a wonderful therapist. I mean, she has been everything to me. I spent ten years with her, and she helped me get past my struggle struggles. She also worked with me to meet people and to become caring, and I feel very, very lucky because of it. Previous Next

< Back Sam's Story In this story, Sam discusses her passion for women's health through her own life experiences. Sam's college experience has allowed her to surround herself with groups of people who lift up and support one another. 00:00 / 02:57 Sam: I would consider myself the typical College student. I am currently pursuing a degree in public health with a focus on women's health. Based on my personal and family experiences, I have become a really strong advocate for women's health, and my mom was a big influence in that she raised me to always kind of put yourself forward and never take no for an answer. And my friends have also instilled that, and they've been an inspiration in my life. My mom was a big factor in influencing my decision to go into public health and women's health specifically. Sam: She has a reproductive condition called endometriosis, which I inherited from her. And she kind of always made sure that health comes first as physical and mental health before you do anything else, because if you can't be your best self, then you're not going to be of service or helping others. Joining a sorority in College, I found a really solid group of friends where women support one another. That's kind of like the core of our friendship is we're going to push each other to do our best and be our best selves. I specifically have probably four or five made friends where we all just like, go big or go home in our friendship. Sam: And that's been really inspiring and public health because I want to do good for them and support them as women as well, because I had only been in a class of maybe 15 my whole life. So my freshman year classes were 300 lectures, and I was very nervous that I would kind of get lost and fall behind in my academics, which are very important to me. But my mom reminded me to be an advocate for myself and use the voice that I have. I was able to push through and make it a home, really. In high school, I did a club called ModelUN, where it was like a mock trial debate team. Sam: And one of the projects that we did was really influential in my decision to go to public health. Also, we were talking about sanitation and refugees in developing countries. So when I got to College and I realized that I could do that for a major, I was like, oh, let's do this. This is so interesting and tied into women's health. I mean, I have a voice. I wanted to be able to use it for those who are afraid to or are able to. And that's really where I am now. That's what got me here. Previous Next

Jonathan shares his special connection with his family and how they have been a major influence in his life, from his brothers to his mom and dad. He touches upon his love for his parents supporting him through sports and making sure he was reaching his fullest potential growing up. With deep gratitude for his mother and everything she had overcome in her early life, he expresses the kind of person and a great appreciation of who she is. Jonathan's Story Jonathan shares his special connection with his family and how they have been a major influence in his life, from his brothers to his mom and dad. He touches upon his love for his parents supporting him through sports and making sure he was reaching his fullest potential growing up. With deep gratitude for his mother and everything she had overcome in her early life, he expresses the kind of person and a great appreciation of who she is. Jonathan's Story 00:00 / 03:44 0:00 I wanted to talk about hobbies and enjoyment because for me that's one of the things that really helped me connect to to my family. You know, my, my brothers and I were all into the the same things, you know, I feel like my younger brothers definitely look up to me a lot because I've very much compared to my older brother. I'm very much on a straight and narrow going through college, going through, you know, going to get a degree, get a job was never in trouble. But I just want them to, really. 0:29 You know, figure out what they want on a life instead of structure it around me. It diverged when it came to sports, but that was also a way that helped me connect my dad, He was always at track meets. There was something that felt really good about having, you know, your parent come and watch you when you're working your **** off for something that you care about. And I remember I was really into soccer after, like throughout middle school, and I really, really wanted to make my freshman year team. 0:59 And the trials were like a week. I thought I did really well. And then come to find out that, you know, I got cut and you know, in my mind I was already like giving up and I was like sour grapes, whatever, It's like not worth it anyway. But then those are the moments when my dad would come in and really give me those good Nuggets of advice and he was hit me with some Rocky Balboa type of doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how hard you get hits, you know, it's what you can get hit and. 1:27 Get up with and I took that into the sports and my high school education afterwards, You know, it made just those moments not only brought me closer to my dad, but also made me a more resilient person. My mom, she started her own business and she thought she was going to be a lawyer, so she was studying law. But then she got quite sick and had to get many surgeries when she was through going through college. 1:56 She found that the one thing that helped her was, you know, her diet and like what she was putting inside of her body. So she decided to become, you know, the the lead in her field of nutrition. She's she's the exact same way, you know, does, you know, she's a business owner does, does her own taxes. Everything she does is very, very much exact. When we were growing up, you know, she was very. 2:23 Made sure that we were on our stuff because she was on her stuff and one of the toughest women I know as well. And she adopted all four boys. And you know, not everybody can do that. It takes a special type of parents to be able to make that happen and she's such a champ about it. Always made sure that we felt like we could do whatever we wanted in life despite, you know, not coming from. 2:53 Your average background, you know, some of my siblings kind of did not appreciate the way that she went about this. But I I understand and I do, you know, she would send us to synagogue despite, you know, sometimes how we look may not match our environment. She would send us to all sports of sports camps, whatever. But the point was, you know, you can do whatever you want in life. And I'm, I've overcome many of things. I want you to be able to overcome things too. 3:23 And it was perhaps intentional, perhaps unintentional. But the lesson stuck. And you know, I appreciate her. Appreciate her greatly for that, but feel like that really boiled back down to who she was. You know who she is. Biggest supporter in my life. Seriously. But yeah, love my mother. Love my mother dearly. Previous Next

< Back Stan's Story Stan reflects on his joining of the Peace Corps, avoiding being drafted into the Vietnam War, and ending up in Brazil. He taught English to anglophones as well, which later he built a little career path from, as called, the” Plant doctor” with a radio show. Reflecting on building connections, he reflected on the spontaneous connections he made and how he socialized. He also feels now that the younger generation has lost their ability to connect properly face to face due to phones and computers. 00:00 / 05:13 Previous Next

< Back Susy's Story, 2021 Susy’s adventurous, independent lifestyle quickly transitioned into a nurturing one when she found herself longing for a baby. After adopting her son from Peru, she instantly knew she had made the right choice. 00:00 / 03:04 I chose as my major transition going from achievement orientated, professional, thriving and that’s all that was important to me to becoming a mother! It totally transformed me on many levels. I belonged to a support group that was a career support group for people that wanted to change careers. It was an intense support group and we had a retreat at my house and after about a day, the leader of the group who was a social worker said to me ‘you know, Susan, I see you’re interested in your work but what we’re hearing from you is you really want a baby.’ So, I began this journey and I chose adoption to have my baby… I got the call I’d been waiting for. I even feel emotional saying it but I had decided to adopt from Peru in South America and my contact called me from Peru. She said to me ‘hi Susan, how do you feel about boy babies?’ I just sat there and some inner voice said to me ‘just sit here quietly and think but don’t say anything’ so that’s what I did. It just came out of my heart when I said ‘sure. Boy babies are fine!’ My whole body was on getting this child. Um, my real mothering began when I found myself in front of the sink washing bottles and changing diapers and wondering how I was going to feed myself. But nevertheless, I was enchanted and obsessed but the mothering journey began and it continues today. The real challenge is how to keep up–it’s been the challenge all along and it still is–the real challenge is how to keep up with your child’s transitions from infant hood to–you know, you have to change to mothering with every level and it still continues, of course. My son graduated from college and began working and he became an adult! Now when I’m ill he comes to take care of me so that’s a transition. So, um, it’s like a whole other level of living. I wouldn't have missed this for the world… Previous Next

Marcia's Story Marcia explains how the simple act of being friendly and saying hi dramatically changed her world and formed life long relationships in the summer of 1968. Scroll to Listen Marcia's Story 00:00 / 06:42 Marcia: My world dramatically changed by being friendly and saying hi to several people one summer. It was the summer of 1968. It was after my sophomore year at University of Wisconsin Madison, and I was looking forward to an exchange program with Warwick University in England. But in order to help pay for everything I had a job working in K Sandwich Shop which was at 18th Street in downtown DC. And the location of that sandwich shop was really critical to what happened next. There was a stretch of time where I guess was working a late shift, so it was relatively empty, but I noticed in another section there was this fellow who kept coming in who looked to be about my age. What looked different about him was that every time he came in he was wearing a shirt that was pastel colored, small flowers, and he had kind of longish hair. The more I looked at him, I thought, “that looks like Carnaby Street, he’s got to be British.” So, I just decided to go over one day and chat him up, which I did. It turned out, indeed, he did just graduate from the London School of Economics and he was on his way to what he called Barkley—which was Berkley for a law degree. But he was staying with very close friend of his family who lived in London, and I immediately thought, “Oh my god, this poor guy he’s just with grown ups all the time, maybe he would really like to find out what its like not to be a grown up.” So, I asked him if he wanted to come over to my house for dinner the next night. Now I have to put that in a little context, my father had a gift store and there were lots of traveling salesmen, and when I was growing up it was not unusual at all to sit at the dinner table and to find a stranger there. So, I picked him up where he was staying, and we just a had a really fun dinner together. I remember just sitting in our living room on the floor with our backs supported by this sofa, and I had my little important notebook with me, and he gave me all sorts of information about England, about London in particular. And then he gave me the name and the phone number of a very good friend of his in London in case I wanted to get in touch with him. And also, he gave me the name of his parents and their phone number. So that was really lovely, and then he went on his way, and I continued to work. I went to Paris for that month, and the night before I was to leave for Paris, I got one of those really wretched 24-hour stomach bugs. I felt really terrible, but I had to leave the next day. So—I just had to do that so I did it. I ended up in the center of London at bustling Victoria Station and really wasn’t feeling that great and wasn’t sure what I was going to do until I decided I guess I should really call his friend. So, I did, I figure out how to use a phone and called his friend. I introduced myself and to my utter amazement he went, “Oh Marcia! I have been expecting to hear from you.” I went, “Oh my gosh”—that mean Alex had to have gotten in touch with his friend. So, he said, “Look, I actually can’t give you a place to stay but come here and we’ll figure out what to do.” So, he gave me the directions, I followed them, I got to his place, and he said, “I’ve been thinking about this, and I think you have to call his parents.” And I’m like, what? That was so bizarre to me, I was just—really? So, I picked up the phone and I called them, and the same thing happened. I introduced myself and they went, “Oh Marcia! We’ve been expecting to hear from you. Yes, come over. Nick is having a dinner party but I’m sure he would just be thrilled to have you join.” They were so nice and interesting, and everyone was just terrific. And then, I told them what my plans were. I had a friend from Wisconsin who was in Norwich. We had talked about in the Spring to go to England, and he said, “Why don’t you come out and spend some time there?” Okay. I stayed there for three days or so, enjoyed myself, and then I was ready for the next chapter which was going to be going to Coventry to work where I was going to be for that semester. I started putting my thumb out, getting ready to hitch; and I tried and I tried and I tried. It went on for quite awhile and I was having absolutely no success. What I didn’t know was that it was impossible to hitch in that direction, what I really needed to do was go back to the hub. I needed to go to back London and then I needed to go north. When I did figure out and I was back in London, it was already getting kind of late, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get to Coventry in time before it got dark. I also remembered how wonderful that family was, and I thought, “I just wonder if I could just stay there one more night” so I called and they went, “Oh yes! Come, we’re having a dinner party tonight, but we would love for you to join.” So that was that. I decided—It was just a semester exchange program, but I just didn’t think it was enough time. I really wanted to be immersed in another culture, but the complication was where I would live. I did find a place in a little village, Kenilworth, and overtime that actually didn’t work out. In the end, because I had classes only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I could do research in London. I could go to the British Museum every day and I could live with the Finers. Which is what I did. Maurice would drive me to Euston Station on Tuesday mornings, I would take the train up, I would go to my classes, I would spend one night in Kenilworth, and then I would hitch back. And I did for months and months and months, and I just became an integral part of the family.