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

Aidan talks with Barbara about his family heritage and shares the meaning of his tattoos and their connection to his family. Aidan's Story Aidan talks with Barbara about his family heritage and shares the meaning of his tattoos and their connection to his family. Scroll to listen Aidan's Story 00:00 / 05:00

< Back Ryann's Story, Spring 2025 Ryann shares how her early love for dance was overshadowed by a highly competitive studio environment where favoritism and pressure made her feel inadequate and disconnected from her passion. Over time, this experience diminished her confidence and enjoyment, leading her to step away from dance after high school. However, upon joining a more supportive and inclusive dance program in college, a teacher helped her rediscover her confidence and love for dance. This renewed encouragement allowed her to see her potential and inspired her to pursue dance more seriously as a future career. 00:00 / 04:58 Well, I started dancing like most people in, like, a small, little silly dance studio in my town, where I was like three, and it was fun. We didn't really learn a lot of dance, but we just played around mostly, and I met a lot of my friends that I still know today from there. But one friend, specifically, her name is Emma, she decided to go to another studio, and it was a much more strict and professional studio. So, when she decided to go there, her mom persuaded my mom to go there, as well. And, um, so I started going to that studio, but it was a much different environment than the dance studio I went to before when I was younger. I remember the director of the studio sometimes she would, like, come into the studio where we were having classes, and, like, we'd all be so scared of her because she was such a strict and scary person. And I remember it was, like, I had fun in the beginning, and I started having classes with the director, that's when I just started disconnecting my love for dance with my time at the studio. And, I would only really go because I wanted to see my friends there. I wasn't one of her favorites, so I would like rarely get corrections on things that I was doing, and I wouldn't really get good parts in recital pieces. And it made me feel so bad because all my friends who, like, were a favorite or had someone on the board would be getting these good parts. And I thought that I was, like, so much worse than them and, like, just a bad dancer, and that made me not wanna try anymore. I graduated high school, and that summer before college, I wasn't dancing, and I, like, realized that I really missed dancing. So, I wanted to see if they had classes at UMass that I could take. And I was interested in taking classes, but I didn't really want to, like, get a dance degree because I thought I was bad, and I didn't wanna continue with something that I was bad in. And to do that, like, I had to submit an audition video basically. I sent in a video from my last recital. And honestly, I was expecting to, like, for them to say “No,” and not in the major, but then, they immediately respond, and they were like, "Yes, you're admitted!” I was like, oh wow, they actually, like, appreciated me as a dancer. And then when I started taking classes at UMass, my ballet teacher, Tom, he gave me a different view of ballet than what I grew up in, and he didn't pick favorites. He made sure to look at everyone in the room and, like, give corrections to everyone and show attention to everyone regardless of their, like, technical ability in ballet, and I never saw that before. I think he was, like, the first dance teacher to, like, actually appreciate me and, like, give me corrections and make me think that I was a good dancer. I really started to love dance and want to pursue it professionally. I felt proud of the way I danced, and I can see myself improving, which I, like, didn't really see before. And now, I actually see, like, having a career and dance as my future, which I, I, like, always wanted as a kid, but I never actually believed would happen. In doing that made me love dance, and dance became fun for me again. Previous Next

In his story, Dennis Bidwell guides us through his harrowing journey applying for Conscientious Objector (CO) Status during the Vietnam War. Dennis reflect on his coming of age, the culture of the 1960's and 70's, and his experience writing "the most important essay of [his] life" Dennis's Story In his story, Dennis Bidwell guides us through his harrowing journey applying for Conscientious Objector (CO) Status during the Vietnam War. Dennis reflect on his coming of age, the culture of the 1960's and 70's, and his experience writing "the most important essay of [his] life" Scroll to listen Dennis's Story 00:00 / 04:12 Well to set the stage. I was in college from 1967 to 1971, and those were very tumultuous times in this country, much of it having to do with the US fighting an ultimately disastrous war in Vietnam and the growing resistance to that war effort. But I was going through a process of trying to figure out what I thought about all this, and I concluded that I was just morally and conscientiously opposed, that I did not want to participate in this war, and there's a process of becoming a conscientious objector. And I went through that process, and my draft board said, okay, we find that you area conscientious objector. So that mean tthat if my draft number came up, I wouldn't be put into the military and sent off to fight the war, but I would be asked to do some for mf alternative service. At that point,I had been admitted to law school. I was going to be going to NYU in Greenwich Village in New York, was all excited about heading to NewYork, pursuing the law. I made the estimation that my number would come ups o that even if I started law school, I would have to stop law school in order to go do my alternative service of some sort . So I made the decision to just defer and to instead take a job that would qualify as alternative service if my number came up .And I was very interested in urban education, so I decided I would be a day care teacher on a Head Start program in Boston. So I took that job. It turns out that my number didn't come up, so I could have, introspect,go ne to law school and just stayed there and moved in that direction. But instead I wound up teaching. And though I discovered that teaching itself wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I got involved in other aspects of urban education issues. I became the director of a community school, and then I became involved in other organizing efforts around education in Boston neighborhoods, and I be ca me involved in a variety of youth services and the funding of youth services. So I wound up getting just totally fascinated with the life of neighborhood organizations in different Boston neighborhoods, particularly Jamaica Plain where I lived for 20 years. And there were a few years where I thought about, am I going to go back to law school or not?And at some point that just kind of faded, and I wound up headed in different directions, following my curiosities, following my interests. As I look back on those years,IrealizedthatIdevelopedasenseofconfidencethatIcouldchangedirectionsandstilllandonmyfeet.Andth at sense of confidence, that sense of agency, has served me well ever since. And as I look back on it, though, I would like to say, oh, it's because of my ingenuity and my smarts, and that may have a little so me thing to do with it. I recognize that so much of this was the privilege that I had, the wonderful education that was made possible for me by my parents. I had a financial back stop. But knowing that there was a very good chance I would land on my feet. Those early years helped give me the confidence to be able to make changes like that knowing how fortunateI was to be able to bring that attitude to things. Many, many people were not and do not now have the kind of background handed to them and the privilege and access handed to them that makes that possible.

Annabel's Story Annabel, who recently uprooted her life in North Carolina and moved to Northampton, MA, discusses how she ended up living in the city and her close familial relationships that led her there. Scroll to Listen Annabel's Story 00:00 / 03:21 Stephanie: Speaking of Northampton, how did you even end up here? Like, how did you know this town? Because it is so small. Annabel: It is so small. I had been visiting here for a number of years because my daughter, who is a writer, and her husband is a publisher, they were living in Northampton and were - and Amherst and Northampton both have a huge community of writers. I ended up visiting frequently, and then 12 years ago, almost 13 years ago, they had a child who was born four months early. And she only weighed a pound and a half, and ended up having a lot of medical crises. She had a feeding tube and a trach. Stephanie: Oh, my God… Annabel: And, ended up spending four hundred and [sic] days in three different hospitals. Thank God she was in Massachusetts because she had some fabulous care here. Stephanie: Yeah. Annabel: She is doing really really well now. Um, and if you didn’t know, if you didn’t see the scar in her neck you wouldn’t know she had a trach. And, ironically, as a two year old, I had a trach… Stephanie: Oh… Annabel: Because of a really bad case of bronchial pneumonia, and ended up with a trach. So, we may be the only grandmother team… Stephanie: Yeah, that has… Annabel: that have the trach scars. Anyway, so I came up here a great deal while she was in the hospital - or, those 3 hospitals. And finally, I just thought, “I want to move there. I want to be near her,” so that was the reason I ended up here. And I’m so glad. I’m almost 75, and if you had told me I would make friends as good as any friends I’ve ever had I would not have believed it. So, I count my blessings that I ended up here. Stephanie: Yeah, that sounds really, that everything worked out, basically. Annabel: It did. It really did. Stephanie: Yeah. And was it hard making friends here? Annabel: I think at first, because I didn’t think that I could ever make friends like the ones I left behind, particularly back in North Carolina, I wasn’t reaching out. But finally, my daughter is best friends with another writer, whose mother moved here from California, and both of them kept saying “You’ll love each other if you get together!” and we instantly did. And then, I joined a church at the same time as another friend and we’ve become best friends. So I'm just amazed. I did not expect - I knew I would be happy here because of my daughter’s family. And there’s another family, they’re very close to me and I love them. I didn’t think I’d have peers as friends, but I do, and I’m so glad. Yeah.

< Back Hengie's Story Hengie expresses the hardships her and her family faced growing up in Haiti and how her mother was a pillar to the close bond that her, her brother, and mother currently share. While battling the difficulties of growing up apart, Hengie describes her wishes for her family and their journey back to each other, establishing a strong foundation built on resilience, love, and unwavering determination, ultimately leading them back to the embrace of a cherished home. 00:00 / 04:27 When I think of who I am today, though, there are specific people that come to mind. I've always considered my mom and my brother to be my rock, and I refer to them as that for multiple reasons. I have few recollections of how, like, my family dynamic was before the earthquake in Haiti. I can probably tell you it was, like, your typical nuclear household that you would expect, like, a middle-class family from Haiti to be. But as a family unit, like, we've we were tested early on. The earthquake impacted us in different ways and just that was really, like, the day the world changed for us. And the loss of my father just caused a lot of uncertainty and just left so much uncertainty for a long time. And I can't even imagine how my brother and my mom, like, what was going through their minds at that time. For me, I was quite young, so, like, nothing really ever made sense to me. But they were much older, and I can imagine that it was equally a difficult time for them. But it wasn't until years later where I was able to reflect and kinda define what that time meant for me. And I realized that I have to applaud my mom for a lot of things. Not once did I ever question her love or support for us during that time. My mom worked and fought for my brother and I to leave Haiti as soon as possible just because it was so unsafe. The country was in shambles, basically. And the focus was always us. It was always our safety, our future, even though at that time, I can't even imagine how much she was struggling. And she was mourning the loss of her husband, the loss of her sister. So, it was a lot for her at that time. Like, I can't applaud her strength, really. So, we left without her, and we did the journey to live with my aunt in Florida with a family friend. And we ended up living with my aunt for about two years. We saw our mom, like, every few months a few months or so. She wasn't here regularly. And from that, I would say sacrifice was one of the first lessons that my mom ever taught me. Even though at the time it wasn't a question that we were her priority, I don't think at least I don't didn't understand the gravity of the sacrifice that we were making at the time. She worked very hard to make sure that we, like, turned out okay. And I put that in finger quotes because do you ever really turn out okay from such a traumatic event? But I wouldn't change our family dynamic for anything. Of course, I still wish that, you know, my father was still here with us, and that's never going to change him passing. And grieving him and just grief in general is, like, a long and constant process, and it looks different for everyone. But I'd like to imagine that my father is proud of us. Proud of us for sticking together, for keeping our connection strong. I imagine he's proud of me for trying to make the most out of every opportunity, especially proud of my mom for getting us there, for loving us, and for staying strong. I hope she knows that I'm also really proud of her too. My mom, my brother, and I, we lost a lot of time together. A lot of years spent just connecting, like, through phone calls, a lot of money spent on flights, and distance was always, like, a member of our family. And it was hard having to grow up away from each other for so many years. I struggled with us living apart for so long. It made me feel lost. Like, I had no sense of what home really looked like. I didn't feel quite safe or welcomed anywhere. Home can be a lot of things, and I'm still in the process of figuring that out for myself. But my wish for my mom and my brother and for all of us really is to be able to find that place that allows us to be at ease and cherish that comforting feeling, to feel so at home somewhere. Previous Next

< Back David's Story David reflects on the nature of influence and on who in his life has given him an understanding of passive and active influence. His father sparked his nerdy hobby interest, reflecting on emotional acceptance and openness, and his mother demonstrated quiet perseverance through her hard time in life, and him finding ways to influence her by building joys outside of work. In the end, reflecting on how his French teacher also provided a safe environment and genuine care during the chaos of COVID for him 00:00 / 05:30 Previous Next

Josh shares his dedication and identity to football at college and wanting to succeed in his athletic career, only to realize that it was taking him away from his academics. When Covid hit, which was brought with a year spent at home, he decided to change his focus from football towards his studies on Public Health. Leaving your past self may be hard, but it’s the sacrifice to limitless possibilities and realizing . Josh's Story Josh shares his dedication and identity to football at college and wanting to succeed in his athletic career, only to realize that it was taking him away from his academics. When Covid hit, which was brought with a year spent at home, he decided to change his focus from football towards his studies on Public Health. Leaving your past self may be hard, but it’s the sacrifice to limitless possibilities and realizing . Josh's Story 00:00 / 03:20 So at 18 I think, not that my head was in the wrong place but, now looking back I was definitely a little bit naive, I think. I was really obviously into football. I'd like that's where I kind of put all my time and energy. I was fortunate enough where I won a state championship with my team in my senior year so that kind of boosted not my ego but my like attention towards football and wanting to keep on having success in the sport. So I obviously ended up going to Springfield College right after graduation to go play football at the college you know after being there for a couple of months and just kind of interacting with the people there. I just kind of realized that like I wasn't really getting as much out of it then that I thought I was going to and I was like you know what I'd rather just commit the time that I was spending playing football just to focus purely on my academics at that point. So I decided that I was going to quit football which was kind of a big part of my identity at the time. I kind of had to learn how to you know take that part of myself and kind of let it be in the past. I would say fortunately but unfortunately enough by the time I realize that I was done playing football Covid became a thing and that was during the Spring of my freshman year so we all got sent home and that was kind of like the you know the nail in the coffin for my decision if there's any time to you know hang up the cleats now. I lived at home for about like a year and then at that time I transferred to you Umass. As my studies kind of kept on getting more in depth, I started to figure out that I really liked them my new major public health I you know I started to meet some new people and most of them were from you know the friends that I had for my hometown and I met their friends that they met up here. I would say that when it comes to you know now being 22 and graduating in a month I would say like the biggest difference from like now to when I was 18 in high school and like you know kind of just bullying and obsessed with football is that I kind of realized that education is definitely you know the ultimate way forward because you know I was just so into Sport and then I realized that we're all just lifelong learners and why limit myself and put time into you know a sport just entertain myself when I could go out and like learn something. My dad was my football coach in high school so he obviously kind of wanted me to keep on playing but he obviously had no like there's no pressure that came with like he wasn't going to force me to keep on playing. He would have liked it if I did but, he was totally supportive that I decided I wasn't going to play anymore. Previous Next