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Well, no, this isn’t actually Susan’s family; one too few kids and
not enough sisters here. But this is a photo of an actual family
who lived in the Projects, and this must be close to depicting
family dinners.
FAMILY DINNERS NOW
achievement (Ashby, LoCicero, & Kenny, 2003). Middle
children usually foster more and stronger relationships outside
of their family circle.
Bosh. These eggheads never met Susan Harriman. She is
none of those things. Our new President had stellar school
performance; she is highly conscientious. Her self-esteem
is just fine, thank you, without being braggy. But if she did
brag (she does not) she would be entitled.
Dr. Adler would have predicted that middle-child Susan
would have difficulty getting along with others. Susan’s family
lived in Providence, RI. Susan’s father was in the Navy
and served as a radioman on a destroyer during the Battle of
Okinawa. Susan’s mother had started out as a nun (eighteen
months in the convent), but apparently celibacy was not her
thing. There is a fifteen-year span from oldest to youngest
for Susan and her eight siblings. Susan’s brother Corky was
two years older than Susan; unfortunately, he passed when
he was only twenty, Susan only eighteen. Susan’s oldest sister,
the first-born, Janis, died in a car accident twenty years ago.
But Susan still enjoys a close relationship with her brother
Billy and her sisters Joy, Kathy, Lori, Anne and Jill.
Susan’s father sold insurance to members of the Knights
of Columbus, but he didn’t sell enough to keep the family
from scrimping. The family was living in a trailer when
Susan’s sister Kathy was born a year before Susan’s birth. By
the time Susan arrived, the family was living in an apartment
in a housing project. In 1962, the family managed to buy a
house in South Providence for $10,000. Not big enough for
her own bedroom. The first time Susan ever had a room of
her own was as a junior in College. And the first time she
had her own private bathroom was as a Peace Corps volunteer
in Zaire. The Harrimans sold that house for a whopping
$13,500 about the time Susan started high school in
1968. Crowded conditions. Thirteen people - including both
grandmothers - under one roof. Susan got along just fine.
Dr. Adler would have predicted that middle-child
Susan would struggle in school. But Susan excelled.
She earned a scholarship to Brown.
After graduation in 1976, Susan volunteered for the Peace
Corps and spent two years in Zaire, teaching English and
also teaching other Peace Corps volunteers to teach English
to Zairians. Susan’s students consistently had the highest
achievement scores in the country.
In 1978, Susan took a job on Capitol Hill with the House
Information Service, teaching computer research. Then,
in 1980, based upon her record at Brown, Susan entered
UC Hastings Law School with a fellowship. She graduated
magna cum laude in 1983 and took a clerkship with Judge
Robert F. Peckham.
FAMILY DINNERS THEN
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