Something Was Wrong - S7 E6: Something Good Comes Out of Everything

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, prime members, you can listen to something was wrong early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. I'm Candace DeLong and on my new podcast, Killer Psychy Daily, I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the cold-butter killers you read about in the news. Listen to the Amazon Music Exclusive Podcast Killer Psychy Daily in the Amazon Music exclusive podcast killer psyche daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. Something was wrong, covers mature topics that can be triggering. Topics such as emotional,
Starting point is 00:00:34 physical, and sexual abuse. Please, as always, use caution when listening. Opinions of guests on the show are their own, and don't necessarily reflect my views or the views of this podcast. Please note, I am not a therapist or a doctor. If you or someone you love is being abused, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you or someone you love is experiencing a suicidal crisis or emotional distress, please call 1-800-273-8255. For more resources, visit somethingwaswrong.com-resources. Thank you so much. So I knew I needed the heel. I was taking, I was going into therapy, but there was more I had to do. I had to frame things differently and I'd always been a writer. You know, I got published for the first time when I was in fourth grade. I had all these teachers that believed in me, but most especially they had always believed in my writing and my words and my thoughts. So I thought, man, I'm just gonna write this shit out. And so I started writing and I think I started a blog,
Starting point is 00:02:25 through some post up there, just to process parenting, marriage, healing, grief. Most of my writing is all about grief. I don't know why I hit public, I did. And as I shared more, I got more traction and more people saying, oh my God, thank you for sharing that. I have not been through
Starting point is 00:02:45 what you've been through, but I feel the way I feel about my experiences. The same way you do. My perception and my grief is very similar to yours, even though my parent hasn't been murdered. And in that, I found community. And I kept finding community, like I had somebody reach out to me that I'd met on the playground and said, hey, I just saw your post and, oh my God, my mom was murdered. And she introduced me to this beautiful group on Facebook called Children of Murdered Parents. And just to know that I, my opening up myself and sharing my tragedy, has helped me find a community that was so beyond healing. It was enlightening as well. So I got this feedback from the universe, from the world, from community, saying, yes, keep writing. And soon, like, I won an award for my writing. There were signs for my mom,
Starting point is 00:03:31 and all of this, I say this loosely, but like, a lot of my writing is, it's all nonfiction, obviously, just trying to process, like, my grief, but also sometimes the positivity of my, of my experiences. One of mom's favorite idioms was something good comes out of everything. And I fully believe that. I fully believe. In retrospect, I see that Mom gave her life for our freedom from that very sick cycle.
Starting point is 00:03:56 And in that way, it was on her own freedom, but it was undoubtedly mine. And I felt like at that point, I had a responsibility. I believe everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. So I had that onus of responsibility. I had to do that. I had to tell my story.
Starting point is 00:04:12 The more validation I got, I knew I had to write a book. Mom had actually written a book in my, and that was one of her endeavors. She wrote a book about Alzheimer's and becoming a parent without your parent, becoming a motherless mother and a motherless daughter. And I was like, I just had to get it out. So I started writing a book and this was in the midst of everything. My ex-husband and I, we fought a lot. Our stances and our perspectives on everything
Starting point is 00:04:38 were very different. Even my own healing, I feel like I kind of had parameters in our relationship, in our marriage. Clearly, it was better than where I was coming from, but I felt like as I was flourishing and finding who I was and finding out the ramifications of what I had been through, I felt like I couldn't really go through it as much as I wanted to. I was 22, 23, 24, 25. People would ask me, oh my gosh, your mom is already dead, how? And I would say very bluntly, oh, she was murdered. And later my ex might ask me, my ex has been my ask me, could you not say murdered?
Starting point is 00:05:11 And I kind of can see his perspective, because it was jarring and shocking to people, I'm sure. But I think I learned in my experiences, I'm not a contortionist to fit into other people's comfort molds. You know, I have, again, my own story, and I feel the onus of responsibility to share it. So as I realized my healing was kind of restricted in my relationship, I did more and more to seek it outside and within myself. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast
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Starting point is 00:06:32 And that led me to start writing a book about my experiences. And I started regurgitating these tales and it was really just so I could objectify them. I knew and therapists had suggested, hey, you like words, it gives you catharsis to write, write your book. And I was like, yeah, sure, I will. And I got stuck, you know, I think I, I started writing about six years after my mom died. I was married, newly thinking of starting a family, trying to find a career, trying to find myself, and I just couldn't get far. I think I wrote chapter one and two,
Starting point is 00:07:11 and I stalled. And I started writing blogs and things and whatever. And it wasn't until I got out of my marriage and gave myself, you know, the true room, just to me and adulteratedly with kindness. I was always raised to be myself but support the greater good in that. And that was the moment. The moment I knew that getting myself out of my marriage that, you know, we fought a lot. It was just a lot. My kids were getting affected by it. And I could see this cycle that wasn't quite what I had been in, but it was still a tumultuous situation, and I knew I wanted more peace and love for my children. In the moment, I freed myself from that marriage
Starting point is 00:07:56 and started focusing more on my own healing in myself. I sold my book, and it was kind of a magical swift process in 2020 while I was stuck at home, I churned it out. And with that perspective and space and healing, I actually got it done. I've read the book and it's incredible. And you put your whole fucking soul into it. and you put your whole fucking soul into it. And my mom's too, thank you. And your mom's too, oh my God, I just know she loves it. I just know it.
Starting point is 00:08:31 And it's so honest. And of course, I'm gonna link it and promote the shit out of it because it's amazing. And it's actually kind of how I heard first about what you had been through. I had no idea. And, um, you know, we had met sort of through other people. And I knew I liked you, but I didn't really know you and follow your journey
Starting point is 00:08:55 close enough until, and like I said in the first episode. And then I, I got your submission and I was just like, holy fuck. Just shocked because I'm like, you're just such a personable kind, cheerful person, and not like to stigmatize people who have been through some shit, but I've been through some shit, and it's hard to be cheerful and care and give a shit
Starting point is 00:09:19 after you've been through so much. And I'm just so proud of you that you overcome everything that you've overcome and that you were able to finish the book. I envy you in a way because even though it's like easier for me to write about my experiences than it is for me to talk about them yet, like I still can't even write about some of that shit and you did it and it took me 13 years to get there. They say that you know as a writer you have to write what you know, but like, I don't think I knew what I knew until like this year or last. And it took all of that
Starting point is 00:09:52 experience and just a lot of people to believe in me, even this, even this interview and you. But my main goal, yes, I wanted to be a writer and I didn't know, but in essence, I was writing it, you know, it's called working for justice. And the point of that is, is that I still feel like I'm working for justice for mom. Vory, he, he, he, played, you know, in a very anticlimactic, I never got to have that, that exposition to talk about what he did to us, to really like prove that it was all premeditated, you know, second degree murder means that it was basically not premeditated. He on a whim did it.
Starting point is 00:10:27 So there's a lot of consequence because, you know, of course, if you're a person that could do that on a whim, that's dangerous, but it's about 10 years less than his other potential sentence of first degree murder. That's 25 to life. So he's actually up for fucking parole technically in about I think two years. That's another reason why I wrote that book because I think in my marriage, I realized, you know, I think he thought there would be like an expiration date on my healing. And I think what I realized was that I will be healing forever because I went
Starting point is 00:10:58 through some shit, but also because it's my goal to educate people. You know, I'm not waving this flag like victim. I don't wanna brand a shit like my label that I've adopted or been given or been forced upon me as a weapon or anything. I wanna use it to educate people. And if that keeps me healing for the rest of my life, so be it.
Starting point is 00:11:19 But I also knew I had to do something to just get it all out to work for justice for my mom. Here's the weird fucking creepy thing. My mom's murder, September 25th, 2007, officially became America's national murder victim or membrane stay. Now that was a complete happenstance, coincidence. My wasn't like, you know, Hadoz Winick's murder
Starting point is 00:11:40 really brought that to attention. It just happened to fall out that way. And so like, I take that aside, you aside, whether it's a sign or not, it's my mission to work for justice for future victims because it's not gonna stop here, unfortunately. I have sexual abuse, of sexual assault, of murder, of domestic violence. It's my mission to educate people.
Starting point is 00:12:01 And if part of that justice is, I'm never gonna get justice for her. It'll be, she's dead. She's gone, unfortunately. I am limited on memories with her, but I have this way of keeping her alive. You know, they say if you love a writer, you'll live forever. So there we go. And, you know, it's just my mission to work for her, for myself, for my family, for my kids who deserve way better, for everyone's kids who deserve way better, and for fucking justice, and for America to be healed and healthy.
Starting point is 00:12:39 One of the things that I'm personally passionate about is making sure that these kinds of stories are discussed with dignity and respect, because I know what it's like to lose a family member to murder. And one of the things that you said that struck me in episode four was once you see it for real, you never want to see it for fake. And I think about that a lot in the true crime arena and how people discuss crimes and murders and the need for respect. Yes, I think things are objectified a lot, especially with a lot of, I'll get people like,
Starting point is 00:13:11 oh, did you see that video of that? But no, I will never watch it. I don't need to watch a video of someone being murdered to know what happens. I don't think anybody does really. And I think, you know, and that's just like an example. Yeah, I think that there hasn't been a lot of sharing about what it feels like for us. And I don't think that that the honest responsibility is not on the victim to educate,
Starting point is 00:13:35 but it helps when we do. There's just an awareness that needs to be brought, I think, to all of it. And that's what talking about it does is bring awareness. It almost becomes, you know, like once we share so many stories, the idea is to keep reminding ourselves, these are not just stories. These are actually people behind the stories. And that yes, we're intrigued in these extreme stories, but they happened, you know, and they're gun, and the fact that we're hearing more and more, it's because we're coming
Starting point is 00:14:03 out, you know, it's not like more diagnoses always mean more cases or more whatever, it means that we're coming forward more, perhaps. But with that said, there's more for other people to digest that are interested in it. And we have to remind ourselves that these are just not objective cases. These are subjects.
Starting point is 00:14:24 These are people with families and former lives that we have to honor too. When I was 17 years old, my mom gifted me a diary that she had written basically throughout her entire relationship with my father from the late 70s all the way well past the ending of their marriage, but through the early 90s. And it was kind of her way of telling me all the things and the feelings that she had experienced without having to. I want to read a couple entries. The first one I'm reading is from April 21, 1977. You cannot live by love alone.
Starting point is 00:14:58 Yet also without love, you cannot live. So let the light come in and warm you. It will warm your heart and warm your soul. That was one of the first entries, Shiro. And I love it. It's so positive. They don't all stay that way. The next one is August 15, 1977. Evil versus good, right versus wrong, right versus wrong, strong versus weak, being versus being, thought versus thought, opinion versus opinion, truth versus false, feelings versus feelings. Then she ends it with blank exclamation point. And when I said, I should have mentioned that it's mostly emotion. This is, you know, my mom told me stories, but she always left the emotion out of things.
Starting point is 00:15:45 So her diary is the place where I think she shoved all those feelings. She goes on to write that same day, with maturity, the world is conquered. Without maturity, the world conquers you. Maturity teaches you the key to the world at large. Just know, immaturity keeps you locked up in your own little world forever.
Starting point is 00:16:03 August 7th, 1979. Honesty. What is honesty? How is a person to be honest with another person if she doesn't know what's going on in the other person's head? If one moment honesty brings you closer together and the next it draws you farther apart. How? Tell me how? The next one is almost a year later. April 23rd, 1980 and there are no other entries in between,
Starting point is 00:16:26 and this one just guts me, by the way. I am starting to feel burnt out. What a feeling. Can that possibly be? Feeling burnt out? I was going to say it 23, but I'm 28. Can that possibly be? I sure hope not. I'm not even halfway there. I don't even have kids yet. And here's the deal. I did the math after reading that. And 28, that was her halfway. Mark, she literally wrote that diary entry. And she died before she turned 56. So that one really hit home for me. And yeah, last one, which is, you know, I read it with the grip, you know, this is not,
Starting point is 00:17:02 this was not her regular approach to life. I would never say that she wrote, she would say this to me. So to read it from her was so eye-opening, May 25th, 1980. Life is a pile of shit. I laugh because I can't even imagine her saying that the longer it stays without getting cleaned up, the worst it stinks.
Starting point is 00:17:25 That's true. The nicer you are and the more you try to please people, the more you get taken advantage of and the more you're treated like dirt. I guess if you lay yourself down and let people walk all over you, you'll get covered with shit. In essence, you get what you deserve and you deserve what you get. And that last sentence is so fucking heartbreaking. And you know, reading her diary, I think she thought she deserved the malt treatment my dad gave her, which probably leads me to believe
Starting point is 00:17:52 that she probably thought she deserved some of the treatment my brother gave her. She never vocalized that to me though, because I don't think she'd ever want me to think that of myself. I adore having this diary, this piece of mom that she shared, maybe even only just in her writing. You know, her language to me was much different in face to face, but I can appreciate
Starting point is 00:18:14 and I adore knowing her full being. And I think that's the most important thing. We forget as humans. You know, we're so worried about covering up pieces of ourselves, the pieces that aren't going to be accepted correctly. It took me so many years to share what I shared on this podcast. People have known my entire life. I said, what? I didn't know you went through that.
Starting point is 00:18:34 And it feels so freeing for me to do that. And I can imagine mom giving me that diary, mom being open with me, was freeing for her. It also prepared me for life a bit a lot more too. Everything starts at home, but then there are so many other paths that our journey takes, of course. School, friends, extracurricular activity,
Starting point is 00:18:59 so many other influences on our lives, but it starts at home. And I want people to know that mom, many other influences on our lives, but it starts at home. And I want people to know that mom was a pretty exceptional parent. She had a lot of philosophies that were different than what we think are right, and I think that they were absolutely the way to go, even if she, her life ended up the way it did. She was working against all odds. And a lot of parents are And a lot of parents are.
Starting point is 00:19:26 A lot of people are. And I think we deserve credit. A lot of us, I guess I'm just giving credit to her stories and to my own. Absolutely. Thank you again so much for taking part in the season and sharing your story with all of us. It taught me a lot. It moved me a lot and definitely opened a lot of people's hearts and eyes. I think, and you've made such a huge impact already based on the feedback shared,
Starting point is 00:19:53 so thank you again so much. I am so appreciative of the opportunity. I want to thank everyone who, you know, especially you, you're amazing to be turning your own, you know, you started this platform, you were inspired by your own, you know, experiences and just, I guess, to a certain degree, I just wanting to, you know, knowing that the world needs to shift a bit. And I thank you for creating this space, basically from nothing and giving life to these stories and amplification that need to be heard. And I also think everybody that's listened and everybody who's reached out to me because that honestly I'm like writing back to every message, especially the ones that are like, man, my mom was murdered too, I am so grateful and I don't,
Starting point is 00:20:42 it was really weird, I got my book yesterday in the mail. It was really weird for me to receive it and not be able to share it with my family because my children can read and they would know my family story in a moment by reading the cover. So I feel like your podcast has made my community grow with all these wonderful people
Starting point is 00:21:04 who are willing to share in my experiences as well. And I'm so grateful for that too because my point was my village shrunk, you know, and sometimes my village doesn't, you know, the existing parts of my village doesn't understand what I've been through. And although they don't need to go through what I've been through to understand, sometimes it helps. So I welcome everybody who wants to join me in my healing to share their own with me as well because it keeps me going. It really does. We're gonna end the season with some stories from some other folks who knew and loved your mom. Nothing would make her happier.
Starting point is 00:21:40 She's like, yes, give it to me. I love it. Thank you. Amazing. Amazing. I can't. I don't, you know, I have to say that hurt. I mentioned that her funeral was so massive, but I, you know, had written a eulogy, which I share in my book, but like I, I had written it and that was like my way of honor her and
Starting point is 00:22:00 I obsessed over it and I read it and then I thought about it afterwards and I don't think I heard all of those like other, you know, either a couple other people that spoke. and I don't think I heard all of those, like, other, you know, either a couple other people that spoke. And I don't think you have the people that wanted to, I think this is just like a continued memorial for her, and I so appreciate that, because that's part of my goal too,
Starting point is 00:22:15 is just to keep her alive, so I don't miss her as much. So thank you. What type of woman was Dossie? You know, this is my whole point. I continue talking about her. I continue writing about her. I continue doing all of this.
Starting point is 00:22:35 Yes, for advocacy and yes, for education, but also just to keep her memory alive. I miss her every damn day. So, gosh. I miss her every damn day. So... Gosh, I love telling stories about her. I love... I think... Her actions just illustrate what type of person she was.
Starting point is 00:22:56 For example, her love was so ferocious, even her students felt it. And I mean, by ferocious, just tenacious. I, after I got married, we bought a home. I think the first week we were living in it, man, knocked on the door randomly. I answered it. And it was a nice young gentleman, cute guy.
Starting point is 00:23:16 I was like, hey, I'm a landscape artist. I take care of most of the lawns in the area and on this street especially are you looking for somebody and it just was too easy so we hired him. And then like a couple weeks later we paid him his first check and I wrote it and he sees my last name which was like an old check I had my maiden name on it for some reason and he was like when it wait a second. Is that like Mrs. When it from Kanagaparkai? And I was like, yeah. And he was like, she was my teacher. I'm a, like the reason I own a company right now is because of her. And
Starting point is 00:23:53 he explained how he kind of always never really believed him in himself in high school. He was not like a star student or whatever. And my mom assigned this math project one time. It was an extra credit assignment. She always worked at the tougher schools where students needed the extra help. She wanted to work there. She definitely didn't want to work where we went. She wanted to work where she was needed, basically.
Starting point is 00:24:19 She wanted to be where she was needed, and her students needed her. And in particular, the student said, you remember this project it was an extrocredit project and like she gave so many extrocredit projects and I say that they needed her because like she was constantly wanting them to succeed. There was always there was always extrocredit making art in math or this extrocredit project was writing a paragraph. She was like common core before common core became a thing.
Starting point is 00:24:47 She had them write a paragraph about what career did not require the use of math. And they loved that assignment. All her students would eat it up. They would talk about, they'd all be challenged and be excited about thinking about something other than math in math, even though they really were. And my mom's point was that every profession uses math, no matter what they hate about
Starting point is 00:25:08 with, she always had a counter argument. And that was her way of proving to them, hey, you should be paying attention in this class. There's use to this, what I'm teaching you. And that snapped Christian too. You know, he was like, oh shit, I'm going to need math no matter what. And you know, he started paying more attention to mom, he started getting it, but it grades in math, this is what he's explaining to me on my front doorstep. And here he is owning his own company.
Starting point is 00:25:34 And he, God, he only had mom like two or three years before that. So he was like 20 already successfully working in his, you know, chosen field. So and for him to share it with me, that mom was one of the guiding lights and that experience for him was huge. That is what type of woman she is, you know, or was. A letter to my sister. My dear sister Hadath, it's been 13 and a half years since you left us. The last time I talked to you on the phone and the last time we shared a holiday meal together. It was the last time I said goodbye when I eulogized you at your funeral. I wanted to tell you how much you've been missed and how much I love you.
Starting point is 00:26:24 I wanted to know if how much you've been missed and how much I love you. I wanted to know if I thanked you enough. I wanted to know if you're watching over Amy and her wonderful children. Dear Dassy, I wish you were here to see what a wonderful daughter you have. In spite of all she's gone through, what amazing grandchildren you would have had loved and enjoyed every single day. Whenever I speak with Amy, she says to me, oh, I wish my mom could have been here to see my children doing this or that. She would have loved them so much.
Starting point is 00:26:58 Amy tells me that she knows you're watching over her. I know this because Amy has shared with me some unbelievable stories in which you have left her little gifts in all you're there. If I think you're enough, my dear sister, when you donated your white blood cells to me, until you could give no more, as I went through stem cell transplants. If I think you enough, when you cook the most delicious mothable soup for a holiday meal, or when you hosted wonderful barbecue, or when you baked wonderful banana bread,
Starting point is 00:27:37 these are some of the few memories of the good, good memories, your sister. But I was not blind to what was happening in your immediate family. I wanted to help you, but you told me to stay out of it. It was not of my business and just leave you alone. I wanted to know why you wouldn't reach out to me more. You finally did reach out when it was almost too late, but as it turned out, it was too late, and it turned out to be a disaster. Your grandchildren call me, call us Sabai and Saffta, meaning grandpa and grandma.
Starting point is 00:28:17 I'm here in your place loving them with all my heart, spoiling them and helping your grandchildren grow and thrive. My portrait painting of you and Amy and the grandchildren are drawing my family room walls so I can see you around me. I just feel your presence, whether you're here with me in spirit or not. I miss you very much and love you forever. You know, Mom kind of ran away from her problems a little bit. I would say maybe because she didn't have the tools to get through them.
Starting point is 00:28:54 And she did that by helping other people. You know, sometimes she would throw herself into other people's problems to avoid her own, I think. She had a student once that got pregnant right as the school year was ending. In long story short, I mean this is a student that just would spend like every lunch with mom, every after school with mom, mom ended up throwing her a baby shower because her mom wouldn't. And whether she supported her students' decisions or not or whatever, you know, as a high school student, it wasn't even about that for mom.
Starting point is 00:29:29 It was just about making sure her students' experiences weren't tainted. And that was mom too, just forever the hostess, forever the hospital, warm woman caring for other people around her. She was just something else to be honest. Hi, my name is Katie and I am a friend of Amy Hadoff's daughter. I had the pleasure of meeting Hadoff very early on in my friendship with Amy. My husband and I both had a very strong relationship with Hedaz as she was an integral and huge part of the early years of our relationship. We spent a lot of time in their home being part of their family, coming to holidays, coming to events, and always felt like we were her pseudo children. She was one of the most loving, caring, funny, yet hard-headed,
Starting point is 00:30:33 and opinionated in the most wonderful way women that I've ever met. I always had so much respect for her, being a single mom, taking care of her kid, making a huge success for herself, and always valued any feedback, opinions, thoughts, feelings that she had. She was very loved by my husband, Josh, and I. And we think of her often.
Starting point is 00:31:11 So hello, my name is Bridget Morgan and I thank you for the opportunity to honor Hadass in this way. I met Hadass back in the late 80s. She was a friend of my then husband and she'd gone to high school with them, a group of them. They still connected and she used to pop into the house kind of unexpected with her kids and it gave us a treat to visit with them. And it wasn't really until she moved into my neighborhood, a couple doors down for me that I really got to know her and the kids. She absolutely loved her children. She was dedicated to giving them a good life despite all the setbacks that she had had in her life. And again, she just loved her children. She was dedicated to giving them a good life despite all the setbacks that she had had in her life. Again, she just loved her children. Her daughter was a
Starting point is 00:31:51 big-hearted woman. Topics, she was sometimes always like it was, but absolutely loved making people happy, especially with food. She was the typical Jewish mom that if you're not eating, you're definitely not happy, so she must be Jew. But she loved, I remember going over to her house. She would have us over for dinner or for an event. You know, she was such a great host. The table would be impactably set down to the finest detail. And of course, anyone that knows about her or knew her or knew purple and red were absolutely her signature colors. And that woman could cook. I remember one thing in particular, Chilly.
Starting point is 00:32:37 It was that kind of stick to your ribs kind of Chilly. And I think that's the best Chilly I've ever had. And she used to bring it over. My husband would do some handyman work for her. She was a single mom so she needed help in that way a little bit and she he would always get some kind of throat crimmer that she's made and I another thing was a falafel sandwich oh Oh my goodness, Emma Glockemolly. Such good stuff, but as she used to bring that kind of stuff over door for the July party and people would just love it. But really, what Hadass was best at was being a teacher.
Starting point is 00:33:15 You know, she taught with passion. She preached the value of math to the students. And, you know, she taught math the way that it was supposed to be taught. And it really wasn't until I went to her funeral and the 500 plus people. And I was able to see the true impact that Hadass had made in all of her students, her co-workers, her friends, and co-workers, her friends,
Starting point is 00:33:46 and her family's lives. She will definitely be missed, rest in peace, Adaf. I think Mom was inherently an advocate. That's what her actions always taught me. As teachers, you also have to be an advocate. With education, that's the first step to change. And then once you've got enough of that education, the next, for example, oh my gosh.
Starting point is 00:34:09 And I mentioned an IQ test before. Like I was given an IQ test on mom's campus, the day she had an accident. And that was the day that she was launched her down her path of, Lord, lots of physical ailments. But the events proceeding that were almost even more formative for me. The reason, so I went to Calabasa schools my entire life, but there was a point where mom, she wanted me to put me in like the gifted track and
Starting point is 00:34:39 like in California a gifted just means like I guess it's almost a special need, you know, just they learn differently maybe at a different pace. So my mom's goal was to put me in that program So Rory and I had our Q test on the same day. I guess like it was a in Calabassas, you know, you can pay for an IQ test privately mom was a single mom didn't have a lot of money So she applied for like a free IQ test both Rory and I went the same day. I remember that. We sat down to take the test in a couple weeks to get the results. And Rory was highly gifted. I guess like the, you know, he's really smart, which was no shock.
Starting point is 00:35:18 And I came back to apply. I had a much lower IQ than expected. So mom was like, wait, hold on, what? And what had happened was we found out that mom wrote Rory's birthday on both scantrons. So I tested much lower because I'm three years younger. Mom was like, no, I totally made a mistake. I'm so sorry, can we retest?
Starting point is 00:35:40 No, we can't, unless you want to pay the $500 for the test. And mom, of course, the woman of principles, very rigid principles. She was like, hello, I'm not paying $500. I'm going to have that, but no, I made a mistake. Can't you guys have a little leeway this once? And no. So my mom decided to switch my whole school district. I left the Calabasas school district in fourth grade at that point and got a free IQ test from the district over. And was, yes, like everything was correct at that time. Her guesses were correct. I was putting the gifted program. I had two of the best educational years of my entire life at that school, Carpenter Avenue Elementary School in Studio City. And then I switched back to Las Virgines
Starting point is 00:36:26 that in sixth grade in middle school with my gifted label or whatever at this point. And that experience completely taught me that if I have, you know, and I guess she didn't have to do all that. And I, at one point was not very happy about having to move schools. But in hindsight, man, mom was a warrior.
Starting point is 00:36:47 She was like, no, you're not gonna, I'm gonna find a way around your rules and her bullshit. And it was totally kosher. What she did was illegal, wait, I should say that, like, A, legal, not illegal, but a legal way to do it. She taught right by the school I went to, what she switched me into. So it was like, it was absolutely okay to do it. She taught right by the school I went to, which she switched me into.
Starting point is 00:37:06 So it was like, it was absolutely okay to do that. And everything was by the book. And that's what mom showed me. It's like, you do, you know who you are and you advocate for yourself. And if you can't and if someone is getting in your way, be kind, but still, kicks and fucking ass, not physically, but like, you know, you, you
Starting point is 00:37:27 advocate for yourself no matter what. There are hurdles in life. You will overcome them if you try hard enough. And that is exactly the type of person, you know, my mom showed me that in her actions. She showed me that in her words, even though she really didn't overcome her greatest hurdle, trying to help Rory through his difficulties, her legacy still remains for sure. What a fucking woman. Something was wrong is produced and hosted by me, Tiffany Reese.
Starting point is 00:38:06 Music on this episode from Gladrags, check out their album, Wonder Under. If you'd like to help support the growth of something is wrong, you can help by leaving a positive review, sharing the podcast with your family, friends, and followers, and support at patreon.com slash something was wrong. Something was wrong and now has a free virtual survivor support for. At something was wrong.com. You can remain as anonymous as you need. Thank you so much for listening. Call me up on the Italian, not around
Starting point is 00:38:46 I hang out at the bottom, I know that it's not the fun It comes, the thing to know me, it don't know me well Let all of you let all of you let all of you know me, you don't know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well
Starting point is 00:39:58 You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know me well You think I know I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, You don't know anybody, you don't know anybody until you turn to one. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to something was wrong early and You can listen to something was wrong early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. you

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