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In a childs nature, we see many of our own innate tendencies. Voice Reading
I saw myself in him and perhaps you do, too. Voice Reading
Prizes serve as false idols everywhere, prestige, wealth, fame, power. Voice Reading
Youll be exposed to many of these, if not all. Voice Reading
Of course, part of why I was invited to come to speak today beyond my being a proud alumna is that Ive recruited some very coveted toys in my life, including a not so plastic, not so crappy one: an Oscar. Voice Reading
So we bump up against a common trope I think of the commencement address people who have achieved a lot telling you that the fruits of the achievement are not always to be trusted. Voice Reading
But I think that contradiction can be reconciled and is in fact instructive. Voice Reading
Achievement is wonderful when you know why youre doing it. Voice Reading
And when you dont know, it can be a terrible trap. Voice Reading
I went to a public high school on Long Island, Syosset High School. Voice Reading
Ooh, hello, Syosset! Voice Reading
The girls I went to school with had Prada bags and flat-ironed hair. Voice Reading
And they spoke with an accent I who had moved there at age 9 from Connecticut mimicked to fit in - Florida Oranges, Chocolate cherries. Voice Reading
Since I m ancient and the Internet was just starting when I was in high school, people didnt really pay that much attention to the fact that I was an actress. Voice Reading
I was known mainly at school for having a backpack bigger than I was and always having white-out on my hands because I hated seeing anything crossed out in my notebooks. Voice Reading
I was voted for my senior yearbook most likely to be a contestant on Jeopardy or code for nerdiest. Voice Reading
When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars: Episode 1, I knew I would be staring over in terms of how people viewed me. Voice Reading
I feared people would have assumed Id gotten in just for being famous, and that they would think that I was not worthy of the intellectual rigor here. Voice Reading
And it would not have been far from the truth. Voice Reading
When I came here I had never written a 10-page paper before. Voice Reading
Im not even sure Ive written a 5-page paper. Voice Reading
I was alarmed and intimidated by the calm eyes of fellow students who came here from Dalton or Exeter, who thought that compared to high school the workload here was easy. Voice Reading
I was completely overwhelmed and thought that reading 1000 pages a week was unimaginable, that writing a 50-page thesis was just something I could never do. Voice Reading
I had no idea how to declare my intentions. Voice Reading
I couldnt even articulate them to myself. Voice Reading

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