#31 Marie-Claude

Pushkin, John Sorria. 0:00:26.810 --> 0:00:29.010 Do you remember that when we were kids, you had 0:00:29.050 --> 0:00:32.210 promised me. You'd said, if you live to fifty years old, 0:00:33.010 --> 0:00:37.290 Do you remember the promise that you made. No, you said, Jonathan, 0:00:37.370 --> 0:00:40.570 with your eating habits and your lack of exercise regimen, 0:00:40.930 --> 0:00:42.890 there's no chance you're going to live to fifty. But 0:00:42.930 --> 0:00:45.010 if you do make I never said that. You said, 0:00:45.010 --> 0:00:46.889 if you make it to fifty, I will send you 0:00:46.930 --> 0:00:48.610 on an all expense paid. 0:00:48.409 --> 0:00:52.569 Cruise, John, I never would have said that. 0:00:53.010 --> 0:00:55.930 Well, you know, I've got my childhood journal right here, 0:00:55.970 --> 0:00:59.850 so let's take a look. January fifth, nineteen eighty one. 0:01:00.330 --> 0:01:01.889 Today Jackie promised me a cruise. 0:01:01.930 --> 0:01:04.009 I never said that. It's never the kind of thing. 0:01:03.890 --> 0:01:04.650 I ever would have said. 0:01:04.810 --> 0:01:07.730 Yet there it is. So what are you thinking? Kokomo? 0:01:08.290 --> 0:01:12.970 Never ever Wait, it doesn't say cruise, it says booze. 0:01:13.570 --> 0:01:18.970 You'd buy me booze. My penmanship was terrible, So what 0:01:18.970 --> 0:01:28.770 do you think? In krem Dumont from Gimblet Media, I'm 0:01:28.850 --> 0:01:44.450 Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight Today's episode Mary Clode. 0:01:47.330 --> 0:01:51.010 Mary Clode, Hello, So how's your day been. 0:01:51.370 --> 0:01:54.050 That's nine forty one in the morning. I haven't done much. 0:01:53.890 --> 0:01:58.010 Yet this plucky pip is Mary Clode, and she's come 0:01:58.050 --> 0:02:01.090 to me today with a problem as well. She should, 0:02:01.610 --> 0:02:05.450 because not only are problems my metier, but Mary Clode 0:02:05.490 --> 0:02:08.170 is one of my oldest friends. We met in the 0:02:08.169 --> 0:02:11.929 fifth grade in Montreal. So you were half French, half English. 0:02:11.930 --> 0:02:15.250 The marry side represents the English and the clothed side 0:02:15.290 --> 0:02:18.970 represents the French exactly. And what does the hyphen represent 0:02:22.730 --> 0:02:25.610 as they set up the microphones? Because what's the good 0:02:25.650 --> 0:02:29.370 of problems without microphones? I make some small talk to 0:02:29.410 --> 0:02:35.090 put Mary hyphen Clode at her ease. How How was 0:02:35.090 --> 0:02:35.610 it nice. 0:02:35.810 --> 0:02:39.090 Just making conversation because we can sit in silence. It's fine. 0:02:39.610 --> 0:02:40.810 I'm just making some chit chat. 0:02:43.370 --> 0:02:44.050 Just let's go. 0:02:45.810 --> 0:02:48.370 Back when Mary Clode and I first met forty years ago. 0:02:48.690 --> 0:02:52.010 We were a couple of shy, outsider kids. Even though 0:02:52.010 --> 0:02:54.850 Mary Clode lives in Canada and I now live in America, 0:02:55.370 --> 0:02:57.770 in many ways, we still lean on each other the 0:02:57.810 --> 0:03:02.690 way we did when we were kids, which brings us 0:03:02.690 --> 0:03:06.690 to why we're talking today. Mary clodes problem dates back 0:03:06.730 --> 0:03:10.090 to our days in grade school together fifty She thought 0:03:10.130 --> 0:03:12.490 it was behind her, but in the last couple of 0:03:12.570 --> 0:03:17.730 years the problem is returned, its threat multiplied, and its 0:03:17.770 --> 0:03:23.730 size exponential. Because Mary clodes problem is a math problem. 0:03:24.490 --> 0:03:28.889 I started failing math being grade seven. I got all 0:03:28.890 --> 0:03:32.250 the answers wrong. I did terribly. When my mother went 0:03:32.290 --> 0:03:34.970 to parent teacher interview. What was the name of the 0:03:34.970 --> 0:03:36.730 grade seven math teacher, I don't remember. 0:03:37.010 --> 0:03:38.250 Was it Monsieur spirit In. 0:03:38.650 --> 0:03:42.010 Yes, that's it, that's exactly it. Yeah, So he told 0:03:42.010 --> 0:03:45.050 my mother, no, no, there's no problem. She understands. She 0:03:45.250 --> 0:03:46.770 just gets the answers wrong. 0:03:49.850 --> 0:03:50.610 What does that mean? 0:03:51.530 --> 0:03:54.610 Exactly? That's what my mother said, if she understood to 0:03:54.730 --> 0:03:58.130 get the answers right, Just how you get a sense 0:03:58.530 --> 0:04:00.130 of how this whole nightmare started. 0:04:00.850 --> 0:04:02.810 What kind of math was it back then? Was it algebra? 0:04:03.370 --> 0:04:05.290 I don't know, you think, I know. I think there 0:04:05.290 --> 0:04:07.770 was something with brackets, you know, like there was a 0:04:07.850 --> 0:04:10.130 number and then there were numbers in brackets, and then 0:04:10.170 --> 0:04:12.330 there was something else I remember, like an a's and 0:04:12.450 --> 0:04:14.130 b's and c's or something. 0:04:14.210 --> 0:04:15.610 You know, you know there's a name for that. Actually 0:04:15.650 --> 0:04:16.490 it's called algebra. 0:04:19.330 --> 0:04:19.570 Right. 0:04:20.810 --> 0:04:23.489 Although Mary Clode knew nothing, not even the kind of 0:04:23.570 --> 0:04:26.690 math she was doing. She was so quiet and unassuming 0:04:27.049 --> 0:04:30.529 that she just got passed along herded into eighth grade math. 0:04:35.890 --> 0:04:37.330 Let me see if I can remember who the grade 0:04:37.369 --> 0:04:39.170 A teacher was. Was it mister Goyech? 0:04:40.010 --> 0:04:42.290 I think it was, yeah, nice. 0:04:42.089 --> 0:04:47.089 Guy everyone called mister Goyech, the gooch walking into class 0:04:47.169 --> 0:04:50.289 with his hockey bag slung over his shoulder, hair wet 0:04:50.409 --> 0:04:53.489 from a hockey ring shower. The gooch didn't seem like 0:04:53.529 --> 0:04:56.130 he wanted to be in class any more than we did. 0:04:56.450 --> 0:04:59.810 I remember liking mister Goyech. I remember still not understanding 0:04:59.810 --> 0:05:01.969 a bloody thing I was doing, honestly. 0:05:02.250 --> 0:05:04.650 But the gouch was too nice to fail Mary Clode, 0:05:04.929 --> 0:05:06.890 so again she got passed along. 0:05:07.570 --> 0:05:10.529 Grade nine came along and and the teacher was mister Cohen. 0:05:10.570 --> 0:05:11.330 You remember him. 0:05:11.690 --> 0:05:12.089 Yeah? 0:05:12.210 --> 0:05:14.609 Yeah. He decided he didn't like me for some reason, 0:05:14.849 --> 0:05:17.409 which was very rare because I was so quiet and shy, 0:05:17.489 --> 0:05:19.289 like there was not one teacher that didn't like me, 0:05:19.489 --> 0:05:22.210 because they probably didn't even notice me. So I don't know. 0:05:22.250 --> 0:05:24.409 I think mister Cohen just passed me so you wouldn't 0:05:24.409 --> 0:05:26.369 have to have me in his class again. A second year. 0:05:32.650 --> 0:05:36.529 After Miss Cohen, there was Missya Stehauer, then missyr Ryan. 0:05:37.210 --> 0:05:40.409 Each year Mary Clode was scooted from one monsieur to 0:05:40.489 --> 0:05:43.730 the next, one grade to the next, scooted all the 0:05:43.770 --> 0:05:47.489 way to senior year, her last year of high school math. 0:05:48.570 --> 0:05:51.169 On the first day of class, Mary Clode walked into 0:05:51.169 --> 0:05:53.609 the room and took a seat facing the teacher. 0:05:53.849 --> 0:05:56.330 He's reading the attendance list, and then he sees my 0:05:56.409 --> 0:05:59.649 name and he says, Marie, Marie, what are you doing 0:05:59.729 --> 0:06:02.770 in this class? You don't belong here. You're never going 0:06:02.849 --> 0:06:04.049 to pass. 0:06:04.729 --> 0:06:08.529 Under the teacher's advisement, Mary Clode dropped the class. We 0:06:08.570 --> 0:06:12.529 went to a terrible, terrible I remember. Their way of 0:06:12.570 --> 0:06:15.570 trying to inspire us was like, I think you and 0:06:15.609 --> 0:06:17.130 I sat in the dumb row together. 0:06:18.130 --> 0:06:18.570 We did. 0:06:18.690 --> 0:06:21.089 They called it the dumb row, and they tried to 0:06:21.130 --> 0:06:24.210 inspire us to get out of the dumb row. There 0:06:24.250 --> 0:06:26.050 was like five rows, and I remember there was the 0:06:26.130 --> 0:06:28.289 really dumb row behind us, but then there was just 0:06:28.369 --> 0:06:31.849 the dumb row, which was like a second from the wall. 0:06:32.369 --> 0:06:35.370 And we were trying, like we were working really really 0:06:35.409 --> 0:06:37.010 hard to get into that middle row. 0:06:38.130 --> 0:06:38.969 Did we make it? 0:06:39.289 --> 0:06:39.890 I don't think so. 0:06:40.729 --> 0:06:49.369 I don't think so either. You know, every year, the 0:06:49.409 --> 0:06:52.169 same thing I'd sit in class, I would try I'd 0:06:52.210 --> 0:06:56.249 copy down the examples from the board. It seems so simple. 0:06:56.690 --> 0:07:00.009 There's a disconnect, you know, like it's on the board 0:07:00.049 --> 0:07:02.129 or it's in the book. It seems simple. I say, yeah, 0:07:02.169 --> 0:07:04.890 I can do that. I understand that, and then it 0:07:04.890 --> 0:07:08.210 comes down to applying it, and I just I can't 0:07:08.289 --> 0:07:10.970 apply it. And then you know how it is, once 0:07:11.010 --> 0:07:12.970 you start failing, you don't do well in the exam, 0:07:13.130 --> 0:07:17.369 then you're discouraged, and I just I didn't understand it. 0:07:17.450 --> 0:07:26.730 You know, but didn't you have to pass math in 0:07:26.850 --> 0:07:28.410 order to graduate high school? 0:07:28.970 --> 0:07:31.530 What are you saying? I don't have a high school diploma. 0:07:31.770 --> 0:07:34.570 I don't remember seeing you in a yearbook. 0:07:35.130 --> 0:07:36.850 You signed my yearbook, you jerk. 0:07:37.730 --> 0:07:40.449 Despite not taking her final year of high school math, 0:07:40.850 --> 0:07:44.970 the administration allowed Mary Clode to graduate, but only because 0:07:45.010 --> 0:07:47.530 of what happened in the last few months of the semester. 0:07:48.170 --> 0:07:51.130 If you remember, my father was very sick growing up, 0:07:51.970 --> 0:07:54.210 and in the spring of the last year of high school, 0:07:54.410 --> 0:07:56.810 my dad went into the hospital, I see you, and 0:07:56.850 --> 0:08:00.889 he never came out, So you know, we basically kept 0:08:01.010 --> 0:08:05.009 a vigil by his bed, and you know, I was 0:08:05.050 --> 0:08:08.650 holding my father's hand when he died. And to get 0:08:08.650 --> 0:08:12.410 back to reality, that really could not. I just I 0:08:12.450 --> 0:08:15.449 didn't care. I didn't feel normal, I didn't feel like 0:08:15.489 --> 0:08:18.850 everybody else, and I didn't want to hang out with them, 0:08:19.010 --> 0:08:23.689 you know what I mean. Yeah, it changed all my friendships. Really, 0:08:23.730 --> 0:08:26.290 like you and I stayed friends because you're very good. 0:08:26.090 --> 0:08:28.010 With death, by the way, thank you. 0:08:28.010 --> 0:08:32.329 You were different. But yeah, so just it changed everything, 0:08:32.370 --> 0:08:32.570 you know. 0:08:33.570 --> 0:08:34.210 Yeah, so. 0:08:37.090 --> 0:08:39.730 I never went back to school, never wrote my final 0:08:39.970 --> 0:08:43.449 end of year exams. I guess my mom made arrangements 0:08:43.530 --> 0:08:46.730 with the school, and because of the circumstances, they just 0:08:48.330 --> 0:08:52.290 passed me. Basically, they graduated me. So yes, I did 0:08:52.290 --> 0:08:55.490 pass high school, Jonathan, maybe not the conventional way, but 0:08:55.570 --> 0:08:57.130 I passed not in the last. 0:09:02.290 --> 0:09:05.010 High school ended and Mary Clode put math behind her. 0:09:05.410 --> 0:09:08.010 She met her husband, had two daughters, and worked at 0:09:08.010 --> 0:09:11.410 their family country store. Over the years, she's done all 0:09:11.490 --> 0:09:14.770 kinds of jobs, from waitressing to sales to working in 0:09:14.810 --> 0:09:17.250 a funeral home, but none of it ever felt like 0:09:17.290 --> 0:09:19.570 a calling, not the way being a mom did. 0:09:20.130 --> 0:09:23.210 I always worked school hours, as I call them, meaning, 0:09:23.290 --> 0:09:25.010 you know, I walk my girls to school every day 0:09:25.010 --> 0:09:27.410 and I pick them up every day whether they wanted 0:09:27.450 --> 0:09:31.050 me to or not, even in grade six. So really, 0:09:31.090 --> 0:09:33.770 my focus has always been, you know, really being a 0:09:33.810 --> 0:09:34.530 stay at home mother. 0:09:35.410 --> 0:09:38.210 But Mary Clode's daughters are now entering college and don't 0:09:38.250 --> 0:09:40.850 need her as much, so she's begun thinking about what 0:09:40.890 --> 0:09:42.010 she wants to do next. 0:09:42.490 --> 0:09:44.530 And I thought, like, this is it, Like you know, 0:09:44.570 --> 0:09:46.810 I want to I'm going to finally get some sort 0:09:46.850 --> 0:09:50.050 of a career going for myself that I enjoy, that 0:09:50.130 --> 0:09:52.370 I can do that I like. So I got the 0:09:52.410 --> 0:09:55.490 idea in my head that I wanted to be a 0:09:55.530 --> 0:09:59.090 real estate agent, and I sign up for this course. 0:10:00.010 --> 0:10:02.810 Over the next year, Mary Clode began the requisite real 0:10:02.930 --> 0:10:07.650 estate classes real estate law, real estate appraisal, real estate architecture, 0:10:07.690 --> 0:10:11.130 and construction. She passed them all and really enjoyed it. 0:10:12.050 --> 0:10:15.170 But then Mary Clode got to the final class and 0:10:15.290 --> 0:10:18.690 ran headlong into her old problem and thus the reason 0:10:18.730 --> 0:10:22.770 I'm talking to her today, because that final class was 0:10:22.810 --> 0:10:28.810 a real estate math, geometry, percentages, and algebra, in other words, 0:10:29.530 --> 0:10:30.650 high school math. 0:10:31.330 --> 0:10:35.130 So that's where I find myself. Now. I need to 0:10:35.770 --> 0:10:38.410 pass high school math to get my real estate license, 0:10:38.850 --> 0:10:43.530 and it's killing me. It's really killing me. 0:10:48.690 --> 0:10:52.170 Mary Clode is living a classic anxiety dream, the one 0:10:52.170 --> 0:10:55.770 where you're back in school. Unprepared for a test. But 0:10:55.810 --> 0:10:59.610 for Mary Clode, it isn't a dream, it's a living nightmare. 0:11:00.450 --> 0:11:02.530 The one thing that's standing in the way of her 0:11:02.570 --> 0:11:05.170 new life is math. 0:11:06.570 --> 0:11:11.210 It's haunting me. Really, I can't. I just all these 0:11:11.370 --> 0:11:16.090 old fears and feelings of anxiety and feelings of hostility, 0:11:16.210 --> 0:11:17.530 like I really hate it, you know. 0:11:23.290 --> 0:11:25.610 Each time she opens her math book to work on 0:11:25.650 --> 0:11:29.410 her homework, Mary Clode is instantly plunged back into adolescence. 0:11:30.050 --> 0:11:32.410 She's reminded of the teachers who told her she couldn't 0:11:32.410 --> 0:11:36.250 do it, that she shouldn't even bother trying. Worst of all, 0:11:36.570 --> 0:11:37.929 she's reminded of her dad. 0:11:38.490 --> 0:11:41.330 At my daughter's high school graduation, there was awards given 0:11:41.570 --> 0:11:45.090 to a couple of kids, three kids actually, who basically 0:11:45.170 --> 0:11:48.450 accomplished so much despite I think all these three kids 0:11:48.490 --> 0:11:51.410 in the graduating class have lost a parent. And meanwhile, 0:11:51.410 --> 0:11:53.570 they were all straight A students. And I remember I 0:11:53.610 --> 0:11:57.530 left that graduation. I said to the kids like, basically 0:11:57.650 --> 0:12:00.890 like what the fuck? You know, Like, how come these 0:12:00.970 --> 0:12:03.610 kids were able to stay focused and stay on track 0:12:03.650 --> 0:12:06.770 and do so well in school? And yet that event 0:12:07.010 --> 0:12:10.770 for me, basically his followed me for thirty five years. 0:12:10.970 --> 0:12:14.170 Because I never finish anything like that's that's me, right, 0:12:14.250 --> 0:12:16.610 you know me. I can't close the deal like I 0:12:16.730 --> 0:12:20.290 just I can't finish. 0:12:20.650 --> 0:12:23.250 Mary Clode says that high school math was just the 0:12:23.250 --> 0:12:26.250 first in a series of things she never finished, from 0:12:26.290 --> 0:12:29.530 her bachelor's degree in polly CSCI to joining the Peace Corps, 0:12:29.690 --> 0:12:33.250 from opening a bookstore cafe to becoming a civil rights activist. 0:12:33.730 --> 0:12:36.010 Mary Clode is dreamt of doing all kinds of things. 0:12:36.490 --> 0:12:38.970 So there's there's always all this stuff I want to do, 0:12:39.050 --> 0:12:41.610 but I can't get there. And I think somewhere along 0:12:41.650 --> 0:12:44.450 the line, like I didn't get that lesson, you know, 0:12:45.330 --> 0:12:47.410 how to get from point A to point B. 0:12:49.170 --> 0:12:52.130 And now before Mary Clode can make it to point B, 0:12:52.970 --> 0:12:56.290 she has to go back to point A. And I'm 0:12:56.410 --> 0:13:02.090 going back with her. You're my friend, right, yeah, but 0:13:02.370 --> 0:13:07.130 I believe in you, yeah, and I want to help. 0:13:08.170 --> 0:13:11.250 I'm going to make sure Mary Clode passes that class 0:13:12.010 --> 0:13:14.570 like one of those teachers in one of those movies 0:13:14.730 --> 0:13:17.850 who walk the school hallways carrying a bullhorn and a 0:13:17.890 --> 0:13:20.970 baseball bat. I'm going to be there through the hard 0:13:21.050 --> 0:13:25.130 times so Mary Clode can lean on me until she's 0:13:25.170 --> 0:13:29.809 able to stand and deliver and I'm going to be 0:13:29.850 --> 0:13:33.050 waiting outside the door after you take your exam flashdance style, 0:13:33.370 --> 0:13:35.450 and you're gonna come running down the hall. And instead 0:13:35.450 --> 0:13:38.090 of a bouquet of flowers behind my back, you know what, 0:13:38.090 --> 0:13:42.130 I'm gonna have what big plate of poutine? 0:13:44.210 --> 0:13:47.770 I would honestly love that. That would be lovely. Can 0:13:47.770 --> 0:13:51.410 we go out for drinks after celebratory whiskey? Yeah, on 0:13:51.530 --> 0:13:51.970 your dime. 0:13:52.170 --> 0:13:58.930 It's all taken care of. I'm gonna do it, except 0:13:59.410 --> 0:14:03.770 she doesn't. After we bid goodbye that day, so full 0:14:03.810 --> 0:14:07.690 of hope and determination, Mary Clode refused to take a 0:14:07.730 --> 0:14:11.690 single one of my phone calls for an entire year. 0:14:13.050 --> 0:14:19.450 What the hell happened after the break? After my last 0:14:19.490 --> 0:14:22.410 conversation with Mary Clode, I was ready for us to 0:14:22.450 --> 0:14:25.450 hit the ground running. I saw myself as a cross 0:14:25.490 --> 0:14:29.650 between mister Miaggi, Julie Andrews, a pre math Walter White, 0:14:29.930 --> 0:14:32.850 and that droopy eyelidded teacher who really seemed to care 0:14:32.930 --> 0:14:35.330 from that TV show I can't remember the name of. 0:14:36.210 --> 0:14:38.850 The point is I was going to make a difference. 0:14:39.890 --> 0:14:42.810 Personal change is hard, but if anyone was going to 0:14:42.890 --> 0:14:46.610 change personally, it would be the result of my near constant, 0:14:46.810 --> 0:14:51.090 unrelenting help. What with my twice daily emails packed with 0:14:51.130 --> 0:14:55.330 inspirational quotes, and my thrice daily voicemails in which I 0:14:55.410 --> 0:14:58.970 inspiringly yelled those quotes over the theme song from Rocky 0:14:59.730 --> 0:15:03.450 How could we fail? And yet over the course of 0:15:03.490 --> 0:15:07.290 an entire year, Mary Clode continued to ignore me. 0:15:09.210 --> 0:15:11.170 There is getting her way. 0:15:11.450 --> 0:15:15.210 You know that this is one of Mary Clode's oldest friends. 0:15:15.610 --> 0:15:18.410 Is this doctor Jackie Cohen, MD, I have on the line. 0:15:18.890 --> 0:15:22.570 She also happens to be one of mine. Because Mary 0:15:22.610 --> 0:15:26.370 Clode won't answer my calls, I phoned up Jackie to tattle. 0:15:27.170 --> 0:15:29.530 I tell her how Mary Clode hasn't spoken to me 0:15:29.850 --> 0:15:32.450 since I vowed to help her get a real estate license. 0:15:33.170 --> 0:15:34.050 You're gonna help her? 0:15:35.490 --> 0:15:36.410 How are you gonna help her? 0:15:36.810 --> 0:15:38.810 How hard can all this real estate stuff be? 0:15:38.970 --> 0:15:39.010 Like? 0:15:39.570 --> 0:15:42.890 Like like in a house, the toilet is A in 0:15:42.970 --> 0:15:47.090 the bedroom, B in the bathroom, C in the living room. 0:15:49.010 --> 0:15:51.250 I could see her thinking that the toilet goes in 0:15:51.290 --> 0:16:01.090 the living room. 0:16:01.210 --> 0:16:03.490 Jackie tells me she already went the trying to help 0:16:03.530 --> 0:16:06.090 Mary Clode route without success. 0:16:06.690 --> 0:16:11.050 Is anyone able to help her? To help her organize herself? 0:16:11.330 --> 0:16:13.330 I try to teach her how to, like, like do 0:16:13.770 --> 0:16:16.890 five pages a day, like to just make it, you know. 0:16:16.970 --> 0:16:19.650 But the problem with Mary is if she feels like 0:16:19.690 --> 0:16:21.330 anyone's pressuring her, she. 0:16:21.330 --> 0:16:23.090 Feels the need to without. 0:16:24.210 --> 0:16:27.450 Mary Clode has a problem with authority. And if my 0:16:27.530 --> 0:16:32.130 freshman semester of developmental psychology taught me anything, it's that 0:16:32.170 --> 0:16:39.530 these rebellious tendencies often begin in the home. Hello, Helen, Hi, 0:16:40.130 --> 0:16:43.610 Hi Johnny, Katie. So I phone Mary Clodes home and 0:16:43.650 --> 0:16:46.850 speak to her daughters. Helen is now a freshman in 0:16:46.890 --> 0:16:50.650 college and Katie is about to turn eighteen. They're also 0:16:51.010 --> 0:16:54.890 I'm proud to say, my god daughters. Have you guys 0:16:54.930 --> 0:16:58.050 been keeping tabs on how your mom's doing with her math? 0:16:59.250 --> 0:16:59.410 Uh? 0:17:00.210 --> 0:17:04.010 I don't know. I think she's still trying. 0:17:07.649 --> 0:17:09.330 Have you seen her doing any homework? 0:17:10.530 --> 0:17:15.010 No? 0:17:22.369 --> 0:17:25.729 Helen and Katie are both excellent students, especially when it 0:17:25.730 --> 0:17:28.609 comes to math. So at first they tried to tutor 0:17:28.649 --> 0:17:30.330 their mom. And how did it go. 0:17:35.169 --> 0:17:37.449 I feel like you shouldn't have a family member as 0:17:37.490 --> 0:17:37.969 a tutor. 0:17:38.929 --> 0:17:42.410 That is very diplomatic, very diplomatic. 0:17:42.490 --> 0:17:43.410 You know what I'm saying. 0:17:43.929 --> 0:17:47.409 I hear you. I'm reading between the lines every time 0:17:47.490 --> 0:17:50.210 they tried to help, Mary Clode would get worked up 0:17:50.369 --> 0:17:53.689 and slam the book shot. The girls grew frustrated and 0:17:53.730 --> 0:17:57.570 stopped offering help, and Mary Clode stopped asking for it. 0:17:57.929 --> 0:18:00.090 She just has like an idea in her head that 0:18:00.129 --> 0:18:01.729 like she hates math and she doesn't want. 0:18:01.609 --> 0:18:01.969 To do it. 0:18:02.330 --> 0:18:05.929 Yeah, I think she doesn't have enough faith in herself. 0:18:11.649 --> 0:18:14.770 Hello Mary, thought. 0:18:14.530 --> 0:18:18.529 I wouldn't answer. Eh. 0:18:18.689 --> 0:18:21.330 After Helen and Katie make an appeal on my behalf, 0:18:21.649 --> 0:18:24.969 Mary Clode finally picks up the phone and lets me 0:18:25.090 --> 0:18:25.490 have it. 0:18:25.810 --> 0:18:30.009 You've nagged, honestly, you've nagged the desire for me to 0:18:30.090 --> 0:18:32.489 complete the I was on a roll honestly till you 0:18:32.570 --> 0:18:34.730 got involved and you turned me off the whole thing 0:18:34.770 --> 0:18:37.210 because you're such a freakin nag. I swear to God. 0:18:38.649 --> 0:18:41.810 It's hard to ask for help. But asking for help 0:18:41.970 --> 0:18:45.889 was never Mary Clode's problem. Her problem is accepting it 0:18:46.050 --> 0:18:50.090 when it arrives. So I let her have it. You know, 0:18:50.129 --> 0:18:52.449 I wouldn't be I wouldn't bother you with all of 0:18:52.490 --> 0:18:55.649 this if it weren't for the fact that that first 0:18:55.689 --> 0:18:59.250 time when we talked over a year ago, I really 0:18:59.290 --> 0:19:03.369 heard someone that wanted to build a better life. For themselves. 0:19:03.770 --> 0:19:06.810 So what happened to that? I mean, isn't that something 0:19:06.850 --> 0:19:07.689 that you still want to do? 0:19:08.169 --> 0:19:08.929 I want to do it. 0:19:08.970 --> 0:19:10.889 I just don't want to do the freaking math. I 0:19:10.929 --> 0:19:13.689 told you that I don't like maths. 0:19:15.129 --> 0:19:18.929 No shit, It's clear Mary Clode isn't going to do 0:19:18.970 --> 0:19:21.649 the work for herself, and she's certainly not going to 0:19:21.689 --> 0:19:24.449 do it for me. But there are two people for 0:19:24.530 --> 0:19:28.129 whom Mary Clode would do anything, And so I remind 0:19:28.169 --> 0:19:30.409 her of something she said way back when we first 0:19:30.449 --> 0:19:33.570 spoke a year ago, something I just so happened to 0:19:33.649 --> 0:19:34.369 have recorded. 0:19:35.409 --> 0:19:37.450 What kills me is that my kids are so so 0:19:37.490 --> 0:19:39.649 supportive of me going back to school. They were so 0:19:39.689 --> 0:19:42.689 proud of me. But it haunts me, you know, because 0:19:42.730 --> 0:19:45.729 there they work so hard in my kids, and they've 0:19:45.730 --> 0:19:49.810 accomplished so much, and they inspire me. Really, they're just 0:19:49.850 --> 0:19:51.810 so great, you know, and they're so proud of me 0:19:51.929 --> 0:19:54.450 that I don't want to let them down. Like, even 0:19:54.490 --> 0:19:56.369 if I don't even work as a real estate agent, 0:19:56.490 --> 0:20:00.369 I have to finish this class because I don't want 0:20:00.409 --> 0:20:03.490 them to think I'm a quitter, you know. I don't 0:20:03.530 --> 0:20:05.129 want my girls to see me as a quitter. 0:20:10.929 --> 0:20:12.050 That is a big motivation. 0:20:14.050 --> 0:20:15.690 You're right, You're right. 0:20:17.090 --> 0:20:18.930 Like I said, I'm gonna do it. I gotta do it. 0:20:19.090 --> 0:20:22.850 I gotta follow through. That's really not my strength, following through, 0:20:23.010 --> 0:20:25.050 but I'm gonna follow through. 0:20:31.649 --> 0:20:34.770 To complete the math class, Mary Clode must first pass 0:20:34.889 --> 0:20:40.010 several homework assignments with a sixty percent or higher. Only 0:20:40.090 --> 0:20:43.330 then will she be eligible to take the final exam. 0:20:43.490 --> 0:20:45.889 So to get things started, I find her a tutor. 0:20:46.530 --> 0:20:48.769 Mary Clode is surprised when I tell her I'll be 0:20:48.810 --> 0:20:51.609 auditing their first class. You think I'm gonna let you 0:20:51.649 --> 0:20:53.969 go off to your first day of class by yourself. 0:20:54.250 --> 0:20:56.689 Of course, I'm going to introduce myself to your teacher. 0:20:58.730 --> 0:21:01.409 In truth, I also want to make sure Mary Clode 0:21:01.449 --> 0:21:05.369 doesn't bail. So together we phone the tutor, Suzanne. 0:21:09.169 --> 0:21:14.850 My eldest student was eighty. He survived the math class, 0:21:14.889 --> 0:21:16.850 so wow. 0:21:17.129 --> 0:21:18.810 Yeah, see there's hope for you, Mary. 0:21:22.050 --> 0:21:25.729 So if you have any questions that don't hesitate to 0:21:25.770 --> 0:21:29.010 stop me as I'm explaining stuff to you. If there's 0:21:29.050 --> 0:21:30.210 something you don't understand. 0:21:30.530 --> 0:21:33.369 Before the lesson, Mary Clode made me swear I wouldn't 0:21:33.369 --> 0:21:36.049 embarrass her in front of her new tutor. So I 0:21:36.090 --> 0:21:39.850 promise not to make a peep. I'm just here to 0:21:39.929 --> 0:21:41.330 offer silent support. 0:21:41.649 --> 0:21:44.970 We're moving, taxes becomes a challenge, so I just want 0:21:44.970 --> 0:21:47.729 to make sure that it's understood. Maybe you already know 0:21:47.889 --> 0:21:48.609 how to do that. 0:21:49.369 --> 0:21:57.369 Yeah, yeah, right, Mary Cloude is yeah, writing Suzanne the 0:21:57.409 --> 0:22:00.729 same way she used to. Yeah, write mister goyetche Only 0:22:00.770 --> 0:22:03.529 five minutes into the lesson and I can already tell 0:22:03.530 --> 0:22:08.010 Mary Cloude doesn't understand a thing, not a jot. If 0:22:08.010 --> 0:22:11.250 she hopes to pass, she needs to tell Suzanne when 0:22:11.250 --> 0:22:14.250 she doesn't understand, or someone needs. 0:22:14.010 --> 0:22:16.970 To if the bank charges you three in a quarter. 0:22:18.490 --> 0:22:24.369 Sorry Mary, Yeah, I just wanted to jump into say 0:22:24.409 --> 0:22:26.369 if there's something you don't understand. 0:22:27.290 --> 0:22:27.810 Get off. 0:22:28.730 --> 0:22:33.810 Okay, okay, okay. 0:22:32.449 --> 0:22:38.129 Ignore him. I've seen her working on it a lot 0:22:38.169 --> 0:22:38.890 more than before. 0:22:39.290 --> 0:22:39.570 Really. 0:22:41.330 --> 0:22:44.530 After a few weeks I convene a daughter's teacher conference 0:22:44.689 --> 0:22:45.850 with Helen and Katie. 0:22:46.050 --> 0:22:48.290 Like I've seen her after dinner, pull out her notes 0:22:48.330 --> 0:22:49.929 and like start doing some algebra. 0:22:51.290 --> 0:22:53.010 Seems like more motivated. 0:22:53.449 --> 0:22:55.490 She was saying how much she loved the tutor. 0:22:55.970 --> 0:22:58.810 Yeah, she said she wants her to be her life coach. 0:23:00.649 --> 0:23:04.889 Sure, Mary Clodes enthusiastic now but she was also enthusiastic 0:23:04.970 --> 0:23:07.969 when we first spoke back before she ghosted me for 0:23:08.010 --> 0:23:11.050 a whole year. I ask the girls what they think 0:23:11.090 --> 0:23:15.649 we can do to keep our problem child on task encouragement. 0:23:16.330 --> 0:23:18.609 I think we need more positive reinforcement. 0:23:19.129 --> 0:23:22.650 Yeah, she really needs like structure. 0:23:25.929 --> 0:23:27.810 So I devise a scheme. 0:23:30.490 --> 0:23:35.649 Hello, Hi, Johnny, how are you for structure? 0:23:35.970 --> 0:23:38.850 I phone Mary Cloude every Friday morning on her drive 0:23:38.929 --> 0:23:41.729 to meet Suzanne to make sure we're still on track 0:23:42.369 --> 0:23:46.129 and for positive reinforcement. I invite a special surprise guest 0:23:46.290 --> 0:23:49.370 to each of our weekly check ins to offer words 0:23:49.409 --> 0:23:49.970 of wisdom. 0:23:50.649 --> 0:23:54.169 You ready, And I'm just a puking. 0:23:55.290 --> 0:24:00.209 From excitement now. I can hardly believe who I was 0:24:00.250 --> 0:24:03.449 able to book for this first check in. None other 0:24:03.530 --> 0:24:06.690 than the most popular, most likely to succeed girl from 0:24:06.730 --> 0:24:10.490 our high school, straight from the smart row. I've got 0:24:10.570 --> 0:24:12.209 Karen Kassner on the line. 0:24:13.050 --> 0:24:15.050 I don't mean you to call them Karen for me. 0:24:15.129 --> 0:24:16.850 I see her on a regular basis. 0:24:16.929 --> 0:24:18.530 You're idiots. 0:24:19.369 --> 0:24:23.369 I did not know that it's only taken forty years 0:24:23.770 --> 0:24:27.410 with Jonathan Stuart Goldstein is finally friend of a friend 0:24:27.689 --> 0:24:31.689 of a real life popular girl. And you know Karen 0:24:31.770 --> 0:24:33.250 is really nice in real life. 0:24:33.770 --> 0:24:37.890 The truth is, Mary, The truth is that anyone can 0:24:37.970 --> 0:24:38.450 learn math. 0:24:38.649 --> 0:24:43.050 What you have is such a great way with people. 0:24:43.570 --> 0:24:45.570 They like you, they trust you. 0:24:45.770 --> 0:24:54.249 She's calling me stupid. Over the next few weeks, I 0:24:54.290 --> 0:24:59.170 book more guests to encourage and inspire, guests like Omar Karashi, 0:24:59.609 --> 0:25:01.649 one of the best math students in our grade. 0:25:02.409 --> 0:25:07.810 I really respect anyone who's trying to reinvent themselves write, 0:25:08.369 --> 0:25:10.930 I really adm that, and. 0:25:11.330 --> 0:25:14.810 I feel like this my eulogy. 0:25:13.889 --> 0:25:21.090 I even managed to track down none other than our 0:25:21.169 --> 0:25:24.330 old math teacher, Bernie the Gooch Goyach. 0:25:24.929 --> 0:25:26.090 Oh, Hi, very close. 0:25:27.330 --> 0:25:29.129 Hi, you remember mister. 0:25:28.929 --> 0:25:31.770 Go Who doesn't remember mister Goych. 0:25:32.449 --> 0:25:35.090 Everyone remembers the Gouch. The Gouch. 0:25:35.209 --> 0:25:40.290 On the other hand, do you remember Jonathan from math class? 0:25:41.090 --> 0:25:41.489 Who is that? 0:25:41.570 --> 0:25:41.770 Who? 0:25:42.929 --> 0:25:46.609 That's the me, the person on the who called you well, 0:25:48.090 --> 0:25:49.489 you know it's been it's been a while. 0:25:51.689 --> 0:25:52.330 Yeah. 0:25:52.770 --> 0:25:55.169 When I tell mister Goyach what Mary Clote is trying 0:25:55.209 --> 0:25:57.690 to do, he offers a story of his own. 0:25:57.970 --> 0:25:58.649 In the high school. 0:25:58.770 --> 0:26:00.770 My concentration level was not great either. 0:26:01.649 --> 0:26:03.129 I wanted to become a hockey player. 0:26:03.169 --> 0:26:06.689 Actually, mister Goach says that he decided to become a 0:26:06.689 --> 0:26:09.409 teacher only once he saw his hockey career was taking 0:26:09.449 --> 0:26:12.570 him nowhere. But now that he's retired, he's returned to 0:26:12.609 --> 0:26:15.810 his first love and plays in a recreational hockey league. 0:26:16.129 --> 0:26:17.369 I played three times a week. 0:26:17.409 --> 0:26:18.530 I just finished last week. 0:26:18.770 --> 0:26:22.409 Wow, it's never too late to give it a chance, right. No, 0:26:24.050 --> 0:26:27.090 After Monsieo Gooyech gets off the phone, I review the 0:26:27.169 --> 0:26:29.889 lesson with Mary Clode. So what did we learn? 0:26:30.850 --> 0:26:34.129 I really gotta get gash? Should I parked on the 0:26:34.169 --> 0:26:34.889 wrong side? 0:26:35.169 --> 0:26:35.489 Crap? 0:26:35.649 --> 0:26:37.690 We learned that I don't know where my gas tankers. 0:26:38.609 --> 0:26:41.530 Mary Clode pulls out and loops around the gas pomp. 0:26:42.290 --> 0:26:45.609 If she understood math, she'd knowed that flipping the left 0:26:45.609 --> 0:26:48.489 side of her car to the right simply by looping 0:26:48.570 --> 0:26:54.450 around is mathematically impossible unless said loop. We're a Mobia strip, 0:26:55.090 --> 0:26:57.649 but there are no Mobia strip shaped roads in a 0:26:57.730 --> 0:26:59.929 Euclidean space like Canada. 0:27:00.409 --> 0:27:03.770 Some intelligence can't be measured in the same way as others. 0:27:04.369 --> 0:27:15.850 Oh fuck, I did it again, and they say math 0:27:15.929 --> 0:27:17.690 has no real world application? 0:27:25.530 --> 0:27:29.889 Why by one, four, nine seven fists yes. 0:27:29.929 --> 0:27:33.449 Because over the next several weeks, Mary Cloude continues to 0:27:33.490 --> 0:27:36.850 work on her assignments. At first, it's like high school 0:27:36.889 --> 0:27:37.609 all over again. 0:27:37.970 --> 0:27:39.530 Yeah, this is gonna be flashback. 0:27:39.929 --> 0:27:42.970 But with time, Mary Cloude grows confident enough to ask 0:27:43.010 --> 0:27:43.449 for help. 0:27:43.689 --> 0:27:45.609 I don't know how to do it, you don't know it. 0:27:46.050 --> 0:27:48.889 And when she does, Suzanne doesn't make her feel stupid. 0:27:49.330 --> 0:27:52.609 She explains things, so it's not long before Mary Cloude 0:27:52.810 --> 0:27:54.010 is getting the answers right. 0:27:57.290 --> 0:27:59.929 Hundred yep. Wow, I'm very impressed. 0:28:00.330 --> 0:28:00.609 Cool. 0:28:04.250 --> 0:28:06.489 I never thought i'd live to see the day Mary 0:28:06.530 --> 0:28:10.289 Clode would call math cool. It's not an adjective she 0:28:10.369 --> 0:28:13.689 throws around lightly. I've only heard her say it about 0:28:13.730 --> 0:28:18.450 eating poutine, drinking whiskey, and listening to her favorite Canadian 0:28:18.570 --> 0:28:25.810 rock band, Blue Rodeo. So to rewarder for working so 0:28:25.929 --> 0:28:28.770 hard these past few months, I book a very special 0:28:28.810 --> 0:28:32.129 guest for our next check in a twelve time Juno 0:28:32.250 --> 0:28:35.570 Music Award winning and two thousand and nine Canadian Walk 0:28:35.609 --> 0:28:40.569 of Fame receiving very special guest. Honestly, this is a get. 0:28:41.209 --> 0:28:44.650 I didn't think this was going to come through. Jim 0:28:44.730 --> 0:28:46.170 Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. 0:28:47.209 --> 0:28:48.489 Oh hi, it's Jim Cutty here. 0:28:51.450 --> 0:28:52.530 How did you swing that? 0:28:53.770 --> 0:28:54.610 Hello? Mary Cook? 0:28:54.650 --> 0:28:56.650 How are you I'm great. 0:28:56.730 --> 0:28:57.209 How are you. 0:28:57.850 --> 0:28:58.570 I'm very good. 0:28:58.610 --> 0:28:59.050 Thank you. 0:28:59.890 --> 0:29:02.249 As it turns out, it's not just Mary Cloude and 0:29:02.290 --> 0:29:05.370 my friendship that blossomed in math class. It was in 0:29:05.370 --> 0:29:08.370 a high school math class that the Canadian John Lennon, 0:29:08.610 --> 0:29:11.810 Blue Rote Video's Jim Cuddy first met his friend and 0:29:11.890 --> 0:29:16.970 future Blue Rodeo bandmate, the Canadian Paul McCartney, Greg Keeler. 0:29:17.570 --> 0:29:20.850 That's true, No way, that's true. Greg had moved from 0:29:20.850 --> 0:29:23.930 Montreal and he came into our math class as a 0:29:23.970 --> 0:29:25.209 new kid. It's fun. 0:29:25.730 --> 0:29:29.450 So if math didn't exist, Blue Rodeo wouldn't exist. You 0:29:29.530 --> 0:29:30.290 might say. 0:29:31.570 --> 0:29:34.210 That might be stretching at Jonathan, but I guess you're right. 0:29:34.290 --> 0:29:35.130 I mean, you're right. 0:29:35.170 --> 0:29:37.930 It is all about I'm trying to impress upon young 0:29:38.010 --> 0:29:42.770 Mary Cloude the importance of mathematics. Yeah, as for words 0:29:42.770 --> 0:29:46.009 of wisdom, the lyrics Jim Road for the band's hit single, 0:29:46.410 --> 0:29:50.890 The Canadian Hey Jude Try, which rocketed to number three 0:29:51.010 --> 0:29:55.410 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart, seemed particularly relevant to 0:29:55.450 --> 0:29:59.769 Marry cloude circumstance caught up in the moment I explode 0:29:59.810 --> 0:30:06.650 into song girl, You've got nothing but time, Oh you 0:30:06.810 --> 0:30:11.970 are a shining star. I wait for Jim to join 0:30:12.090 --> 0:30:17.249 me in an impromptu duet. Oh you gotta try, Try, 0:30:17.490 --> 0:30:27.650 Try Jim. Jim, a consummate professional as well as a Canadian, 0:30:28.290 --> 0:30:35.249 graciously allows me to take the solo try. After my 0:30:35.290 --> 0:30:39.290 big finish, Jim Cuddy leaves Mary Clode with wise words. 0:30:39.810 --> 0:30:42.170 They always make it through, you know, I mean, you will, 0:30:42.570 --> 0:30:45.410 you will, and you obviously have a good friend and Jonathan, 0:30:45.490 --> 0:30:48.450 that's that's helping you out. Yeah, that's true. 0:30:48.610 --> 0:30:52.529 Yeah, thanks Johnny. My daughter Katie is here. She's a 0:30:52.650 --> 0:30:55.210 huge fan and she's great in math. Can she say 0:30:55.290 --> 0:30:55.730 hi to you? 0:30:56.090 --> 0:30:59.570 Of course? Hi, Hi Katie? How you doing again? 0:30:59.610 --> 0:31:00.209 How are you? 0:31:00.290 --> 0:31:01.970 So you're watching the struggles. 0:31:01.530 --> 0:31:02.890 Of your Mom's gonna learn. 0:31:02.770 --> 0:31:15.170 That Usually I'm the one bothering Mary Clode. But a 0:31:15.170 --> 0:31:18.610 few weeks after my unassisted serenade, I get a call 0:31:18.690 --> 0:31:22.730 from her. She's finally gotten back a grade for the coursework. 0:31:23.090 --> 0:31:25.249 She needs at least a sixty to move on to 0:31:25.290 --> 0:31:27.290 the final exam, and. 0:31:28.010 --> 0:31:28.930 That's what I got. 0:31:29.370 --> 0:31:32.450 Okay, this is complicated because I don't want to low 0:31:32.490 --> 0:31:34.570 ball you and then make you feel like I don't 0:31:34.570 --> 0:31:36.650 have faith in you. But I don't want to high 0:31:36.690 --> 0:31:38.770 ball you and then make you feel as though you've 0:31:38.810 --> 0:31:43.730 let me down exactly. Okay, I am going to say, 0:31:44.050 --> 0:31:45.969 you know what, I'm gonna be optimistic here because I 0:31:45.970 --> 0:31:48.330 think you've been really working hard. I think Suzanne has 0:31:48.370 --> 0:31:54.049 had a positive IMPACT's great. I'm going to say, sixty percent. 0:31:56.130 --> 0:31:57.570 You are such an assoule. 0:31:58.410 --> 0:32:01.330 That's a pass, isn't you. I'm going to say you passed? 0:32:01.970 --> 0:32:04.050 You really have no faith in me? 0:32:05.530 --> 0:32:06.210 Is it higher? 0:32:06.570 --> 0:32:06.890 Yeah? 0:32:07.290 --> 0:32:07.970 Sixty five? 0:32:08.330 --> 0:32:08.850 Keep going? 0:32:09.170 --> 0:32:13.890 Sixty six? Okay, sixty seven, And she wrote like, I 0:32:13.930 --> 0:32:17.850 really think you're making a good effort here. No, come on, 0:32:20.370 --> 0:32:27.970 did you did you get like a good grade? 0:32:29.970 --> 0:32:30.289 Did you? 0:32:30.650 --> 0:32:30.850 Yes? 0:32:30.890 --> 0:32:32.170 I did, Yes, I did. 0:32:32.450 --> 0:32:35.090 Honestly, Perhaps you'd be happy to know I got in 0:32:35.209 --> 0:32:35.930 ninety five. 0:32:36.170 --> 0:32:40.170 Oh that you got a ninety five percent? 0:32:40.850 --> 0:32:41.250 Yes? 0:32:41.450 --> 0:32:44.210 Oh my god, Mary, have you ever gotten to mark 0:32:44.250 --> 0:32:45.050 that high in math? 0:32:45.650 --> 0:32:48.010 No? No, it's crazy. 0:32:48.130 --> 0:32:50.009 No, no, no on any math test, like even if we 0:32:50.050 --> 0:32:52.410 went all the way back to kindergarten. 0:32:52.209 --> 0:32:52.890 Probably not. 0:32:58.890 --> 0:32:59.090 You know. 0:32:59.170 --> 0:33:01.930 Itsu then told me that my tutoring session a couple 0:33:01.970 --> 0:33:02.770 of weeks ago. 0:33:02.690 --> 0:33:06.170 What's that you told me I wanted for brides students 0:33:06.610 --> 0:33:08.530 and that I actually do understand math? 0:33:10.010 --> 0:33:13.410 As Mary Clode tells me about her grade, about Suzanne's praise. 0:33:13.850 --> 0:33:17.930 There's genuine pride in her voice. It's wonderful to hear like. 0:33:17.890 --> 0:33:19.690 I'm actually really kind of enjoying that. 0:33:20.090 --> 0:33:24.930 I'm so glad. That's really great, shocking but true. With 0:33:24.970 --> 0:33:27.610 no more assignments to worry about, all Mary Clode has 0:33:27.650 --> 0:33:30.769 left to do is study for the exam. It seems 0:33:30.770 --> 0:33:33.330 like I'll be in Montreal in no time with a 0:33:33.370 --> 0:33:34.650 big bowl of poutine. 0:33:34.970 --> 0:33:38.970 You keep forgetting the whiskey and whiskey okay, I'll get 0:33:39.010 --> 0:33:40.530 myself to the exams. 0:33:41.770 --> 0:33:46.290 And you've gotten yourself to the Advertising break a voluntary 0:33:46.330 --> 0:33:49.249 public service that I provide out of the goodness of 0:33:49.290 --> 0:33:55.530 my heart and for money to companies, corporations and conglomerates. 0:33:55.570 --> 0:33:59.290 But only the good ones like Bonobos that sell products 0:33:59.330 --> 0:34:03.049 like well fitting Ya sweaters and Penguin socks, as opposed 0:34:03.090 --> 0:34:06.810 to not so good companies like Gimlet that only sell 0:34:06.890 --> 0:34:18.730 advertising space wrapped in a flimsy narrative, Oh Sweet Montreal. 0:34:19.650 --> 0:34:24.290 As I walk past the fromageries, perfumeries and haw Key eries, 0:34:24.690 --> 0:34:27.170 I can't help it reflect on how far Mary Cloud 0:34:27.210 --> 0:34:30.290 has come these last five months. For the first time 0:34:30.330 --> 0:34:33.090 in her life. Mary Clode has done well in math, 0:34:34.010 --> 0:34:37.529 but she's had her tutor, Suzanne helping her along. Now 0:34:37.570 --> 0:34:41.410 she faces a much bigger challenge the final exam, and 0:34:41.490 --> 0:34:44.650 she's going to have to do it alone. Are you 0:34:44.690 --> 0:34:45.890 excited about the big Chester? 0:34:46.170 --> 0:34:47.890 I'm excited for it to be over. 0:34:48.690 --> 0:34:51.050 I'm over at mary clothes house this morning as she 0:34:51.050 --> 0:34:53.690 gets ready to leave for the exam. And you want 0:34:53.690 --> 0:34:55.130 to do some last minute cramming. 0:34:55.810 --> 0:34:57.770 Yeah, I either know it or I don't. 0:34:58.930 --> 0:35:03.330 Despite Mary Clode being too cool for adult education online schools, 0:35:03.770 --> 0:35:06.850 I can tell she's nervous every time I try to 0:35:06.850 --> 0:35:08.570 get us out the door so we can make it 0:35:08.610 --> 0:35:09.730 to the exams am on time. 0:35:10.250 --> 0:35:13.890 She stalls, Oh, I have to make the children of smoothie. 0:35:14.250 --> 0:35:18.489 Is that what you do each morning? Yes, it's very nice. Well, 0:35:18.530 --> 0:35:21.850 Mary Cloude makes the smoothie. I plug our destination into 0:35:21.890 --> 0:35:27.730 the GPS. When she finally finishes, we head out. Helen 0:35:27.770 --> 0:35:30.410 and Katie see us off. Good luck. 0:35:31.090 --> 0:35:32.170 You're gonna do ry. 0:35:32.570 --> 0:35:33.010 Thank you? 0:35:33.490 --> 0:35:39.530 Just see calm. Easier said than done. 0:35:40.250 --> 0:35:41.730 I mean maybe I'll get in there and I'll read 0:35:41.730 --> 0:35:44.090 all the questions. So I want the answer and not Annic. 0:35:47.090 --> 0:35:49.650 I asked if Suzanne had any tips for staying calm 0:35:49.730 --> 0:35:52.890 during the test, Mary Cloude doesn't think so. But the 0:35:53.010 --> 0:35:56.330 mention of Suzanne's name reminds Mary Clode of something that 0:35:56.410 --> 0:35:58.410 happened during one of their last sessions. 0:35:59.170 --> 0:36:01.130 Did I tell you that She told me I was dyslexic? 0:36:02.210 --> 0:36:03.050 WHOA wait? 0:36:03.250 --> 0:36:06.410 Yeah, and she because one time I did something and 0:36:06.450 --> 0:36:08.410 I was like, oh, I fucked that up. She goes, well, yeah, 0:36:08.410 --> 0:36:10.090 well that of course, I mean, you're dyslexing. 0:36:12.170 --> 0:36:14.690 Susanne was a matter of fact about it. Certain Mary 0:36:14.730 --> 0:36:17.450 Clode must have already known, and as soon as Suzanne 0:36:17.490 --> 0:36:18.970 said it, it all clicked. 0:36:20.010 --> 0:36:21.810 You know, when I meet a family and to make 0:36:21.850 --> 0:36:25.410 funeral arrangements, they verbally say their address. 0:36:25.090 --> 0:36:27.890 At the postal code, and like, my brain just goes like. 0:36:29.090 --> 0:36:30.890 Or if they tell me their home phone number, I 0:36:30.930 --> 0:36:33.090 can't write it down. I know, Like I have to 0:36:33.210 --> 0:36:35.690 enter payments, you know, at work, and I always screw 0:36:35.770 --> 0:36:38.210 up the numbers, Like my friend Mary Louis always like, yeah, 0:36:38.250 --> 0:36:41.810 I fixed it because you entered the numbers backwards. I 0:36:41.850 --> 0:36:44.490 also can't spell New French or English. 0:36:44.530 --> 0:36:47.570 Mary, that's wild. You end up like looking back at 0:36:47.610 --> 0:36:57.050 your entire past differently. I think back to what Mary 0:36:57.090 --> 0:37:00.370 Clode told me about missyr spirit in saying she understood 0:37:00.370 --> 0:37:03.530 the math, that she was smart, but got the answers wrong, 0:37:04.250 --> 0:37:07.210 about the disconnect between how simple math seemed on the board, 0:37:07.490 --> 0:37:11.970 but how impossible it was to apply. Mary clothes problem 0:37:12.210 --> 0:37:15.170 wasn't a math problem after all? How do you get 0:37:15.170 --> 0:37:17.529 from point A to point B when you can't even 0:37:17.610 --> 0:37:18.850 keep the letters straight. 0:37:21.970 --> 0:37:22.890 Upon an exemit? 0:37:24.570 --> 0:37:30.010 Good luck, Mary, I believe in you. Mary Clode follows 0:37:30.010 --> 0:37:33.050 a woman down the carpeted hallway. She steps into a 0:37:33.090 --> 0:37:36.370 small room and looks back one more time, could you 0:37:36.490 --> 0:37:40.969 lease please? Then the exam room door closes and her 0:37:41.010 --> 0:37:46.690 test begins. The exam takes three hours, so in the 0:37:46.690 --> 0:37:49.570 meantime I borrow mary clothes car to get the poutine 0:37:49.570 --> 0:37:53.410 and whiskey. Upon my return, I scout the best place 0:37:53.450 --> 0:37:57.290 in the vestibule to assume a squatting position, whiskey bottle 0:37:57.330 --> 0:38:01.210 proffered like a rolled up graduation diploma and scalding bowl 0:38:01.210 --> 0:38:05.090 of poutine balanced the top my head like a graduation cap. 0:38:05.810 --> 0:38:08.850 But before I can take a knee, Mary Clode appears. 0:38:09.450 --> 0:38:10.290 I finished. 0:38:10.570 --> 0:38:11.490 When did you finish? 0:38:11.690 --> 0:38:12.570 Like ten minutes ago? 0:38:12.890 --> 0:38:14.650 Are you kidding. I'm not sure if this is a 0:38:14.650 --> 0:38:17.330 good sign or a bad one. How did it go? 0:38:19.010 --> 0:38:19.610 I'll see. 0:38:20.810 --> 0:38:23.090 I show Mary Clode the whiskey. You want to have 0:38:23.090 --> 0:38:25.010 some now? Yes, I do, straight from the bottom. 0:38:25.090 --> 0:38:27.370 Yes here. 0:38:29.130 --> 0:38:31.210 I don't know whether the whiskey we're about to drink 0:38:31.410 --> 0:38:35.690 is victory whiskey or consolation whiskey. But maybe it doesn't matter. 0:38:36.570 --> 0:38:40.010 After all, Mary Clode made it this far. Maybe I 0:38:40.050 --> 0:38:42.370 had to get into the finish line kicking and screaming, 0:38:42.450 --> 0:38:44.090 but we crossed that finish line. 0:38:44.290 --> 0:38:45.489 You had a hard time with all this. 0:38:45.970 --> 0:38:49.370 I want to make a toast to you to getting 0:38:49.370 --> 0:38:54.090 from point A to point B. A big hug get 0:38:54.450 --> 0:39:01.250 get the mic against the scuffing sounds. I don't know 0:39:01.290 --> 0:39:03.690 why Mary Clodes put up with me for so many years, 0:39:04.170 --> 0:39:07.090 from the constant nagging to the bear hugging. I drive 0:39:07.130 --> 0:39:11.009 mary Clod crazy, I know that. But I'm also able 0:39:11.050 --> 0:39:14.010 to make her laugh through the good times, but through 0:39:14.050 --> 0:39:17.570 the bad times as well, especially through the bad times, 0:39:18.370 --> 0:39:23.170 and maybe that's why we've stayed friends. Or maybe I 0:39:23.250 --> 0:39:24.490 just know when to bring the whiskey. 0:39:25.050 --> 0:39:28.010 That's really good, isn't it good? That's good? 0:39:29.330 --> 0:39:33.250 It's like high school again, skipping class, sneaking booze. It 0:39:33.290 --> 0:39:36.770 feels like being kids, which at fifty is quite a thing. 0:39:37.210 --> 0:39:39.210 Uh oh uh oh, someone's coming. Security is coming. We 0:39:39.250 --> 0:39:39.570 gotta go. 0:39:39.650 --> 0:39:40.090 That's that true. 0:39:40.130 --> 0:39:43.490 Yea, yeah, yeah yeah, let's go. Keep moving here. It 0:39:43.570 --> 0:39:46.090 feels so much like being kids that I actually lose 0:39:46.130 --> 0:39:48.410 sight of the fact that the adult coming our way 0:39:48.690 --> 0:39:51.330 is at least twenty years my junior, and not a 0:39:51.330 --> 0:39:54.370 security guard at all, but just a normal guy who 0:39:54.410 --> 0:39:57.570 happens to be twice my size. Oh I thought a 0:39:57.570 --> 0:40:05.090 big guy like that with security. They're really nervous. 0:40:06.370 --> 0:40:07.090 She is dead. 0:40:09.090 --> 0:40:10.650 Oh you did it. 0:40:11.330 --> 0:40:12.250 I did the tests. 0:40:12.490 --> 0:40:14.810 Yes, do you feel relieved? 0:40:15.570 --> 0:40:18.770 Yes, you have no idea. It's over. 0:40:20.970 --> 0:40:23.730 Back at mary Clodes, Helen and Katie are waiting to 0:40:23.770 --> 0:40:27.690 congratulate their mom. She said she'd follow through, and she did, 0:40:28.330 --> 0:40:31.450 but Mary Clode isn't sure she even passed. It's an 0:40:31.450 --> 0:40:34.610 anxiety her daughters, who are so committed to school, just 0:40:34.650 --> 0:40:35.650 aren't familiar with. 0:40:36.010 --> 0:40:38.210 I can't relate to them. I'm not gonna lie to you. 0:40:38.290 --> 0:40:41.250 I really can't. Like they work when they're tired, they 0:40:41.290 --> 0:40:43.170 work when they don't want to, Like I beg them 0:40:43.210 --> 0:40:44.930 to watch my own family with me or something, and 0:40:44.970 --> 0:40:46.690 they're like, no, I have to study, and I'm like, 0:40:46.730 --> 0:40:50.370 come on, come on, I'm just really not that motivated. 0:40:50.610 --> 0:40:53.410 But they have a motivation that I lack. I feel like, 0:40:53.810 --> 0:40:55.650 even as an adult, I lack it. You know. 0:40:56.530 --> 0:41:00.370 As Mary Clode speaks, Helen tries to interrupt, I don't know. 0:41:00.490 --> 0:41:02.490 I like, do you always say that, like, oh, I 0:41:02.530 --> 0:41:04.050 don't do things I don't want to do, But like 0:41:04.090 --> 0:41:05.970 that's not true at all. Like you do things you 0:41:05.970 --> 0:41:08.170 don't want to do every day. It's just not maybe 0:41:08.170 --> 0:41:10.010 it's not school, but it's other things. 0:41:10.090 --> 0:41:10.290 You know. 0:41:10.930 --> 0:41:13.290 It's like you worked hard at the store all those years. 0:41:13.330 --> 0:41:15.489 Like I'm sure you didn't want to like be there 0:41:15.570 --> 0:41:16.210 all the time. 0:41:16.970 --> 0:41:20.770 Katie joins in too, like running, like she decided a 0:41:20.770 --> 0:41:23.410 couple of years ago she wanted to like get healthy 0:41:23.450 --> 0:41:25.810 and all that, and she has ran like every day 0:41:25.890 --> 0:41:28.090 for the past I don't know, five years or something. 0:41:28.210 --> 0:41:29.930 You know, she eats healthy, she works out. 0:41:30.290 --> 0:41:33.090 Yeah, what else is something that she started and she's 0:41:33.130 --> 0:41:33.770 seen through. 0:41:35.330 --> 0:41:36.930 I mean she raised us. 0:41:38.090 --> 0:41:40.250 I mean yeah, we're always she always makes sure we 0:41:40.290 --> 0:41:44.170 have food. No, for real, you're always like making sure 0:41:44.210 --> 0:41:48.130 we have stuff to eat. We know, like wherever we're going, 0:41:48.170 --> 0:41:50.650 how we're getting home. Like there's never been a time 0:41:50.650 --> 0:41:53.210 where I'm like, oh, mom, just like forgot about me. 0:41:55.810 --> 0:42:13.170 The most important commitment Mary Cloude made, she kept about 0:42:13.210 --> 0:42:15.770 A month later. I get word then Mary Clodes got 0:42:15.770 --> 0:42:19.170 the final exam back. It's Friday, so I phone up 0:42:19.250 --> 0:42:22.810 for one last check in. Mary Clode picks up and 0:42:22.850 --> 0:42:24.050 delivers the news. 0:42:24.490 --> 0:42:26.250 I got a whopping fifty seven. 0:42:28.370 --> 0:42:28.970 You're kidding. 0:42:30.050 --> 0:42:34.930 My heart sinks. If only I'd pushed Mary Clode three percent. 0:42:34.690 --> 0:42:37.530 Harder and it passes fifty. 0:42:37.810 --> 0:42:41.330 Oh, oh, that's great, you made it. 0:42:41.770 --> 0:42:42.530 I passed. 0:42:42.850 --> 0:42:44.410 I thought sixty was a pass. 0:42:44.690 --> 0:42:47.130 No, you have to get fifty on the exam, Like 0:42:47.370 --> 0:42:49.730 I guess the assignment. I think the assignments were worth 0:42:50.210 --> 0:42:53.250 fifty percent and the exam was worth fifty percent, So 0:42:53.290 --> 0:42:55.010 that's why you had to get at least fifty out 0:42:55.050 --> 0:42:55.930 of the math. 0:42:56.050 --> 0:43:05.570 I don't know, I don't know. 0:43:07.530 --> 0:43:08.330 Are you proud of me? 0:43:11.690 --> 0:43:16.730 Honestly, I'm really I'm tempted to say a great many things, 0:43:17.370 --> 0:43:21.529 joky things, but in the end, I don't. I don't 0:43:21.530 --> 0:43:24.250 know what to say. I'm just it just makes me 0:43:24.290 --> 0:43:25.050 feel really happy. 0:43:26.130 --> 0:43:28.570 Thanks friend. It means a lot to me. 0:43:31.290 --> 0:43:34.410 Mary Cloude is happy she passed, but the thing she's 0:43:34.450 --> 0:43:38.370 most happy about is that today is Friday, and for 0:43:38.410 --> 0:43:40.770 the first time in months, she doesn't have to worry 0:43:40.770 --> 0:43:45.050 about math. She has the whole day to herself, and 0:43:45.090 --> 0:43:47.130 she knows just how she wants to spend it. 0:43:47.450 --> 0:43:49.650 I'm so excited. I'm going to go shopping for the 0:43:49.690 --> 0:43:53.050 girl's birthday. Helen had her birthday, but we're having her 0:43:53.090 --> 0:43:55.130 party tomorrow with the family, and I have to go 0:43:55.210 --> 0:43:58.690 get the cake for both of them and a birthday 0:43:58.690 --> 0:44:01.810 presence for Katie. And then Katie is texting me. 0:44:34.730 --> 0:44:40.490 Now that the fern entures returning to its goodwill home, 0:44:44.010 --> 0:44:48.090 now that the last month's rent is scheming with. 0:44:48.330 --> 0:44:52.090 The damage that possible take this moment to to so. 0:44:54.930 --> 0:45:00.290 If we meant him, if we tried, he felt around 0:45:00.450 --> 0:45:01.530 for far too. 0:45:03.810 --> 0:45:06.250 From things that accidentally t. 0:45:10.850 --> 0:45:13.450 This episode of Heavyweight was produced by Stevie Lane and 0:45:13.530 --> 0:45:17.090 me Jonathan Goldstein, along with Khalila Holt and Ba Parker. 0:45:17.450 --> 0:45:20.330 The show is edited by Jorge just Special thanks to 0:45:20.330 --> 0:45:25.330 Emily Condon, Alex Bloomberg, Lulu Miller, mime O'Donnell Nabielle Chullompot, 0:45:25.450 --> 0:45:29.770 Drew Zimbruski and Jackie Cohen. Bobby Lord mixed the episode 0:45:29.810 --> 0:45:34.250 with original music by Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson, Michael Hurst, Edwin, 0:45:34.410 --> 0:45:37.890 Hailey Shaw, and Bobby Lord. Additional music credits can be 0:45:37.930 --> 0:45:41.850 found on our website gimletmedia dot com slash Heavyweight. Our 0:45:41.890 --> 0:45:45.250 theme song is by the Weaker Thands courtesy of Epitaph Records, 0:45:45.250 --> 0:45:47.890 and our ad music is by Hailey Shaw. Follow us 0:45:47.930 --> 0:45:50.770 on Twitter at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight at 0:45:50.770 --> 0:45:54.370 gimletmedia dot com to see photos from this week's episode, 0:45:54.410 --> 0:45:56.650 as well as all of our episodes this season. We 0:45:56.770 --> 0:46:00.090 can visit our show page on Spotify. This was our 0:46:00.130 --> 0:46:02.930 final episode of season four, but we're already starting to 0:46:02.970 --> 0:46:06.010 look for stories for season five. So if you have one, 0:46:06.170 --> 0:46:09.410 email us at Heavyweight at gimletmedia dot com, and if 0:46:09.410 --> 0:46:12.130 you want to support the show, please, for the love 0:46:12.170 --> 0:46:15.370 of God and all that's holy, follow us for free 0:46:15.690 --> 0:46:21.970 on Spotify. Boy, am I thisty must be those pretzels? No, 0:46:22.050 --> 0:46:25.930 I don't think so, don't do that. Thanks for listening. 0:46:41.050 --> 0:46:42.370 What's the name of your podcast? 0:46:42.850 --> 0:46:44.810 You don't even know the name of my podcast, do you? 0:46:46.330 --> 0:46:48.930 I want to say, weebles. What's it called? 0:46:50.370 --> 0:46:52.930 You think that the name of my podcast is Weebles, 0:46:53.970 --> 0:46:58.890 like I weebel. But I don't fall down. You literally 0:46:58.930 --> 0:47:00.490 don't even know the name of my podcast. 0:47:00.610 --> 0:47:03.810 I'm literally blanking unbelievable. I expect you to send me 0:47:03.850 --> 0:47:05.930 like T shirts or stickers in the male hats. 0:47:06.130 --> 0:47:07.410 Yeah, maybe it'll be a good way for you to 0:47:07.490 --> 0:47:08.770 learn the name of my podcast. 0:47:11.170 --> 0:47:13.850 I have no time to listen to podcasts, Okay, I'm 0:47:13.970 --> 0:47:15.250 very busy steadying math