My mother read me The Little Engine that Could at least once a week, however, I was repeatedly told (at school) that I wasn’t a good student. I remember my parents discussing after a parent teacher conference…that I may not be able to read! Many teachers seemed to verify this, also marking me as a failure in creativity. “Unoriginal” they wrote next to “U” for “unsatisfactory”. Throwback to the seventies! I loved what a professor recently said as he reflected about the time he spent in graduate studies. He experienced something similar. “But, I never put much stock in naysayers anyway. Based on where I am today, my academic life seems to have been a study in persistence, perseverance, and struggle of which, I am very proud.” W.R. 2019