I'm usually pretty good at picking up on differences.

And I'm not the only one. Chalk it up to Susan's edu-taining songs, or the way humans are hard wired, but boy is our species really good at picking up on an accent here, a physical characteristic there, this person's hairstyle, and that person's religion.

Humans are so good at it, that it surprises and delights me when I hear the kinds of stories we're going to hear today on the Vocalo Overdrive: stories of being accepted, welcomed, and brought into the fold, against our expectations.

We're talking about times when you were the Letter flanked on all sides by Numbers, and instead of being like, "One of these things is not like the other....and it's YOU!!!" The Numbers were like, "Hey W, glad you're here. We're all symbols, after all..."

We're sharing stories of feeling right at home when you're really far away from home . To kick things off, LeeAnne tells us about the first time she instantly fit in somewhere.  She was thousands of miles away from home, and people came up to her speaking a language she didn't know, but still, she fit right in.

They were like, "Why don't you speak Uighur?"

 

So this is what straight-up discrimination is like...

 

Studying in Brazil, Jaira (who is from North Lawndale) was mistaken for a local. For better or for worse. (But really, worse.)

Right away, they all spoke to me in Portuguese.

So NOW you want to be my Facebook friend...

 

On September 11th, 2001, Maggie was living in a predominantly Muslim country.

And being there then was kind of amazing.

 

Today on the Vocalo Overdrive, we bring you these stories plus more of YOUR stories. When were you accepted when you didn't expect it? Tell us all about it. 888.635.1112.

xoxo,

sarah.e.lu