Baby, I'm a star!!!

A couple of weeks ago, there was an email solicitation by my negotiation instructor for Kennedy School students to participate in a taping that would be used on the Katie Couric show.  

It was a segment to promote the book “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg.  It was about how women negotiate and how they are perceived in the workplace.

 Katie Couric - Women negotiating at work

As you can tell from the video, they picked my clip and the clip of another one of my midcareer classmates to be on the show.

How’s that for a Harvard moment?  I go to class one day and end up on national TV a couple of days later!

And just for the record, Lisa’s clip shows her as angry.  Originally, I was the one who was supposed to display anger but I refused to feed into the stereotype of an “angry Black woman” so Lisa did it.  Lisa is one of the sweetest people that I’ve had the pleasure to meet and it was a shock to see her act so angry. (And it was an act!)

I make a concerted effort not to feature other people or mention them by name in my blog in order to respect their privacy.  However, Lisa likes to fly below the radar.  She’s an amazing activist for women’s rights, especially for women who have endured sexual violence in the Congo and Somalia.

Check out her website and if you feel so inclined, please volunteer to participate or make a financial contribution.

Run for Congo Women
A Thousand Sisters
Lisa Shannon - Wikipedia

57 days until commencement

Harvard Memories: Harvard Yale Game

The Harvard-Yale game is supposed to be LEGENDARY.  It’s simply known as The Game. So, who was I to miss out on the opportunity to participate in something that was a Harvard tradition?

First things first:  Let’s talk about the tail gate party!

The one advantage that we older students have over the younger students is that we can buy good alcohol and throw one heck of a tailgate party.  Case in point: The Bloody Mary bar.  Yes, our tailgate party had a Bloody Mary bar and mimosas. (In our minds this was perfectly reasonable since we were starting to drink at 10AM)

Breakfast in a cup

This drink was the breakfast of champions!  Absolute Peppar, V-8, cheese, salami, olives, pickled green beans, Tabasco and celery!  Yum!

The game started at Noon.  Guess what I was doing at noon?  Hint: I was still outside the stadium.

Once I was inside the stadium…the game was OK.  It was all kinds of fuzzy though. I barely remember the half time show (Aztec temples and a whale?) but not much else. I blame it on the alcohol.

(The white thing in the background is the whale)

Oh yeah.  Harvard won.

58 days until commencement

And the final countdown begins...

Since I have been slacking horribly on this blog, I’ve decided to be ambitious and make one blog post a day to chronicle my last 59 days before graduation and my last 60 days on campus.  Guess what? I’m already behind a day!  Today I’ll make two posts to make up for missing yesterday.

Yesterday and today, I was part of a phone-a-thon to reach out to newly admitted Harvard Kennedy School students.  In the middle of the first call, I had a flash back to when I was newly accepted and to all the questions that I about what it meant to be going to Harvard. 

My first question was: How in the blazes am I supposed to afford almost $100,000 for one year of school?!  That’s a lot of money.  Especially since at that time I had not worked a permanent job in about 4 years.  I had picked up some contract work to get by, but it wasn’t like permanent work (with benefits) and a steady paycheck. 

My second question: What am I supposed to do with my boyfriend? At this point we had been together for year.  I had told him that if I was admitted that I was going to leave, but I don’t think either of us believed that I was going to get admitted.  (Surprise!!)

My third question: What in the hell was the admissions office thinking?! Of course, I wouldn’t have applied if I didn’t think I could get in but it was still a shock to get the email and then the paper admissions letter.  So much so, that I didn’t tell anyone that I was admitted for several weeks because I was sure that Harvard was going to retract their offer.   I only began to tell select people after the registrar’s office cashed the check for my deposit!

I can’t believe that all of these memories came flooding back in the space of one phone call. I guess now I can look back on it and realize that it was all going to work out even if it wasn’t exactly the way that I had envisioned.

So far, it’s been a wonderful ride. 

59 days until commencement

Goal!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a goal-oriented person.  As a result, I tend to have multiple to-do lists going at any one time.  However, there is one to-do list that reigns supreme; it is my annual birthday list.  Every year on my birthday, I make a list of items that I would like to get accomplished.  It’s not really a bucket list because I don’t see it as a list of things to do before I die.  It’s a list of things that I’d like to get done to be able to live my life to the fullest.

Fifteen years ago, I added “Go to grad school” on my list.  This item languished on my list for 10 years before I crossed it out and wrote “Go to Harvard.” That revised goal was on my list for 5 years before I was able to make it happen.  I’m still not sure how it came to pass, but last year on my birthday, I was able to check it off. (Yee haw!)

I have 3 more months until my next birthday, so I pulled out my list to make sure I was on track to getting some of my goals accomplished.

Goal 1: Graduate from Harvard with a MPA

Goal 3: Lose 30 lbs in the 10 months that I am away at school.

Goal 8: Do humanitarian work outside of the US

Goal 13: Plan trip to Hawaii, as an after graduation/birthday present

Goal 20: Read 5 Best-Sellers

Goal 34: Cook from scratch 1 day a week.

Goal 35: Reach out to one old friend every week

Goal 38: Find a job

This year, I am able to scratch off more than 2 things on my list, but the items I have listed should give you an idea of a few of things that I consider to be important to me.  It has been very hard to make this list a priority while going through this program because many things have been competing for my attention. 

As I get into the last 100 days of this program and prepare to transition to life outside of the “Harvard Bubble” I will use my list as a barometer of how true I was able to stay to myself.  I know that a goal similar to my “Go to grad school” goal may be on the list for a long time before I am able to mark it done.  The most important thing is that I shouldn’t be deterred.

I think there is power in writing down my needs, wants and desires.  For me, it keeps me focused.  It also reminds me of how much I can accomplish once I commit to something in writing regardless of what else is going on in my life.

My family thinks I’m a more than a little nerdy. There has been more than one joke at my expense about me doing my “research” and “adding it to my to-do” list. But that’s OK. It’s a part of who I am, and sometimes I have to laugh about it too.

I’m hoping that my experiences at Harvard will unleash my imagination and allow me to set even loftier goals this year. I know that I have the potential to achieve great things and it is my desire that this year’s birthday list (to be drafted in Hawaii, mind you) will be EPIC.