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Ep. 6: 3 interesting people I met at Harvard...who all faced adversity · Adventures in Adversity: an inspirational podcast

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  Little, good morning, good afternoon and good evening,
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  depending on where you are tuning in in the world.
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  That's my wannabe radio show host Slash Wannabe.
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  Oh, wait a second. I'm a podcast host.
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  Thank you very much. OK, that was a fun little Monday
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  morning intro. Actually, it's Monday at noon,
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  but I want to get right into the topic at hand, which if you've
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  clicked on this episode, there's usually two reasons why you're
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  here. First, you actually are
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  genuinely interested in the topic.
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  The other reason might be is that you are one of my close
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  friends and family, and you know I'm going to ask you in a couple
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  days of what you thought of the episodes.
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  So you know, either way, I appreciate your presence and I
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  appreciate your ear anytime, day or night.
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  OK, so the title of this podcast episode that came to me today
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  while I was pouring my second cup of coffee, can you tell is 3
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  people I met during my time at Harvard.
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  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I did say Harvard.
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  You did read that right. That was not a typo.
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  I did, in fact, graduate from Harvard.
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  I know it surprises me too. But you might be not surprised
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  to hear that I also did play a sport at Harvard, which was part
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  of my, you know, whole application.
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  Because I certainly wasn't conducting brain surgery in high
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  school or starting small non profits from my bedroom in 10th
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  grade. Like some of the people I went
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  to school with who were amazing just way, way ahead of me as far
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  as realizing what life is really about any who, if you're here
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  and you're interested in the topic, I am just going to go for
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  this and see see what stories come out here.
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  So there are three people that I thought were super interesting
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  during my time at Harvard that I met.
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  All right, well, one of these that doesn't make the list.
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  He was really nice. Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
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  I met him outside my very first class, my first day of freshman
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  year. He was really nice.
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  I just didn't really like get to talk to him or anything.
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  So I can't really comment on his life.
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  But I remember I was sitting outside my quantitative
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  reasoning class called Magic of Numbers.
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  Like, right in the beginning of the Science Center where you
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  walk in these little, you know, rotating doors, go up and then
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  to the left and there's a Science Center.
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  And I sat down on this bench. I was like first day of school
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  dork with like, I remember this, like pink pink striped shirt and
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  khakis. And I was like, Oh my God, what
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  am I doing here? Which I still don't know what I
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  was doing there. But I asked him or no, he asked
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  did I ask him? No.
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  He asked me if I had a course guide, which were these printed
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  things called printed materials that we used to use in college
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  back in the 1400s. For all of you young UNS out
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  there. Anyway, he asked me for the
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  course catalog. I gave it to him and I thought
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  it was amazing because, you know, JTT Hello.
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  Anyway, my dog's barking. Probably won't know how to edit
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  that out because I don't know what I'm doing.
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  But here we go. I'll continue with the story.
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  He was one really nice guy that I met, but yeah, he didn't make
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  the list. Sorry, JTTI, just didn't know
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  you. Sorry.
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  Boo. OK, the first person, actually.
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  Very interesting person that I met at Harvard was a girl named
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  Liz Murray. And so my junior year at Harvard
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  actually transferred up to the quad.
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  And this was just an area, which used to be Radcliffe, where the
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  women went to school before they were let into Harvard.
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  Boo. Anyway, I was living in the
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  quad, and I was connected through a bathroom to basically
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  someone who would get placed in that room.
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  And then we were all in a big hallway.
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  So we all lived in houses at Harvard.
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  Like, you didn't live off campus because it was so expensive.
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  So you'd just be in a house with like, a house master and a
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  dining hall, and it was very like Harry Potter, right?
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  So I did not know who I was going to be placed with.
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  But you're in this long hallway, so you basically just share a
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  bathroom with two doors, and then you're in your little
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  suite. And so I I was, you know,
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  putting out my little, like, leopard print cosmetic stuff and
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  like, being the cheesy dork that I am and, like, decorating my
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  bathroom. And I noticed that nobody had
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  moved in yet. So I was like, OK, that's
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  interesting. Like, nobody's here.
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  I'm not meeting anyone or their parents.
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  But I'm like, OK Couple days later, this girl named Liz
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  walked in and I was like, oh, hey, I'm Bree, What's up?
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  You know, I'm right here, blah, blah, blah.
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  And I remember noticing that she was like very shy and kind of
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  hesitant, really like tall and thin and kind of just not like
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  had the body language. Like she wasn't super interested
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  in like having a deep chat or just kind of more introverted.
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  Where as I'm kind of like, hi, I will meet you and you know, like
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  talk your face off any who. Hopefully I'll channel that into
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  this podcast so I won't have to chat everyone's ear off.
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  But so yeah, met her briefly, didn't really see her around
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  much. I would see her in the dining
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  hall with kind of say hello and then she would be gone for like
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  weeks at a time. Very limited interactions in the
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  bathroom. I've always just kind of say
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  hello and remember thinking like, I wonder like how she's
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  going to class or like what's going on.
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  So Fast forward to that spring. She was very in and out at
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  night. Like I said, I would rarely see
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  her but when she when I did see her, I'd be like, oh, hey, how
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  are you? Get a call.
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  I'm sitting there studying, and I'll never forget I had my
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  little cordless phone and someone's like, hey, is this
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  Bree Wilson or. No, no, sorry.
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  Bree Cooley, before I was married.
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  And I said, yeah, and and and the person on the end of the
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  phone ended up being a reporter from TV Guide.
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  And they were like, so we just wanted to talk to you about,
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  like, you know, living and sharing, you know, sharing a, a
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  dorm with with Liz Murray. And I'm like, yeah, what about
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  it? Like, I was totally caught off
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  guard. We're like, yeah, we're actually
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  working on like ATV special with her.
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  Thora Birch is playing her and it's, you know, called homeless
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  to Harvard, the Liz Murray story.
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  And I'm like, I yeah, wow, wow. I was so taken aback.
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  I had no clue that she had this past.
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  And she had actually won, like this New York Times scholarship
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  contest, like writing an essay. And she used to be homeless.
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  Yeah. And I did not know that.
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  And so she was off helping the production crew, like being on
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  set with Thora Birch, who played her, like advising.
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  And actually, in this documentary movie in Sorry, no,
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  it's just a kind of a a movie. I don't know if it's
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  documentary, but Thora Birch plays her and she actually plays
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  one of the cops that comes in during one of the scenes.
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  So unfortunately she had a very rough past.
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  Her mom was addicted to drugs, ended up getting AIDS and dying.
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  She grew up in New York City and you know, didn't really let that
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  stop her. Ended up winning a scholarship
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  contest and got into Harvard and our paths crossed in the dorm
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  bathroom. And you know, looking back on
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  that time, I wish, I wish I had, you know, let's see, I was 19 or
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  20. I wish I had gone deeper into
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  that conversation or or kind of probed a little bit more, but
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  just what a fascinating person to meet.
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  And having actually watched the movie, you just never really
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  know what people have gone through and what adversity has
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  like brought them to that moment in in in the bathroom of our of
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  our dorm room. Like 2 random people brought
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  together, me having no idea of who who she was and maybe making
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  assumptions. Oh she's just off cutting class.
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  I'm sure. I had no clue, no clue.
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  So I thought that was amazing what she did.
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  And you know, fighting through that kind of adversity at such a
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  young age is is pretty inspiring.
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  So Liz, if you hear this, maybe one day I could have you a
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  guest, have you as a guest on the podcast and we can make up
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  for lost time. But anyway, super amazing
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  inspirational story about overcoming adversity.
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  The second person I met at Harvard who was super
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  interesting actually reminds me of like my childhood.
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  And there's a little bit of a lesson in this, So hear me out.
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  So I was in my dorm room. You're in our dining hall and a
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  bunch of us went to go like, watch a movie in a friend's dorm
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  room, get pretty normal. Like after dinner, everything is
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  all connected to the dining hall.
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  So we go up and we're sitting on the couch hanging out, and one
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  of the roommates walks in. And we all started laughing
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  because he had a pink sweater on and khakis.
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  And I had a pink sweater on and khakis.
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  So everyone was like, oh, twins. Ha, ha.
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  I guess you had to be there. Anyway, he's like, oh, I'm just
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  sitting down to watch my dad's show and I'm like, oh, he's
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  like, Oh yeah, he's an executive producer.
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  He was super cool about it because we're kind of like, oh,
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  what are you doing? You just come in there to sit
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  down. And he's like, oh, my dad's,
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  he's an executive producer on the show.
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  I'm like, oh, cool. And I remember seeing it was
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  like a sitcom and like this the name came up and it said Henry
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  Stern. And I was like, oh, no, sorry,
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  Daniel Stern. Henry is actually the guy's
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  name, my colleague, not colleague.
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  Classmate's name. Long story short, I proceeded as
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  soon as Henry. No, not Henry.
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  Damn it. Daniel Stern ended up coming on
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  the screen as one of the actors and he was like, Oh yeah, that's
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  that's my dad. And I'm like, your dad's the
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  Home alone guy. It was just like a gut reaction.
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  I had no filter. And I just, he started laughing
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  and he's like, he's like, Oh yeah.
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  And I'm like, Oh my God, that's like my childhood.
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  Like, Oh my gosh, like, so cool, right.
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  And he was way nice about it. And he ended up being we we're
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  in the same major. He was an English major.
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  So I would see him all the time at like sandwich shops or in
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  class. Great guy.
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  Henry Stern, If you're out there, you're awesome.
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  But what I'm trying to say is that I kind of wish I didn't do
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  that because I'm sure kind of like living in the shadow of,
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  you know, oh, you're so and so's son or you're so and so is your
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  dad. Or while I'm sure that was quite
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  common at Harvard, I'm sure it would be hard to always hear
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  that when someone meets you like, oh, you're so and so's
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  dad, you're so and so's whatever.
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  So it's funny, just looking back on those two situations, 2
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  really interesting people, you know, who grew up in very
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  different ways. You have, you know, Liz Murray,
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  who fought homelessness and then fought away to Harvard.
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  And then you have Henry Stern, who grew up with a dad who is,
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  you know, beloved by all and all the, you know, the voice of the
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  Wonder years and like, you know, the Home Alone guy, both Home
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  Alone movies, which, Oh my gosh, in elementary school, those were
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  like core memories for me. But I wish I could have had
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  approached both of those situations differently.
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  Like taken the time to get to know Liz Moore, even though she
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  was super introverted. Kind of like, wish I dug a
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  little deeper. And then with Henry, I wish I
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  kind of had not said, oh, your dad's the home alone guy, even
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  though it was in good spirits. I'm sure you know he is his own
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  person. And that doesn't always feel
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  great when people kind of compare you to your parents or
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  your relative or whoever or your sibling, blah, blah, blah.
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  All right, now the last person, the third person that I met at
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  Harvard, is very, very, very interesting.
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  It was me, huh, 3 for a loop there.
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  That is not actually the way it sounds that I'm so interesting.
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  The way I actually mean it is that I met myself in that I went
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  through so much adversity there mentally that I really kind of
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  met myself in the mirror quite a few times.
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  And throughout that time different forms of adversity
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  came. You know, being 3000 miles from
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  home, I was 18, it was amazing. But I had never done that
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  before. And again, champagne problems,
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  right? I'm at a a beautiful college and
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  you know, being supported by my parents, so no complaints.
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  But for me it was intimidating at the time.
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  Talk about imposter syndrome, I was like, what the hell am I
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  doing here? And holy shit, thankfully I had
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  a softball team that helped me kind of settle in, but that's a
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  whole nother story about how I ended up quitting halfway
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  through my junior year, blah blah blah.
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  And that's another podcast. Stay tuned for that.
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  But I will say I met myself there in that I went through
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  about a million versions of myself over those four different
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  years. One as a student athlete, one as
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  someone who no longer was a student athlete, as a freshman,
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  as a sophomore, as a junior, as a senior, as somebody who felt
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  like such a fish out of water. When I was there, I was looking
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  around going, holy shit, this is a wonderful people there, but I
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  just did not feel like I was smart enough to be there.
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  And you know, I I graduated. It's still funny to me, but I
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  worked really hard and I worked through a lot of adversity.
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  But I will say I met myself in many different states.
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  There went through a lot of ups and downs, many of which were
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  self-imposed, but just those four years of college were
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  tough. I can tell you that and thank
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  you. Thankful to my parents for
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  sticking through me on with me on some of those 'cause they
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  definitely just had trouble finding myself and felt insecure
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  and didn't know who I was and tried to mold into different
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  crowds. And I remember going to a party
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  there at the Hasty Pudding Club and get this, this is hilarious.
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  My e-mail address was Cooley. No, it was Cooley at FAS, like
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  Frank and then fas.harvard.edu, which is Cooley at Faculty of
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  Arts and sciences.harvard.edu. Well, I got an invite to this
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  Hasty Pudding Club, which is like this super, you know, lots
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  of rich people, which I should have known kind of club that you
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  get invited to. And I'm like, oh, my God, they
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  want, they want me to go to the, the, the cocktail hour.
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  Cool. Yeah.
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  And I went and I remember I'm not going to be going to say
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  what the person's name is because it's not very nice.
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  But this girl came up to me and was like, oh, you know what?
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  It what's how do you know anyone?
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  And I'm like, oh, you know, I was invited, invited via e-mail.
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  And I literally didn't know anyone.
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  And we're in this old, like, Harvard type, you know, cigar
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  smoking lounge darling. And I'm like, oh, yay, hi, I'm a
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  dork. But why am I here?
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  But someone invited me. And she was like, oh, and then I
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  told her, oh, you know, Bree Cooley.
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  And she's like, oh, Oh my gosh. I think you know what?
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  You accidentally got this other girl something Cooley.
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  I wouldn't say her name. You got her invite.
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  I don't. I think there was a mistake and
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  I was like, sweet. I knew I felt out of place
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  because I wasn't actually invited.
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  So that was super fun. Yeah, Google that Hasty Pudding
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  club. Sorry, Hasty Pudding.
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  But they just weren't very nice to me.
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  I mean, it's not my fault that there was a a typo and they
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  added the wrong letter, but it was like some a Cooley versus
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  Cooley. And yeah, so anyway, that was
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  awesome. So you can see why, like moments
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  like that would kind of make you feel like a weirdo but meant
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  much many more stories to come on Harvard.
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  But I just kind of wanted to wrap that up and say, you know,
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  there were super cool people there and it was a very
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  interesting college experience. I'll say that, But I think the
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  most important person I met there was definitely myself and
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  I'm still continuing to try to meet myself.
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  Sorry for the background noise there, meet myself in the mirror
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  every day and and really just show compassion to myself.
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  So no matter what adversity is coming your way this week, just
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  meet yourself kindly in the mirror and remember, you got
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  this. I'm actually looking at a
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  coaster that I had made for this dinner for launching the
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  podcast. So I'm going to end with this.
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  Empower yourself, listen to uplifting tunes and take charge
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  of your destiny. Yeah, baby.
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  See you next time.