Word: hadn
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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After that auspicious beginning, I was determined to make the best of the situation. I didn't tell my parents that my boxes hadn't arrived yet because they would have worried, and I tried to bring some normalcy to my life. That included ignoring orientation week altogether. I didn't go to any of the Freshman Week events; instead, I tried to focus on things that would make life more normal for me. I flipped through the course catalog to figure out what courses I wanted to take, oriented myself around Harvard Square, and looked through the Unofficial Guide...
...mail list of every student organization there is. I joined a singing group, a Bible study group, a pro-life group, a couple of government simulation groups, a couple of campus publications, a dance group and of course much more. Come Halloween, I realized I hadn't done any reading at all in three of my classes. (You can do that at Harvard.) I had been spending my time on activities I didn't really enjoy, because I'd joined things I was interested in getting better at, instead of things I was good...
...everyone feels the same way I do, and were I not so sentimental about the song, I might not have an opinion on it either way. I'll admit, it's a trivial thing to even notice, much less care about. If I hadn't learned the original words before the revised ones, it probably wouldn't matter to me. I certainly wouldn't like a new Harvard song that only referred to one of the sexes. The new words make more sense--they are more inclusive and considerate. And yet, the revision of one little phrase the attempt...
Amazed at this, conceding that perhaps Harvard hadn't yet touched me with its Harvard Aura, I got up and said I was fine. I was soldiering on. Wasn't that what Invincible Harvard Students did? And so, ignoring the pain in the arm on which I had fallen, I returned to my Holworthy dorm room and typed two papers. As my injured right arm weakened, my left automatically compensated--and broke down. Five days later, with both hands swollen and tender, I reported to University Health Services, wanting nothing more than a sling and a ice pack. Instead...
...beginning, I found myself staring at my first semester grades and feeling relief. No shame. No regrets. I had passed everything, hadn't I? This was Harvard. This was Hard. These were grades without hands. It had been four months. I had learned that College was not a "for instant Happiness add water" formula. And to some degree, thank God, I had my hands back...