I check back in with her, four years after we first met.
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This week's episode is about graduating from college⁠—a momentous achievement that also means the track that has been underfoot for 18 years of your life suddenly drops out from under you.  

At least, that's how it felt to me. I can remember the disorientation I felt as my final quarter at school was ending. I was supposed to be feeling free and excited to finally get on with life, but I didn't. I was completely freaked. What was I supposed to do if I didn't have a stack of syllabi outlining my objectives for the next semester, and then, a set of tests to track my progress on achieving said objectives? 

And how did time even work after college? I remember when I had my first job out of school, and I realized there was no built-in ending. No bell was going to announce when it was time to move on to something else. I was just going to be there until I decided I was ready for something different. But how would I know?

I relaxed a little during my first months and years after school, but not before taking the LSAT and applying to law school, because, I was a history major! That's what I was supposed to do! Thankfully, I saw a job posting right around that time for West Virginia Public Radio, and I sent them my updated resume from my law school applications. And in one of the greatest blessings in my life so far, the news director, Greg Collard, took a chance on me. Immediately, making radio felt like home in a way nothing else had. I didn't know where it would lead, but I knew I found the path I wanted to follow. 

For Rashema Melson, my guest this week, her graduation from Georgetown has a different feel. She's ready to be done, in part I think because she's already had that experience of having everything familiar fall away, more than once. This is the third time I've talked with her at a moment of transition in her life. This week, we look back at those previous moments—of deciding to leave Georgetown, and deciding to come back—and we talk about the path she's on now. 
 
Anna and the Death, Sex & Money team 
This week on Death, Sex & Money

Credit: Georgetown University

When I first spoke to Rashema Melson back in 2015, she was midway through her sophomore year of college. Rashema first attracted national attention after she graduated at the top of her high school class in Washington, D.C., and earned a full scholarship to Georgetown—all while living in a homeless shelter. At the time, Rashema was feeling frustrated by her celebrity status as "the homeless valedictorian." I called up Rashema again in 2017, after she had left Georgetown behind. She eventually decided to return to Georgetown, however, and this May she graduated with a bachelor's degree in justice and peace studies. Today, she tells me about the concluding chapter of her undergrad experience, and her plans for the future.

Your Responses: On Eating Disorders
We got a lot of responses in our inbox after last week's episode with siblings who are working through their eating disorders—including these, from two people in different stages of their lives, who recognized parts of their own stories in my conversation with Oscar and Charlie:
"I have listened to a variety of podcasts at least three days a week for the past three years and I have NEVER heard a story on eating disorders. It truly seems like a topic that people avoid at all costs. This episode hit home for me in so many ways. Oscar’s story was my story. I developed a serious eating disorder when I was in 11th grade soon after my sister left for college. I was meticulous about what I ate and when, I ran 6+ miles every day, and my disorder isolated me from everyone. I lost all of my friends and I sunk into a deep depression, which only made the eating disorder stronger. Luckily for me, I was able to break free from my eating disorder near the end of my freshman year of college due mostly to one of my friends who 'came out' to me (as phrased in the podcast) as bulimic after she recognized my eating disorder. She convinced me to go with her to a support group on our college campus for people with eating disorders. Only when I heard other people’s stories that were similar to mine did I start to realize how truly irrational my behavior was and that I had to make a serious change if I wanted to save my own life. I might still be a slave to my eating disorder if that friend hadn’t dragged me to that group. 
 
I truly hope that people continue to talk about eating disorders in podcasts, TV, etc. Eating disorders truly consume your life and there are so many people silently struggling with them. They need to be heard and they need someone to help pull them out from the depths of their disease.

 
Kaitlyn, 26, IL
"I want to suggest/urge/encourage the brother and the sister to go to Overeaters Anonymous. Go to at least 6 meetings. Go to different meetings. Keep an open mind. 
 
I walked into my first OA meeting in 1985. At that time I was a grad student who, on the outside, appeared to have it together. I was working, I had friends, I was thin. But I fasted all day long, exercised at least once, sometimes twice daily. On my way home from work/school each day, I would cry in the car, knowing what was inevitable. I’d close my blinds, turn on the TV and eat all night. It was my little secret. I lost my period. I was filled with shame and remorse all the time. Then I walked into an OA meeting and found my people. They nodded and smiled at me. They talked me through the hardest times. And now food does not call to me. I have freedom.
 
It’s truly a miracle when I think about my former life
." 
 
Sharon, 59, MN

Listen to This: Audio We Love

Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story? The folks at Wondery have put together some pretty great ones in their new podcast called The Moment. In it, you’ll hear stories about relationships and commitment—the good, the bad and the sometimes over-the-top extravagant, like Ross and Alex’s episode called The Taylor Swift of it All. It's a story about their road to engagement which, spoiler alert, includes an appearance from Taylor Swift. 

And after you've gotten your lighthearted fix, cleanse your palate with Gimlet and Pineapple Street's new collaborative series, "The Clearing." The show retraces the life of serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards through the eyes of his daughter April Balascio, whose suspicions about her father's hideous past were only confirmed when she was well into adulthood. The result is a series brimming with vivid audio and raw, captivating storytelling. 

Next on Death, Sex & Money

A few weeks ago, we asked you to tell us about your relationships with alcohol. We'd expected that some of you would tell us about having fun with your drinking, and some of you would tell us about all the ways it wasn't working for you. But we learned that there are a lot of you somewhere in the middle. On the next episode, we dig into that grey area together.
NYC this week:
Stay dry, everyone! 
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