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Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Before we go any further. I have a confession to make the story you're about to hear is in what I set out to make the story, the theme, the interview. I intended everything to go one way, but things went the other. Let me explain.
Speaker 0 00:00:28 When we at WMUR news decided on the theme for this special broadcast, I was pumped fill in the blank on its own. It's a great prompt, but what really made it special were the circumstances surrounding it. Only weeks prior Northwestern had announced, they had found the next university precedent, the white smoke below to top the Sistine chapel here was the Arab parent to replace Morton Shapiro. The name of that individual, Becky freaking blank.
Speaker 0 00:01:10 The timing couldn't have been more perfect and interview with the new and future leader. It would be a showstopper WNU our news needed Becky, more than that, I needed that. And so like any stark, Austria, I penned a message address solely to her intermediate team.
Speaker 2 00:01:34 Hello, my name is Nick Saul. I'm the co news director for WMUR news. Northwestern's radio news publication on campus
Speaker 3 00:01:42 So far, if you want it to inquire about professor Blank's availability and interest in being interviewed, we're very interested in learning more about her and think this would be a great opportunity for the student body. To hear more about her.
Speaker 4 00:01:53 The interview will take around 30 minutes and be prerecorded and edited for broadcast. We can conduct the interview over zoom or
Speaker 2 00:02:00 Thank you. And I look forward to hearing back from you.
Speaker 0 00:02:06 So we waited And waited some more. I waited seven days before I couldn't wait anymore. And then I sent a follow up.
Speaker 3 00:02:17 Hi, I wanted to follow up on this. Please let me know if professor blank would be available to speak in the upcoming weeks. Thanks Nick
Speaker 0 00:02:24 Lo and behold, I got a response today later, although the news was far from ideal.
Speaker 2 00:02:28 Good afternoon neck,
Speaker 3 00:02:30 Your email president elect blank looks forward to discussing her transition closer to her. Start in the summer of 2022
Speaker 4 00:02:37 And reconnecting with you next year. Have a great weekend. Caring
Speaker 0 00:02:49 Devastation cannot begin to describe how I felt here was a chance to interview the biggest blank in the Chicago metropolitan area. This was what was going to make the special broadcast special. The heavens had aligned and yet serendipity stumbled with a dagger stuck in her chest. I had failed frantically. I searched for something, anything really to fill the blink sized hole and idea occurred to me. Why not try to find the other blanks at Northwestern? I took to the online directory, sending email after email to blanks. I'd never met soon. There were no more blinks to send emails to once more. I waited, I had all, but given up on the blinks of the world, when a fateful message arrived in my inbox,
Speaker 5 00:03:35 Sorry about that. I'm actually studying abroad in Madrid right now. And um, but people who like work in our dorm just came up to ask me somewhere, but sorry, what was the question you just asked?
Speaker 0 00:03:43 According to the online directory, there were four separate blinks other than Becky affiliated with Northwestern. One of them works as a pediatrics physician here in Evanston. Another, a research coordinator at the Cincinnati children's hospital. The third is a master's student studying data science as for the fourth blank. The last blank I emailed was the blank that replied.
Speaker 5 00:04:07 Yeah, that's all Nick. Yeah. Um, I'm Zach blank. I am a junior at Northwestern. Um, I'm from the Washington DC area and, um, I'm studying journalism and I have a MSS. I mean, people always make jokes by my last name. Um, like, uh, I hear a lot like, oh, you don't actually have a last name next it's blank. I hear like all the same jokes for like my entire life. Um, and like, some of them were kind of funny, but I I've just heard them all and really at times, um, so I kinda always get a little bit for that. Some, some joking from my friends,
Speaker 0 00:04:39 It's surprisingly Zach's last name didn't catch a much flat growing up. It wasn't until Zach moved to Evanston for college, that it became such a major part of this
Speaker 5 00:04:48 At Northwestern. Most of my close friends call me blank. Um, just blank. Um, whereas in high school, most people call me Zach. Um, so, um, I'm definitely starting to hear it. Just like the word blank over and over again and all the time
Speaker 0 00:05:03 In case you're wondering Zach and Becky aren't related, he found out about her about the same time everyone else did.
Speaker 5 00:05:09 It's definitely kind of a funny thing to find out. Um, and me and my friends definitely had a good laugh about it. Just like thinking about the coincidence of me and the new president having the same, like obscure, silly, last name. I don't know too much about her. I know that she comes from Wisconsin and um, somebody told me that she gets food at the Wisconsin football games, uh, which I don't know if that's true, but I hope that she is gonna work out well because, um, we definitely meet a lot for the last name,
Speaker 0 00:05:37 Wondering the earliest known blank in the United States, Henry blank arrived in north America in 1701 another blank. Once again, named Henry survived. The sinking of the Titanic. Both of these blinks were unavailable for comment,
Speaker 5 00:05:52 Arthur blank, who owns the Atlanta Falcons and who's the founder of home Depot. And we have no relation to them. They're actually someone with my exact name, whose name is Zach Blake, who is like an entrepreneur and as a company out on the west coast somewhere, but actually like I've messaged with him before, because he has on social media. A lot of them just like the ad Zack blanks, um, on most platforms. So I've like talked to him, um, just like the end. And one time he kind of was doing stuff that I was interested in. Like career-wise um, so I also just asked if we could like, just like Kevin networking call or something. Um, so I got to talk to him, which was like funny, cause we've had from the same name and also pretty cool. I would definitely stick with blind. Um, I liked the last name and uh, street, my family
Speaker 0 00:06:35 After spending so much time around blanks. I had to ask Zach how he felt about the name.
Speaker 5 00:06:40 I, I love the name. I think it's a good, last name to have and a street in my family.
Speaker 0 00:06:45 I didn't talk to Zach because he's studying abroad in Madrid or that he's interested in entertainment marketing. What brought me to Zack was because of a name, something given to them at birth, an attribute out of his control. It felt cheap, almost unfair that this was the reason I was speaking to him. And yet Zach was proud of his last name. He didn't choose it for himself, but he chose to hold onto it.
Speaker 0 00:07:28 Ultimately the means you have are arbitrary. They serve as a blanket template to build a life Travels so far as the person it represents occasionally though names lead you to people you wouldn't meet otherwise. And when that happens, don't be afraid to send me.
