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[Assistant] He convinced a Vietnamese prince from the Nguyen family to join the Restoration Society. But all of this rebellious activity was noticed by the French. Phan Boi Chau, afraid of arrest by French police, fled to Japan.


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[Assistant] From Japan, Van Boychow, like many other patriots in exile, wrote articles about the evils of French rule.


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[Assistant] He asked other Vietnamese patriots to come and join him in exile. He hoped that one day this group of exiles could attack the French. But the Japanese didn't want to anger France. So in 1908, they ordered Phan Boi Chau to leave Japan.


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[Assistant] Instead of returning to Vietnam, Phan Bo Chau went to China. He renamed his revolutionary group


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[Assistant] The Vietnamese Restoration Society or Vietnam Kheng Phu Khoi.


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[Assistant] From China, the Vietnamese Restoration Society tried to organize rebellions against the French. But it was difficult for Phan Bo Chau to start a revolt while he was living in another country. None of the rebellions succeeded.


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[Assistant] Like the Japanese, they didn't want to anger the French. So in 1917, they arrested Fan Boichao and put him in jail.


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[Assistant] Before long, the Chinese agreed to set Fan Bochao free, but he had grown more and more discouraged by his long exile, and now by his imprisonment. He even wrote an article suggesting that


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[Assistant] Maybe it would be better for the Vietnamese to try to get along with the French.


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[Assistant] He had begun to doubt that the Vietnamese would ever be able to get the French out of their country.


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[Assistant] Von Boichow was in the Chinese city of Shanghai when French officials visiting the city recognized him. They ordered him to be arrested and taken back to Vietnam.


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[Assistant] There, Phan Boa Chau was tried for treason and convicted.


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[Assistant] Other Vietnamese began to think more seriously about independence from France. Eventually, the seeds of revolution Phan Boi Chau planted would grow and bloom.


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[Assistant] Because of this, Phan Boi Chau is remembered today as one of the greatest Vietnamese patriots.


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[Assistant] I'd slept in my new room for three nights already and still felt like a stranger living in a very strange place. The room was minute.


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[Assistant] And unlike most empty spaces that actually looked bigger with furniture, my room had shrunk to half its size.


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[Assistant] Lily and I had taken Alex's car to IKEA and picked out a beautiful, light-colored wood set and a woven rug with shades of light blue, dark blue, royal blue, and indigo.


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[Assistant] Elegant and casual, perfect for my first adult room in the big city. Perfect, that is, until it actually arrived.


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[Assistant] Alex put the bed together and by the time he'd pushed it against the exposed brick wall, it had consumed the entire room.


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[Assistant] I had to send the delivery men back with the six drawer dresser, the two adorable nightstands, and the full length mirror.


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[Assistant] The man and Alex did lift up the bed, however, and I was able to slip the rug under it. None of it mattered, though. The room was mine, and I loved it.


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[Assistant] It was the Sunday night before my first day of work and I could do nothing but agonize over what to wear. I finally decided on a light blue sweater and a knee-length black skirt with my knee-high black boots. The last thing I remember was sitting down to rest from the exhaustion of the effort.


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[Assistant] I must have passed out from sheer anxiety because it was adrenaline alone that awakened me at 6am. I bolted from the bed.


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[Assistant] I had exactly an hour and a half to shower, dress, and make my way from 96th and 3rd to Midtown via public transportation a still sinister and intimidating concept.


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[Assistant] I got myself out the door in 25 minutes, a record, and it took only 10 minutes to find the nearest subway. I rode the cold train in silence, one of the only people crazy enough to be awake and actually moving at such a miserable hour. So far, so good.


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[Assistant] A few minutes of wandering aimlessly around Midtown landed me at the front door of the Elias Clark building.


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[Assistant] The lobby glowed behind the glass doors in the early morning darkness.


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[Assistant] And it looked, for those first few moments, like a warm, welcoming place. But when I pushed the revolving door to enter, it fought me. When it did begin to move, it slid slowly at first, prompting me to push even harder.


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[Assistant] But as soon as it picked up some momentum, the glass behemoth whipped around hitting me from behind and forcing me to trip over my feet and shuffle visibly to remain standing. A man behind the security desk laughed.


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[Assistant] Not the first time I've seen that happen, it won't be the last. He chortled, fleshy cheeks jiggling.


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[Assistant] I looked him over quickly and decided to hate him. I smiled anyway.


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[Assistant] I'm Andrea, I said. Today is my first day of work at Runway. I'm Miranda Priestley's new assistant.


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[Assistant] Where you from, girl? Being all friendly and shit? Topeka fucking Kansas, she's gonna eat you alive.


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[Assistant] But before I could respond, a portly man wearing the same uniform came over.


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[Assistant] I braced for more mocking and guffaws, but it didn't come. Instead, he turned a kind face to mine and looked me in the eyes.


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[Assistant] I'm Eduardo, and this idiot here is Mickey. He said motioning to the first man. Don't make no nevermind of him, he's just kidding with you. Eduardo picked up a sign in book.


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[Assistant] You just fill out this here information and I'll give you a temporary pass to go upstairs.


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[Assistant] I must have looked at him gratefully because he got embarrassed and shoved the book across the counter.


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[Assistant] Well go on now, fill her out. And good luck today girl, you're gonna need it.


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[Assistant] I was too nervous and exhausted at this point to ask him to explain. And besides, I really didn't have to about the only thing I had had time to do in the week between


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[Assistant] Accepting the job and starting work was to learn a little bit about my new boss.


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[Assistant] I had Googled her and was surprised to find that Miranda Priestley was born Miriam Princhek in London's East End.


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[Assistant] Hers was like all the other Orthodox Jewish families in the town. Stunningly poor, but devout.


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[Assistant] Her father occasionally worked odd jobs, but mostly they relied on the community for support, since he spent most of his days studying Jewish texts.


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[Assistant] Her mother had died in childbirth with Miriam and it was her mother who had moved in and helped raise the children. And were there children, 11 and all.


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[Assistant] Most of her brothers and sisters went on to work blue collar jobs like their father, with little time to do anything but pray and work.


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[Assistant] Miriam dropped out of school upon turning 17 to take a job as an assistant to an up-and-coming British designer, helping him put together his shows each season.


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[Assistant] After a few years of making a name for herself as one of the darlings of London's burgeoning fashion world and studying French at night,


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[Assistant] She scored a job as a junior editor at Chic Magazine in Paris.


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[Assistant] At 24 years old, Mariam Princhak became Miranda Priestley.


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[Assistant] Shedding her undeniably ethnic name for one with more panache.


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[Assistant] Her rough cockney girl British accent was replaced by a carefully cultivated, educated one. And by her late twenties, Miriam's transformation from Jewish peasant to secular socialite was complete. She rose quickly, ruthlessly, through the ranks of the magazine world.


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[Assistant] She spent ten years at the helm of French runway before Elias transferred her to the number one spot at American runway, the ultimate achievement.


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[Assistant] She moved her two daughters and her rock star then husband to a penthouse apartment on 5th Avenue at 76th Street.


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[Assistant] And began a new era at Runway Magazine, the Priestley years.


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[Assistant] By some stroke of dumb luck, I would be working for nearly a month before Miranda was back in the office. She took her vacation every year, starting a week before Thanksgiving until right after New Year's.


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[Assistant] This year, she had dragged her husband and daughters to Oscar de la Renta's estate in the Dominican Republic for two weeks before spending Christmas and New Year's at the Ritz in Paris.


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[Assistant] But even though she was technically on vacation, she'd still be fully reachable and working at all times.


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[Assistant] And therefore, so should every single other person on staff.


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[Assistant] So at 7 o'clock a.m. on the dot, I was buzzed through the turnstiles for the very first time.


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[Assistant] Strike a pose! Eduardo called after me just before the elevator door swept shut.


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[Assistant] Emily, looking remarkably haggard and sloppy in a wrinkled sheer white t-shirt and hyper trendy cargo pants, was waiting for me in the reception area, clutching a cup of Starbucks.


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[Assistant] Lipstick smeared a bit around her mouth by the coffee cup.


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[Assistant] Uncombed wavy red hair that spilled down over her shoulders made her look as though she'd spent the last 72 hours in bed. Hey, welcome, she muttered. Nice boots. My heart surged. Was she serious or sarcastic? Her tone made it impossible to tell.


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[Assistant] Well, let's get to it. It's really lucky for you that she's not here, Emily said. Not that she's not great of course, because she is.


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[Assistant] Emily slid her card through the electronic reader, and we walked in silence through the winding hallways to the center of the floor, where Miranda's office suite was located.


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[Assistant] Now four countries had claimed land in the Americas. France claimed part of Canada.


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[Assistant] England claimed the coast of what is now the United States.


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[Assistant] Portugal had colonies along the coast of South America.


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[Assistant] Spanish cities had been built all through South America and Central America. Spanish explorers had even journeyed up into North America.


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[Assistant] One adventurer named Hernando de Soto had sailed up the Mississippi River. Another explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, discovered the Grand Canyon.


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[Assistant] While the English and French were struggling to build tiny villages in North America, Spain was building an enormous empire.


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[Assistant] Spain was so huge and powerful that it was called Mistress of the World and Queen of the Ocean. But Spain had a problem. English adventurers kept getting in its way.


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[Assistant] Philip, the King of Spain, had once been the King of England. Do you remember Philip?


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[Assistant] When he was still just a prince, he married Elizabeth's older sister Mary and became King of England.


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[Assistant] Two years later, Philip also inherited the throne of Spain.


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[Assistant] For a brief time, Philip was King of England and King of Spain. But then Mary died.


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[Assistant] Elizabeth inherited the English crown, and Philip lost the title of King of England.


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[Assistant] He offered to marry Elizabeth to get it back. But when she said no, Philip realized that he would have to learn to live without his English crown.


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[Assistant] Philip didn't really need an English crown. His empire was so big that he was already having trouble running it properly.


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[Assistant] English traders were making money by selling slaves to the West Indies.


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[Assistant] English explorers were trying to settle land in North America that Philip wanted for himself.


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[Assistant] And sometimes English ships stopped Spanish ships loaded with gold and robbed them.


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[Assistant] Finally, Philip sent Elizabeth a message, keep your English ships out of Spanish waters, or Spain will declare war on England.


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[Assistant] Elizabeth didn't want to risk a war with Spain. She wasn't sure that England was strong enough to defeat the Spanish.


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[Assistant] She promised that the English would leave Spanish territory and Spanish ships alone.


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[Assistant] English pirates knew that they could steal Spanish treasure and sink Spanish ships with no fear of punishment from the Queen.


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[Assistant] And meanwhile, Elizabeth kept right on sending English ships on journeys of exploration.


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[Assistant] England grew richer and richer and stronger and stronger. And soon Philip realized that Elizabeth's promise had been a big lie.


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[Assistant] He decided that it was time to prove once and for all that Spain, not England, was the most powerful country in the world. Philip began to build the biggest fleet of warships ever. Shipbuilders labored over huge galleys. Warships rode by oarsmen down in the ship's belly.


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[Assistant] And galleons, enormous sailing ships filled with men and supplies.


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[Assistant] Then they could unload their soldiers on England shores.


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[Assistant] And he knew that Catholics were not allowed to worship openly in England. Once he had conquered England


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[Assistant] He thought that his conquest of England would be a great service to God.


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[Assistant] Finally, Philip assembled over 130 ships into a great floating army called the Spanish Armada. When the Armada was ready to sail for England,


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[Assistant] The Spanish commander gave their soldiers very strict orders. They were to act in a Christian manner at all times.


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[Assistant] Catholic priests would accompany every ship and would hold church services on board. All of the sailors were expected to attend.


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[Assistant] And the soldiers were not allowed to swear even while fighting. Philip wanted his armada to be a holy army, taking England back for the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, the English were frantically preparing for invasion.


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[Assistant] Queen Elizabeth put her cousin Lord Howard in charge of the English Navy.


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[Assistant] Howard and Drake decided that the English ships should sail south and attack the Spanish Armada before it could even leave the Spanish port.


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[Assistant] The ships anchored at Plymouth on the south coast of England and waited for the armada. Philip's huge fleet sailed slowly north.


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[Assistant] Finally, a small English ship keeping watch in the channel glimpsed the masts of Spanish galleons on the horizon.


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[Assistant] It's Captain sped back to Plymouth Harbor, leapt from his ship and ran to find the fleet's commanders. Sir Howard and Sir Francis Drake.


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[Assistant] Sir Francis Drake aimed his ball down the smooth grass. Don't worry, he said. There is plenty of time to finish the game and beat the Spaniards too.


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[Assistant] They ordered the English ships to sail into the English Channel and wait for the Spanish Armada there.


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[Assistant] When the Spanish ships arrived, they found the English Navy ready to fight. The battle for England was about to begin.


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[Assistant] The Spanish ships were huge and filled with soldiers because the Spanish planned on winning by grappling and boarding.


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[Assistant] A Spanish ship would sail up beside an English ship, throw hooks over onto its deck, and pull the two ships together. Then Spanish soldiers would pour over onto the English ship and take it over. But the English had a different strategy in mind.


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[Assistant] Their ships were small and quick, with guns along each side.


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[Assistant] Rather than boarding the Spanish ships, the English just tried to shoot them full of holes so that they could no longer fight. The English strategy worked.


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[Assistant] Spain, the mistress of the seas, had been defeated in a sea battle.


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[Assistant] The defeat of the Spanish Armada changed Spain and England forever. Spain would remain a powerful country, but it would never be quite as strong again.


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[Assistant] From now on, the English Empire would begin to grow.


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[Assistant] And soon England, not Spain, would rule over an empire that stretched all across the world.


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[Assistant] It was dark, that much I remember, and the music seemed much too loud for such understated elegance. But the only thing that stands out from that two-hour window into bizarreness was my own intense discomfort. The Chanel boots that Jocelyn had so lovingly selected to go with the outfit, a skintight cashmere sweater over a chiffon skirt,


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[Assistant] Made my feet feel like confidential documents being fed through a shredder.


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[Assistant] My head ached from a combination of hangover and anxiety, causing my empty stomach to protest with threatening waves of nausea. I was standing in the very back of the room with assorted C-list reporters and others who didn't rank high enough to warrant a seat, keeping one eye on Miranda and the other scoping out the least humiliating places to be sick if the need arose.


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[Assistant] Remind all the runway editors in Paris that just because they're here does not mean that they can neglect their responsibilities at home. I want everything in by original deadline.


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[Assistant] I expect dossiers prepared from the three best chefs you've found to be waiting in my suite by the time we return from this show. Bring, bring, bring! You reminded me of myself when I was your age.


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[Assistant] Too nauseated and crippled to watch the parade of anorexic models, I ducked outside for a quick cigarette.


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[Assistant] Naturally, the moment I flicked on my lighter, my cell phone shrilled again.


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[Assistant] Andrea? Andrea, where are you? Where the hell are you right now? I tossed out my still, unlit cigarette and raced back inside, my stomach churning so violently that I knew I would be sick. It was just a matter of when and where.


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[Assistant] I'm right in the back of the room, Miranda, I said, sliding through the door and pressing my back against the wall. Right to the left of the door. Do you see me?


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[Assistant] I watched as she swiveled her head back and forth until her eyes finally rested on mine.


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[Assistant] Not to gallivant around outside when I need her. This is unacceptable, Andrea!


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[Assistant] By the time she'd made it to the back of the room and positioned herself in front of me, a woman in a glimmering floor-length silver gown was sashaying through the reverent crowds.


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[Assistant] And the music switched from some sort of bizarre Gregorian chants to all-out heavy metal. My head began pounding almost in tune to the change in music. Miranda didn't stop hissing when she reached me. But she did, finally, flip her cell phone closed. I did the same.


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[Assistant] Andrea, we have a very serious problem here. You have a very serious problem. I just received a call from Mr. Tomlinson.


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[Assistant] She stared at me, but all I could do was concentrate on not throwing up.


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[Assistant] Oh really, was all I could manage, but that clearly wasn't the right response.


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[Assistant] Her hand tightened around her bag and her eyes began to bulge with anger. Oh really? She mimicked in a hyena-like howl. People were beginning to stare at us. That's all you have to say. Oh really?


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[Assistant] No, uh, of course not, Miranda. I didn't mean it like that. Is there something I can do to help? Is there something I can do to help? She mimicked again.


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[Assistant] If she had been any other person on earth, I would have reached out and slapped her face. You'd better believe it, Andrea.


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[Assistant] Since you're clearly unable to stay on top of these things in advance, you'll need to figure out how to renew them in time for their flight tonight.


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[Assistant] There was virtually nothing I couldn't find, fix, or arrange.


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[Assistant] What the hell was I standing here for? Getting abused and belittled and humiliated by this joyless she-devil? So maybe, just maybe, I too could be sitting at this very same event, 30 years from now, accompanied only by an assistant who loathes me, surrounded by armies of people who pretend they like me because they have to.


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[Assistant] I yanked out my cell phone and punched in a number and watched as Miranda became increasingly more livid.


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[Assistant] Andrea! She hissed, much too ladylike to ever make a scene. What do you think you're doing? My mother picked up on the third ring, but I didn't even say hello. Mom, I'm getting on the next flight I can. I'll call you when I get to JFK. I'm coming home. I clicked the phone shut before she could respond and looked up to see Miranda, who appeared genuinely surprised.


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[Assistant] You do know that if you simply leave here like this, I'm going to be forced to- Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you.


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[Assistant] She gasped audibly while her hand flew up to her mouth in shock.


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[Assistant] She grabbed my upper arm with her claw-like hand, but I wrenched it out of her grip and plastered on an enormous smile.


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[Assistant] So sorry, Miranda, I announced in a normal voice, but I don't think I'll be able to make it to the party tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be lovely, so please do enjoy it. That's all.


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[Assistant] And before she could respond, I hitched my bag higher up on my shoulder, ignored the pain that was searing from heel to toe, and strutted outside to hail a cab.


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[Assistant] I couldn't remember feeling better than that particular moment. I was going home.


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[Assistant] I had often wondered what old Dan would do if little Anne got into some kind of a predicament. One night, I got my answer.


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[Assistant] For several days a northern blizzard had been blowing. It was a bad one. The temperature dropped down to ten below.


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[Assistant] The storm started with a slow cold drizzle and then sleet. When the wind started blowing, everything froze, leaving the ground as slick as glass.


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[Assistant] Trapped indoors, I was as nervous as a fish out of water. I told Mama I guessed it was just gonna storm all winter. She laughed and said, I don't think it will, but it does look like it will last for a while. She ruffled up my hair and kissed me between the eyes.


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[Assistant] This did rile me up. I didn't like to be kissed like that. It seemed that I could practically rub my skin off and still feel it all wet and sticky and kind of burning.


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[Assistant] Sometime on the fifth night the storm blew itself out and it snowed about three inches. The next morning I went out to my dog house.


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[Assistant] Scraping the snow away from the two-way door, I stuck my head in. It was as warm as an oven. I got my face washed all over my little Anne. Old Anne's tail thumped out a tune on the wall. I told them to be ready, because we were going hunting that night.


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[Assistant] I knew the old ring-tails would be hungry and stirring, for they had been denned up during the storm. That evening, as I was leaving the house, Papa said, Billy, be careful tonight. It's slick down under the snow.


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[Assistant] And it would be easy to twist an ankle or break a leg.


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[Assistant] I told him I would, and that I wasn't going far, just down back of our fields in the bottoms.


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[Assistant] There'll be no moon tonight, and you're gonna see some fog next to the river.


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[Assistant] Walking through our fields I saw my father was right about it being slick and dark. Several times I slipped and sat down.


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[Assistant] I couldn't see anything beyond the glow of my lantern, but I wasn't worried.


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[Assistant] My light was a good one, and Mama had insisted that I make two little leather pouches to cover the blades of my axe.


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[Assistant] Just before I reached the timber, Old Dan shook the snow from the underbrush with his deep voice. I stopped and listened.


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[Assistant] He balled again. The deep bass tones rolled around under the tall sycamores, tore their way out of the thick timber, traveled out over the fields and slammed up against the foothills. There they seemed to break up and die away in the mountains.


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[Assistant] Old Dan was working the trail slowly, and I knew why. He would never line out until little Ann was running by his side.


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[Assistant] I thought she would never get there. When she did, her beautiful voice made the blood pound in my temples. I felt the excitement of the hunt as it ate its way into my body. Taking a deep breath, I reared back and whooped as loud as I could.


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[Assistant] The coon ran up river for a way. Then, cutting out of the bottoms, he headed for the mountains. I stood and listened until their voices went out of hearing.


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[Assistant] Slipping and sliding, I started in the direction I had last heard them. About halfway to the foothills, I heard them coming back.


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[Assistant] Somewhere in the rugged mountains the coon had turned and headed toward the river.


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[Assistant] It was about time for him to play out a few tricks, and I was wondering what he would do. I knew it would be hard for him to hide his trail with snow on the ground, and I realized later that the smart old coon knew this too.


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[Assistant] As the voices of my dogs grew louder, I could tell that they were coming straight toward me.


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[Assistant] Once I started to blow out my lantern, thinking that maybe I could see them when they crossed our field. But I realized I didn't stand a chance of seeing the race in the skunk black night.


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[Assistant] I knew my whole family was out on the porch, listening to the beautiful voices of my little red hounds. I felt as tall as the tallest sycamore on the riverbank. I yelled as loud as I could. Again I heard the squealing of my sisters and the shouts of my father. The deep, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo.


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[Assistant] Of old Dan and the sharp, of little Anne, bored a hole in the inky black night, the vibrations rolled and quivered in the icy silence.


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[Assistant] The coon was heading for the river. I could tell my dogs were crowding him, and wondered if he'd make it to the water. I was hoping he wouldn't, for I didn't want to wade the cold water unless I had to do it.


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[Assistant] I figured the smart old coon had a reason for turning and coming back to the river and wondered what trick he had in mind. I remembered something my grandfather had told me. He said, Never underestimate the cunning of an old river coon.


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[Assistant] When the nights are dark and the ground is frozen and slick, they can pull some mean tricks on a hound. Sometimes the tricks can be fatal.


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[Assistant] I was halfway through the fog covered bottoms when the voices of my dogs stopped. I stood still, waited and listened. A cold silence settled over the bottoms.


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[Assistant] I could hear the snap and crack of sap-frozen limbs. From far back in the flinty hills the long, lonesome howl of a timber wolf floated down in the silent night. Across the river I heard a cow moo. I knew the sound was coming from the lowly place.


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[Assistant] Not being able to hear the voices of my dogs gave me an uncomfortable feeling. I whooped and waited for one of them to ball.


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[Assistant] As I stood waiting I realized something was different in the bottoms. Something was missing.


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[Assistant] I wasn't worried about my dogs. I figured that the coon had pulled some trick, and sooner or later they would unravel the trail. But the feeling that something was just not right had me worried. I whooped several times, but still could get no answer. Stumbling, slipping and sliding, I started on.


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[Assistant] Reaching the river, I saw it was frozen over. I realized what my strange, uneasy feeling was. I had not been able to hear the sound of the water. As I stood listening.


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[Assistant] The gurgling sound I had heard was the swift current as it sucked its way through the channel. The last time I had heard my dogs they were downstream from me. I walked on, listening.


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[Assistant] I hadn't gone far when I heard old Dan. What I heard froze the blood in my veins. He wasn't bawling on a trail or giving the tree bark. It was one long continuous cry.


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[Assistant] In his deep voice there seemed to be a pleading cry for help.


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[Assistant] He wasn't the same dog. His tail was between his legs and his head was bowed down. He stopped about seven feet from me. Sitting down on the ice he raised his head and howled the most mournful cry I had ever heard.


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[Assistant] Turning around, he trotted back out on the ice and disappeared in the fog. I knew something had happened to little Anne. I called her name.


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[Assistant] Her small feet had probably slipped on the slick ice and she had fallen into the icy waters.


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[Assistant] Old Dan seeing the fate of his little friend had quit the chase and come back to help her. The smart old coon had pulled his trick, and a deadly one it was.


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[Assistant] I had to do something. She would never be able to get out by herself. It was only a matter of time until her body would be paralyzed by the freezing water.


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[Assistant] She cried again, begging for the one thing I couldn't give her, help.


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[Assistant] I thought, if only I could see her, maybe I could figure out some way I could help. Looking at my lantern gave me an idea.


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[Assistant] I was looking for a stand of wild cane. After what seemed like ages, I found it. With the longest one I could find, I hurried back. After it was trimmed and the limber end cut off, I hung the lantern by the handle on the end of it and started easing it out on the ice. I saw old Dan first. He was sitting close to the edge of the trough, looking down. Then I saw her. I groaned at her plight.


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[Assistant] All I could see was her head and her small front paws. Her claws were spread out and digging into the ice. She knew if she ever lost that hold, she was gone.


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[Assistant] Old Dan raised his head and howled. Hound though he was, he knew it was the end of the trail for his little pal.


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[Assistant] I wanted to get my light as close to Little Anne as I could, but my pole was a good eight feet short. Setting the lantern down I eased the pole from under the handle. I thought


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[Assistant] No better off than I was before, in fact I'm worse off, now I can see when the end comes.


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[Assistant] Little Anne cried again. I saw her claws slip on the ice. Her body settled lower in the water. Old Dan howled and started fidgeting. He knew the end was close.


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[Assistant] I got behind it, anything to blot out that heartbreaking scene. Little Anne, thinking I had deserted her, started crying. I couldn't stand it.


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[Assistant] I opened my mouth to call old Dan. I wanted to tell him to come on and we'd go home as there was nothing we could do. The words just wouldn't come out. I couldn't utter a sound.


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[Assistant] I lay my face against the icy cold bark of the sycamore. I thought of the prayer I had said when I had asked God to help me get two hound pups.


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[Assistant] I knelt down and sobbed out a prayer. I asked for a miracle which would save the life of my little dog. I promised all the things that a young boy could, if only he would help me.


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[Assistant] Still saying my prayer and making promises, I heard a sharp metallic sound. I jumped up and stepped away from the tree.


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[Assistant] I was sure the noise I had heard was made by a rattling chain on the front end of a boat. I shouted as loud as I could, Over here! I need help, my dog is drowning!


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[Assistant] I shivered from the freezing cold of my wet shoes and overalls. A straining silence settled over the river.


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[Assistant] A feathery rustle swished by in the blackness. A flock of low flying ducks had been disturbed by my loud shouts.


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[Assistant] I strained my ears for some sound, now and then I could hear the lapping slap of the ice cold water as it swirled its way through the trough.


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[Assistant] It couldn't have made the sound as it was too close to me. The noise had come from out in the river. When I looked at my lantern,


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[Assistant] I knew that it had made the strange sound. I had left the handle standing straight up when I had taken the pole away. Now it was down.


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[Assistant] For some unknown reason the stiff wire handle had twisted in the sockets and dropped.


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[Assistant] As it had fallen, it had struck the metal frame, making the sharp metallic sound I had heard. As I stared at the yellow glow of my light, the last bit of hope faded away.


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[Assistant] I close my eyes intending to pray again for the help I so desperately needed.


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[Assistant] Then, like a blinding red flash, the message of the lantern bored its way into my brain.


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[Assistant] There was my miracle. There was the way to save my little dog. In the metallic sound I had heard were my instructions. They were so plain I couldn't help but understand them.


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[Assistant] Faster than I had ever moved in my life I went to work. With a stick I measured the water in the hole where my feet had broken through the ice. I was right, my foot had touched bottom. Eighteen inches down I felt the soft mud.


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[Assistant] With my pole I fished the lantern back to the bank. I took the handle off, straightened it out, and bent a hook in one end. With one of my shoelaces I tied the wire to the end of the cane pole. I left the hook sticking out about six inches beyond the end of it.


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[Assistant] I started shouting encouragement to little Anne. I told her to hang on and not to give up, for I was going to save her. She answered with a low cry.


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[Assistant] With the hook stuck in one of the ventilating holes in the top of my light I lifted it back out on the ice and set it down.


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[Assistant] After a little wiggling and pushing I worked the hook loose and laid the pole down.


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[Assistant] I took off my clothes, picked up my axe, and stepped down into the hole in the icy water.


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[Assistant] It came to my knees. Step by step, breaking the ice with my axe, I waited out.


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[Assistant] The water came up to my hips, and then to my waist. The cold bite of it took my breath away. I felt my body grow numb. I couldn't feel my feet at all, but I knew they were moving. When the water reached my armpits, I stopped and worked my pole toward Little Anne. Stretching my arms as far out as I could, I saw I was still a foot short.


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[Assistant] Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth I moved on. The water reached my chin. I was close enough. I started hooking at the collar of little Anne.


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[Assistant] Time after time I felt the hook almost catch. I saw I was fishing on a wrong angle. She had settled so low in the water I couldn't reach her collar.


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[Assistant] Raising my arms above my head so the pole would be on a slant, I kept hooking and praying. The seconds ticked by. I strained for one more inch. The muscles in my arms grew numb from the weight of the pole.


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[Assistant] Little Anne's claws slipped again. I thought she was gone, at the very edge of the ice she caught again. All I could see now were her small red paws and her nose and eyes.


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[Assistant] By old Dan's actions I could tell he understood and wanted to help. He ran over close to my pole and started digging at the ice. I whopped him with the cane. That was the only time in my life I ever hit my dog. I had to get him out of the way so I could see what I was doing. Just when I thought my task was impossible, I felt the hook slide under the tough leather. It was none too soon.


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[Assistant] As gently as I could, I dragged her over the rim of the ice.


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[Assistant] At first I thought she was dead, she didn't move. Old Dan started whining and licking her face and ears.


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[Assistant] She moved her head. I started talking to her. She made an effort to stand, but couldn't. Her muscles were paralyzed and the blood had long since ceased to flow.


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[Assistant] At the movement of little Anne, old Anne threw a fit. He started barking and jumping. His long red tail fanned the air.


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[Assistant] Still holding onto my pole, I tried to take a step backward. My feet wouldn't move. A cold, gripping fear came over me. I thought my legs were frozen. I made another effort to lift my leg.


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[Assistant] I started backing out, dragging the body of my little dog. I couldn't feel the pole in my hands. When my feet touched the icy bank, I couldn't feel that either. All the feeling in my body was gone.


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[Assistant] I wrapped little Anne in my coat and hurried into my clothes. With the pole I fished my light back.


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[Assistant] Close by was a large drift. I climbed up on top of it and dug a hole down through the ice and snow until I reached the dry limbs. I poured half of the oil in my lantern down into the hole and dropped in a match. In no time I had a roaring fire.


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[Assistant] I laid the land close to the warm heat and went to work.


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[Assistant] Old Dan washed her head with his warm red tongue while I massaged and rubbed her body.


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[Assistant] I could tell by her cries when the blood started circulating Little by little her strength came back.


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[Assistant] I stood on her feet and started walking her. She was weak and wobbly.


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[Assistant] But I knew she would live. I felt much better and breathed a sigh of relief.


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[Assistant] After drying myself out the best I could, I took the lantern handle from the pole, bent it back to its original position, and put it back on the lantern. Holding the light out in front of me, I looked at it. The bright metal gleamed in the firelight glow. I started talking to it. I said, Thanks, old lantern, more than you'll ever know.


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[Assistant] I'll always take care of you. Your globe will always be clean and there'll never be any rust or dirt on your frame.


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[Assistant] I knew if it had not been for the miracle of the lantern, my little dog would have met her death on that night.


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[Assistant] Her grave would have been the cold, icy waters of the Illinois River.


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[Assistant] Out in the river I could hear the cold water gurgling in the icy trough. It seemed to be angry, yet hissed and growled as it tore its way through the channel. I shuddered to think of what could have happened.


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[Assistant] Before I left for home, I walked back to the sycamore tree. Once again, I said a prayer.


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[Assistant] But this time the words were different. I didn't ask for a miracle. In every way a young boy could, I said thanks.


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[Assistant] My second prayer wasn't said with just words. All of my heart and soul was in it.


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[Assistant] On my way home I decided not to say anything to my mother and father about little Anne's accident. I knew it would scare mama and she might stop my hunting.


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[Assistant] Reaching our house, I didn't hang the lantern in its usual place. I took it to my room and set it in a corner with the handle standing up.


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[Assistant] The next morning I started sneezing and came down with a terrible cold. I told mama I had gotten my feet wet. She scolded me a little and started doctoring me. For three days and nights I stayed home. All this time I kept checking the handle of the lantern.


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[Assistant] My sisters shook the house from the roof to the floor with their playing and romping, but the handle never did fall.


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[Assistant] I went to my mother and asked her if God answered prayers every time one was said. She smiled and said, No, Billy, not every time. He only answers the ones that are said from the heart. You have to be sincere and believe in him. She wanted to know why I had asked. I said, Oh, I just wondered and wanted to know. She came over and straightened my suspenders saying,


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[Assistant] That was a very nice question for my little Daniel Boone to ask. Bending over, she started kissing me.


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[Assistant] I finally squirmed away from her, feeling as wet as a dirt dauber's nest. My mother never could kiss me like a fella should be kissed. Before she was done I was kissed all over. It always made me feel silly and baby-like.


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[Assistant] I tried to tell her that a coon hunter wasn't supposed to be kissed that way, but mama never could understand things like that. I stomped out of the house to see how my dogs were.


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[Assistant] Jill, stop shouting for your sister. My mother screamed unhelpfully. I think she's still sleeping.


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[Assistant] And then, a voice came even louder from the bottom of the stairs.


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[Assistant] Andy, are you still sleeping? She screamed in the general direction of my room.


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[Assistant] I pride open an eye and check the clock, quarter after eight in the morning. Dear God, what were these people thinking?


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[Assistant] Morning, Lily smiled, her face coming within inches of my own when she turned to face me. They sure do get up early around here.


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[Assistant] Since Jill and Kyle and the baby were home for Thanksgiving, Lily had been forced to move onto the lower half of my childhood trundle bed. Girls, my mother screamed again, is anyone awake up there?


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[Assistant] I don't care if you're still sleeping, just please tell me one way or the other so I know how many waffles to defrost.


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[Assistant] Please tell her one way or the other. I'm going to kill her, Lil.


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[Assistant] And then, toward my still closed door, we're still sleeping, can't you tell? I shouted back, collapsing backward in the bed. Lily laughed. Relax, she said. They're just happy you're home, and I, for one, am happy to be here.


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[Assistant] I put on a sweatshirt. The jeans I had been wearing every day for the past few weeks lay rumpled in a ball near my closet. When I pulled them over my hips I noticed that they were feeling snugger.


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[Assistant] Lily slipped on a pair of sweatpants over the boxers she'd slept in and tied a bandana over her frizzed out curls.


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[Assistant] With her hair pulled off her face, the angry red marks where her forehead had met the windshield were more noticeable, but the stitches had already come out.


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[Assistant] And the doctor had promised that there'd be minimal, if any, scarring.


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[Assistant] Come on, she said, grabbing her crutches. She's not going to stop screaming until we go down there, is she? I mumbled, holding her elbow to help her to her feet. Not a chance.


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[Assistant] It was my dad's idea that we sublet our apartment for November and December and move in with them.


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[Assistant] Although the idea had been less than appealing to me, my zero-sum salary left me with few arguments. And besides, Lily seemed to welcome the chance to get out of the city for a while and leave behind all of the questions and gossip that she'd have to face as soon as she saw anyone she knew again.


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[Assistant] We listed the place on craigslist.org as a perfect holiday rental.


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[Assistant] And to both our shock and amazement, an older Swedish couple whose children were all living in the city, paid our full asking price. Six hundred dollars more per month than we paid. That was more than enough for us to live on. Considering my parents comped us food, laundry, and the use of a beat up Camry.


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[Assistant] The Swedes were leaving the week after New Year's just in time for Lily to start her semester over again and for me to, well, do something. My father had already escaped to his office and my mother was on her way to the garage when I made it downstairs. Morning honey, will you and Lily be home for dinner tonight? I just woke up.


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[Assistant] There's a plate of wet looking, wholly unappetizing waffles in the middle. Did dad pick up any donuts today?


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[Assistant] Yeah, he hid them in the closet outside his office. Kyle drawled. Bring back the box if you're going. The phone rang on my way to seek out the hidden booty. Hello?


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[Assistant] Hello there, is Andrea Sachs there please? Speaking. Andrea, hi, this is Loretta Andreano from Seventeen Magazine. My heart lurched. I'd pitched a two thousand word fiction piece about a teenage girl who gets so caught up on getting into college that she ignores her friends and family. Hi, how are you? I'm fine, thank you.


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[Assistant] Listen, your story got passed along to me and I have to tell you, I love it.


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[Assistant] Need some revisions of course, but I'd like to run it in the February issue. You would?


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[Assistant] I could hardly believe it. Absolutely. We pay 150 per word, and I'll just need to have you fill out a few tax forms. You freelance stories before, right? Actually, no. But I used to work at Runway. Oh really? My first job out of college was as a fashion assistant at Runway. I learned more there that year than I did in the next five. It was a real experience. I was lucky to have it. What did you do there? I was actually Miranda Priestley's assistant. Were you really? You poor girl, I had no idea.


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[Assistant] Wait a minute, were you the one who was just fired in Paris? I realized too late that I had made a big mistake.


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[Assistant] Probably from one of the clackers who witnessed my terrible manners.


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[Assistant] Uhm, yeaah. It wasn't as bad as it seemed. Really, it wasn't. Things got totally blown out of proportion in that page six article. Really.


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[Assistant] Well I hope not. Someone needed to tell that woman to go fuck herself. And if it was you, well then hats off.


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[Assistant] That woman made my life a living hell for the year I worked there. And I never even had to exchange a single word with her.


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[Assistant] Look, I've gotta run to a press lunch right now, but why don't we set up a meeting? We agreed to meet next Friday at 3, and I hung up still not believing what had happened.


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[Assistant] The following spring, we left the Ozarks.


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[Assistant] The day we moved I thought everyone would be sad, but it was just the opposite. Mama seemed to be the happiest one of all. I could hear her laughing and joking with my sisters as they packed things. She had a glow in her eyes I had never seen before and it made me feel good.


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[Assistant] I even noticed a change in Papa. He didn't have that whipped look on his face any more. He was in high spirits as we carried the furniture out to our wagon. After the last item was stored in the wagon, Papa helped Mama to the spring seat, and we were ready to go. Papa? Would you mind waiting a few minutes, I ask? I'd like to say good-bye to my dogs.


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[Assistant] Sure," he said, smiling. We have plenty of time. Go right ahead.


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[Assistant] Nearing the graves I saw something different. It looked like a wild bush had grown up and practically covered the two little mounds. It made me angry to think that an old bush would dare grow so close to the graves. I took out my knife intending to cut it down. When I walked up close enough to see what it was, I sucked in a mouthful of air and stopped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.


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[Assistant] There between the graves a beautiful red fern had sprung up from the rich mountain soil.


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[Assistant] It was fully two feet tall, and its long red leaves had reached out in rainbow arches curved over the graves of my dogs.


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[Assistant] I had heard the old Indian legend about the red fern, how a little Indian boy and girl were lost in the blizzard and had frozen to death. In the spring, when they were found, a beautiful red fern had grown up between their two bodies.


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[Assistant] The story went on to say that only an angel could plant the seeds of a red fern and that they never died where one grew that spot was sacred.


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[Assistant] Remembering the meaning of the legend, I turned and started hollering for Mama. Mama!


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[Assistant] Mama, I shouted, come here, and hurry, you won't believe it. In a frightened voice, she shouted back, What is it, Billy? Are you all right?


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[Assistant] I'm alright mama, I shouted, but hurry, you just won't believe it.


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[Assistant] Holding her long skirt in her hand and with a frightened look on her face, Mama came puffing up the hillside. Close behind her came Papa and my sisters.


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[Assistant] What is it, Billy? Mama asked in a scared voice. Are you all right? Look, I said, pointing at the red fern.


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[Assistant] Staring wide-eyed, Mama gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. I heard her say, almost in a whisper, Oh, it's a red fern, a sacred red fern.


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[Assistant] She walked over and very tenderly started fingering the long red leaves. In an odd voice she said, all my life I've wanted to see one. Now I have. It's almost unbelievable. Don't touch it, Mama, my oldest sister whispered. It was planted by an angel. Mama smiled and asked, have you heard the legend?


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[Assistant] Yes mama, my sister said. Grandma told me the story, and I believe it too. With a serious look on his face, Papa said, These hills are full of legends.


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[Assistant] Up until now I've never paid much attention to them, but now I don't know. Perhaps there is something to the legend of the red fern.


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[Assistant] Maybe this is God's way of helping Billy understand why his dogs died.


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[Assistant] I'm sure it is, Papa, I said, and I do understand.


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[Assistant] I feel different now, and I don't hurt any more. Come, Mama said, let's go back to the wagon. Billy wants to be alone with his dogs for a while.


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[Assistant] Just as they turned to leave, I heard Papa murmur in a low voice. Wonderful indeed is the work of our Lord.


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[Assistant] As I stood looking at the two graves, I noticed things I hadn't seen before.


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[Assistant] Wild violets, roosterheads and mountain daisies had completely covered the two little mounds. As summer breeze gushed down from the rugged hills, I felt its warm caress as it fanned my face. It hummed a tune in the underbrush and rustled the leaves on the huge red oak.


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[Assistant] If God made room in heaven for all good dogs, I know he made a special place for you.


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[Assistant] With a heavy heart I turned and walked away. I knew that as long as I lived I'd never forget the two little graves and the sacred red ferns.


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[Assistant] Not far from our home, the road wound its way up and over a hill. At the top, Papa stopped the team. We all stood up and looked back. It was a beautiful sight. One I'll never forget.


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[Assistant] As I stood and looked at the home of my birth, it looked sad and lonely.


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[Assistant] No horse or cow standing with head down and tail switching.


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[Assistant] I saw I had left the door to the barn loft open, a tuft of hay hung out, it wavered gently in the warm summer breeze.


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[Assistant] Something scurried across the vacant yard and disappeared under the barn. It was Sammy, our house cat. I heard my little sister say in a choking voice, Mommy, we forgot Sammy. There was no answer.


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[Assistant] There it stood, in all its wild beauty, a waving red banner in a carpet of green. It seemed to be saying, goodbye, and don't worry, I'll be here always.


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[Assistant] Hearing a sniffling, I turned around. My three little sisters had started crying. Mama said something to Papa. I heard the jingle of the trace chains as they tightened in the single trees. Our wagon moved on.


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[Assistant] I'd like to walk again on trails I walked in my boyhood days.


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[Assistant] Once again I'd like to face a mountain breeze and smell the wonderful scent of the red buds and pawpaws in the dogwoods. With my hands I'd like to caress the cool white bark of a sycamore.


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[Assistant] I'd like to take a walk far back in the flinty hills and search for a souvenir, an old double-bitted axe stuck deep in the side of a white oak tree. I know the handle has long since rotted away with time. Perhaps the rusty frame of a coal-oil lantern still hangs there on the blade.


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[Assistant] I'd like to pause under the beautiful red oaks where my sisters and I played in our childhood.


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[Assistant] I'd like to walk up the hillside to the graves of my dogs.


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[Assistant] I'm sure the red fern has grown and has completely covered the two little mounds. I know it is still there.


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[Assistant] For in my heart, I believe the legend of the Sacred Red Fern.


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[Assistant] The rest of the staff began streaming in around 10, about 50 in all of editorial. The biggest department was fashion, of course, with close to 30 people, including all the accessories assistance. Features, beauty, and art rounded out the mix. Nearly everyone stopped by Miranda's office to schmooze with Emily and check out the new girl.


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[Assistant] I met dozens of people that first morning, everyone flashing enormous toothy white smiles and appearing genuinely interested in meeting me.


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[Assistant] The men were all flamboyantly gay, adorning themselves in second skin leather pants and ribbed tees that stretched over bulging biceps and perfect pecs.


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[Assistant] So women, or rather the girls, were individually beautiful. Collectively they were mind-blowing. Most appeared to be about 25, and few looked a day older than 30.


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[Assistant] In and out, in and out they walked gracefully on four inch skinny heels, sashaying over to my desk to extend milky white hands with long manicured fingers, calling themselves Jocelyn, who works with hope.


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[Assistant] Nicole from fashion and Steph who oversees accessories.


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[Assistant] Only one, Shayna, was shorter than 5'9". All weighed less than 110 pounds.


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[Assistant] I answered a few phone calls with the requisite Miranda Priestley's office, although both Emily and I were worried that Miranda herself would call and I wouldn't know what to do. About noon, just as the first hunger pangs were beginning, I picked up a call and heard a British accent on the other end.


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[Assistant] Hello. Allison, is that you? asked the icy sounding but regal voice. I'll be needing a skirt. I cupped my hand over the receiver. Emily, it's her! I hissed.


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[Assistant] Emily turned to see my panic-stricken face and promptly hung up the phone without so much as a goodbye.


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[Assistant] She pressed the button to switch Miranda to her line and plastered on a wide grin. Miranda! It's Emily, what can I do?


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[Assistant] She put her pen to her pad and began writing furiously, forehead furrowing intently. Yes, of course, naturally. And as fast as it happened, it was over.


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[Assistant] I looked at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes at me for appearing so eager.


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[Assistant] Well, it looks like you have your first job. Miranda needs a skirt for tomorrow, among other things, so we'll need to get it on a plane by tonight at the latest.


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[Assistant] She didn't say exactly. Emily muttered as she picked up the phone. Hi Jocelyn, it's me. She wants a skirt and I'll need to have it on Mrs. DeLaurenta's flight tonight. No, I have no idea. No, she didn't say.


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[Assistant] Either Emily or myself would notify the fashion assistants, about it and all, who each maintained contacts within a specified list of designers and stores.


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[Assistant] Within minutes, every PR account exec at Michael Kors, Gucci.


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[Assistant] Chloe, Calvin Klein, and Roberto Cavalli would be messengering over every skirt they had in stock that Miranda Priestly could conceivably find attractive.


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[Assistant] While this near-daily activity unfolded, Emily sent me to pick up a few other things that we needed to send with the skirt that night.


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[Assistant] Your car will be waiting for you on 58th Street, she said while working two phone lines and scribbling instructions for me.


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[Assistant] She paused briefly to toss me a cellphone and said, Here, take this in case I need to reach you or you have any questions. Never turn it off, always answer it. I took the phone and the paper and headed down to the 58th street side of the building. I had barely stepped on the sidewalk before a squat, white-haired man approached.


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[Assistant] You Priestley's new girl? He croaked. I nodded. I'm Rich, the dispatcher. You own a car, you talk to me. You got it, blondie?


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[Assistant] I nodded again and ducked into the backseat of a black Cadillac sedan.


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[Assistant] Where you going, miss? The driver asked. I realized I had no idea and pulled the piece of paper from my pocket.


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[Assistant] First stop, Tommy Hilfiger Studio at 355 West 57th Street. Sixth floor, ask for Leanne. I gave the driver the address and stared out the window. It was one o'clock on a frigid winter afternoon. I was 23 years old. I was riding in the backseat of a chauffeured sedan on my way to Tommy Hilfiger Studio.


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[Assistant] It took nearly 45 minutes to go the 15 blocks during the midtown lunch hour. The driver told me he'd circle the block until I came out again, and off I went to Tommy's studio.


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[Assistant] When I asked for Leanne at the receptionist's desk, an adorable girl not a day older than 18 came bounding down the stairs.


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[Assistant] Hi! She called. You must be Andrea, Miranda's new assistant. We sure do love her around here, so welcome to the team!


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[Assistant] She pulled a massive plastic bag out from underneath the table and immediately spilled its contents on the floor.


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[Assistant] Here, we have Caroline's favorite jeans in three colors, and we threw in some baby tees too, and Cassie just adores Tommy's khaki skirts, so we gave them to her in olive and stone.


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[Assistant] I just know Miranda's daughters will love this stuff. We've been dressing them for years. And Tommy insists on picking the clothes out for them himself. I threw the bag over my shoulder.


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[Assistant] Good luck, she called as the elevator doors closed. You're lucky to have such an awesome job.


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[Assistant] Ashet Audio presents Dear John. Written by Nicholas Sparks. Read by Holter Graham.


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[Assistant] What happened next? I'm guessing the bear didn't hurt you because you seem fine.


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[Assistant] I'm glad none of you got hurt. Do you think you'll go camping with your family again?


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[Assistant] It was nice talking to you Jerry, but I have to finish Max's walk. He doesn't like it when I stand around.


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[Assistant] The following content is provided under a Creative Commons license. Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue to offer high quality educational resources for free.


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[Assistant] To make a donation or to view additional materials from hundreds of MIT courses.


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[Assistant] Visit MIT OpenCourseWare at ocw.mit.edu.


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[Assistant] But you better be quiet, cause the queen of the quincuancuans is coming.


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[Assistant] Give you a big squelchy kiss When you see a cute


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[Assistant] I love our room. It's nice. I have to go to the pharmacy to buy some medicines. I'll be right back.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, is there a pharmacy around here? Turn right at the corner and go straight ahead.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, I need to find an ATM. Can you help me?


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[Assistant] Hello? Would you mind telling me where the post office is?


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[Assistant] I see. It's quite close. Thanks for your kindness. Have a nice day. My pleasure. You too.


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[Assistant] Really? That sounds great. Then I'm going to wait for you right here.


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[Assistant] You have to turn right at the corner, and go two blocks along the street. The post office is right on the corner of the third block.


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[Assistant] Excuse me, could you tell me where the hospital is? Sorry, I don't know. I'm not from around here.


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[Assistant] Walk up to the crosswalk, in front of the restaurant that is next to the post office. Cross the street and you're there. Then go straight ahead on the path, past the clown.


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[Assistant] Mom, I need to go to the restroom. Oh, I wonder where the restroom is.


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[Assistant] It's time for dinner. Let's go back to the hotel.


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[Assistant] Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit our website, KidsPages.com.


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[Assistant] When we think about the dreams we have and the dent we want to leave in the universe, it is striking to see how big of an overlap that is between the dreams we have and projects that never happen.


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[Assistant] Believe in overnight success. You know the story, right? The tech guy built a mobile app and sold it very fast for a lot of money.


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[Assistant] You know, the story may seem real, but I bet it's incomplete. If you go investigate further, the guy has done 30 apps before, and he has done a masters on the topic, a PhD. He's been working on the topic for like 20 years.


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[Assistant] This is really interesting. I myself have a story in Brazil that people think is an overnight success. I come from a humble family.


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[Assistant] And two weeks before the deadline to apply for MIT, I started the application process. And voila, I got in.


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[Assistant] People may think it's an overnight success, but that only worked because for the 17 years prior to that, I took life and education seriously. Your overnight success story is always a result of everything you've done in your life through that moment. Two.


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[Assistant] Believe someone else has the answers for you. Constantly people want to help out, right? All sorts of people, your family, your friends, your business partners, they all have opinions on which path you should take. And let me tell you, go through this pipe.


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[Assistant] No one else has the perfect answers for your life.


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[Assistant] And you need to keep picking those decisions, right? The pipes are infinite and you're gonna bump your heads and it's part of the process.


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[Assistant] Decide to settle when growth is guaranteed. So your life is going great. You have put together a great team and you have grown in revenue and everything is set. Time to settle.


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[Assistant] When I launched my first book, I worked really, really hard to distribute it everywhere in Brazil. With that, over 3 million people downloaded, over 50,000 people bought physical copies. When I wrote a sequel, some impact was guaranteed. Even if I did little, sales would be okay. But okay is never okay.


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[Assistant] Right, maybe if I did little, a couple hundred thousand people would read it, and that's great already.


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[Assistant] That's why I decided in my new book to go to every single state of Brazil. And I can already see a higher peak. There's no time to settle down. Fourth tip, and that's really important. Believe the fault is someone else's.


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[Assistant] If you have dreams, it's your responsibility to make them happen. Yes, it may be hard to find talent.


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[Assistant] You need to get your dreams and make them happen. And no one achieves their goals alone.


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[Assistant] But if you didn't make them happen, it's your fault. And no one else's. Be responsible to your dreams. And one last tip. And this one is really important as well.


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[Assistant] Believe that the only things that matter are the dreams themselves. Once I saw an ad,


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[Assistant] Two seconds later, one looks at each other and says, okay, let's go down. Life is never about the goal themselves. Life is about the journey.


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[Assistant] Yes, you should enjoy to go themselves, but people think that you have dreams and whenever you get to reach in one of those dreams is a magical place where happiness will be all around.


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[Assistant] But achieving a dream is a momentary sensation, and your life is not.


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[Assistant] If it's right on, celebrate, because some people wait a lot to celebrate. And if you tripped, turn that into something to learn. If every step ...


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[Assistant] Because something to learn or something to celebrate, you will for sure enjoy the journey.


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[Assistant] So, five tips. Believe in overnight success.


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[Assistant] Believe someone else has the answers for you. Believe that when growth is guaranteed, you should settle down. Believe the fault is someone else's. And believe that only the goals themselves matter. Believe me, you do that, and you'll destroy your dreams.


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[Assistant] All set, and, uh, two topics for today. One is to go back to, uh, Professor Sra's lecture.


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[Assistant] Uh, that was last Friday, and uh, he promised a theorem and proof, and uh, this morning he sent it to me. So it's uh, the convergence, it's proving the convergence of stochastic gradient descent. And really,


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[Assistant] What's important, maybe, and useful is not so much the details of the proof, which I'm just learning.


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[Assistant] But the assumptions, you know, what's the logic here? What do you have to assume about the gradient?


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[Assistant] To, uh, and about the algorithm to get the answer.


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[Assistant] I actually looked back at the video of his lecture, and it was excellent.


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[Assistant] And as I looked at it, there were a couple of things later in the lecture that I thought would make good projects.


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[Assistant] So I don't know if anybody is still open to what to do on a project, but here are my two ideas. And if you've already finished your project, well, get an A plus by considering one of these.


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[Assistant] So you remember, and this will remind you of the, of the lecture, which is a good thing. So you remember that question one, uh, was whether in the stochastic part,


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[Assistant] Do you, after you've sampled one or some many batch, but let's just say one, uh, of the loss functions.


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[Assistant] Coming from one sample. You remember the whole point is that if we do all zillions


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[Assistant] Samples at every iteration were really really slow. So the


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[Assistant] Stochastic idea is to randomly pick one or a mini batch of the samples and just, uh, reduce their loss. Just deal with their, the loss.


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[Assistant] Say the square loss, or later we'll see cross entropy loss, but whatever the cost is, uhm,


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[Assistant] Just do a few or one. And then the question was, after you've done that one, do you put it back in the pot?


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[Assistant] And every time you sample over the whole collection, but that's expensive. Or do you just make a list of


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[Assistant] Random list of, random order of, of all the samples and go through them, which is then without replacement, which is sort of semi-illegal. That is the, the, uh, the logic in the, in the, uh, randomization asks you to replace every time.


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[Assistant] Nobody does it. Weight costs a lot, probably not worth it. So the project would be, suppose you take a thousand, or say just a hundred, a hundred random numbers. Say, say you use MATLAB, rand of just the command rand. So you get numbers whose average is a half from rand. They're between 0 and 1.


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[Assistant] So let's compute it two ways. One is by not replacing.


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[Assistant] And that's the interesting one. Do you, so, so, take a hundred samples? Well, I guess we know that after we've got through the full hundred, you know, we're going to get exactly the right answer.


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[Assistant] But, uh, anyway, uh, my question would be how much difference do you see in, uh,


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[Assistant] In the eventual approach, so the law of large numbers I guess would tell us we get a average of a half, uh, for these


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[Assistant] Should I be writing anything here? Maybe I should. Okay. So I'm, this is project one.


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[Assistant] And then I, my question is what about convergence to the, the final, the average is a half.


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[Assistant] Could we see what happens for the convergence of the average as you either do replacements or don't do replacements?


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[Assistant] And then, in fact, I would like to see a figure that...


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[Assistant] Looks like those in his lecture, do you remember? He started it somewhere. Start. And then here's the finish.


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[Assistant] But you remember that stochastic gradient descent was kind of pretty effective at the beginning.


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[Assistant] The beginning, those might be a hundred iterations each, one epoch, one, one run through the full number. But then when it got to here, got closer, it started oscillating.


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[Assistant] You remember, he identified the region of confusion around the thing. Well, my suggestion is just


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[Assistant] Uh, I think those videos should be accessible to you on, are they on Stellar? Yeah. So, I'd love to see


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[Assistant] That, uh, behavior, uh, in some, some good examples of that behavior and some pictures to use. So that would be one idea with and with, oh yeaah, that's also idea two.


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[Assistant] Idea two is the good start and then the bad finish for stochastic gradient descent. And of course, the magic words in, even without this, the magic words in computations is early stopping. We don't overfit.


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[Assistant] And early stopping just is like a good idea for if that's what the, if that's what the approach to the, to the, uh, uh,


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[Assistant] x star that you're looking for, the, this would be the place where the, this is where, that's x star where, where grad f at x star is 0. That's, that's the minimum point. That's arg min. Ard min. That's exactly what we're looking for. And we don't find it very well, but we get close to it fast. Okay.


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[Assistant] Two ideas on projects, I'll just, uh, so, uh, maybe I'll go to the main topic of today, the topic I promised, the idea of backpropagation to compute this is all to compute, uh,


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[Assistant] The gradient, all the derivatives, this is, this is the df dx1 to df dx2.


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[Assistant] Em, maybe I'll say, where I have, uh,


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[Assistant] Uh, em, uh, em features for, for, for the sample. Okay. So that's backpropagation. And that's the,


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[Assistant] Thing whose discovery or rediscovery, uh, put neural nets on the map.


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[Assistant] Without, that's the key calculation of course, to find the gradient. In the steepest descent algorithm, every step needs a gradient.


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[Assistant] And, uh, if you can't compute it quickly, you're, you're in bad shape.


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[Assistant] So, but you can compute it quickly by this.


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[Assistant] Automatic differentiation in reverse mode.


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[Assistant] Which is otherwise known, those, I don't think the people, maybe Hinton was the first, was the leader in, in the, uh,


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[Assistant] In, in, in developing, uh, deep neural nets, deep learning.


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[Assistant] And he realized, so I give him big credit for that, that back propagation would work and would give him fast gradients.


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[Assistant] But it actually had been, uh, studied before, uh, under the name AD, Automatic Differentiation. So may I just tell you that idea? Uh, some of you may know it.


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[Assistant] May know about it, may know more than I, and might know good.


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[Assistant] A good website to see this description. Uh, there'll be, of course, a section of the book, of the notes. Uh, already, you, you, you already have it. Section, this is section 7.2.


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[Assistant] So this is the chapter on deep learning. And the first section was about the structure of f of x. And you remember the key point about the structure of f of x.


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[Assistant] Is that it would, I start with x and apply some function f1 of x.


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[Assistant] And to that I apply some function f2 of x. And to that I apply some function of f3, f3 of f2 of f1 of x. And that's the thing whose derivative I need.


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[Assistant] So I'll just take ordinary derivative, well, partial derivative is really because, yeaah, I better say partial derivative. So suppose x is a pair x, y.


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[Assistant] Let me show you by example. So suppose f of x.


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[Assistant] Is, let me take a simple example, x cubed times x plus 2y.


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[Assistant] So I want to think of that function the way anybody would as being built as the product of two functions.


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[Assistant] So there's a product rule to get into the derivative. And then we need the derivatives of each piece. So there's a power rule and a linear combination rule. So it's got a few of the rules that we use. And the point is to think about,


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[Assistant] The computation of f of x and the computation of df dx and the computation of df dy. Those are the derivatives that we need. This is the function we need.


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[Assistant] And, uh, how to do those computations quickly. Okay. So and this is section 7.2.


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[Assistant] Which I, uh, which benefited a lot from, uh, a blog.


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[Assistant] I'm not a blog reader or a blog writer, but, uh, somehow I found this blog, uh, so let me put


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[Assistant] Olwah is his name, and he really writes clear things.


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[Assistant] He contributes, he works for one of the big companies and does, you know, the...


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[Assistant] Deeper research, but he's also a really good expositor. And the website that he now uses is called distill dot something. But I think maybe this blog was


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[Assistant] Earlier, before the start of distill, but it might be loaded onto distill. Anyway, that's where I got this simple description of backpropagation. And let's just do calculus first of all.


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[Assistant] Uh, if I just have a function of maybe even one variable, what's the derivative? What is df dx here? Just to realize, just to remember what is, what calculation we have to do. So df dx, this is with n equal 1, one variable, so I'll


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[Assistant] Ordinary derivative and not partial derivative, but this is then what I


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[Assistant] That's what really has to be done. But just, what's the derivative of that, of a chain of functions? Well, of course, the chain rule.


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[Assistant] So what does the chain rule say? I differentiate F3.


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[Assistant] I don't know, what do I, what do I put that it's differentiated with respect to?


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[Assistant] F3, DF3, DF2, is that what I should put? Okay.


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[Assistant] And where do I evaluate that derivative? So, so, uh,


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[Assistant] Yeah, uh, I don't evaluate it at x, right? I'm different to depict f2, so do I evaluate it at f2 of f1 of x?


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[Assistant] This is where the chain rule gets, uh, sort of a little...


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[Assistant] Chaney, a little. Okay, then we know that df2, df1.


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[Assistant] And again, that's now evaluated at f1 of x. And then the final factor is df1 dx evaluated at x. That's somehow what we have to do. And that's just for an ordinary.


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[Assistant] One variable function, and I have here a two variable function, and deep learning has a million variable functions.


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[Assistant] So, let's, I think we won't go to a million, but two we could manage. So let's, uh, let's, let's compute those. Let's compute the function first of all. Compute f.


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[Assistant] And what do I- I'm gonna create a computational graph. So this is- to draw- so I'm actually gonna draw the computational graph.


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[Assistant] It'll be a variation of that graph to find the derivatives.


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[Assistant] It's x cubed plus, so can I write that function again? x cubed times x plus 2y.


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[Assistant] So I think we're going to, the first step will be to find x plus x cubed, that factor, which will be h.


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[Assistant] And we have to find the other factor, x plus 2y.


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[Assistant] So then I'm going to, that uses y and x, so these are, it's a directed graph.


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[Assistant] Going forward with this computation. So x plus 2y equals whatever it is. 2 and 6, oh 8 again, not brilliant. Uh, what shall I change here? Make it 3y.


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[Assistant] Just to get a different number here. So now x is 2, y is 3, I get 11. That's a good number.


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[Assistant] And now the next step on this graph will be to have a product of those. So that will go to the product.


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[Assistant] F equals 8 times 11, 88.


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[Assistant] Okay, so we got the answer 88. Which you, which math, normally I wouldn't take that much of a


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[Assistant] Compute f, I would have said 2 cubed times 2 plus 3 times 3, and I'd have simplified that to 8 times 11, and I would have got 88.


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[Assistant] So if we were just writing normally, that would do it, but this is the picture of the computational graph. Okay, good, good, good. Now it's the derivatives.


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[Assistant] Two derivatives to find, df dx and df dy. Suppose we go forward first.


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[Assistant] My point is going to be, or the great point is that backward is better. Reverse mode is better.


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[Assistant] But we don't know what that means until we've gone forward. So let me go forward. So now I'm gonna go forward.


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[Assistant] So what are we, let's do df dx, okay.


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[Assistant] Everybody's up for df dx, the partial derivative with respect to x. So here we have, uh, x equal 2.


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[Assistant] And, uh, then I've got to figure, I take the derivative of that step. The first step was x to x cubed. So I need the derivative. The whole point of AD is that the computation, every computation of a derivative breaks down like this into very simple pieces. And, uh,


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[Assistant] Derivatives of those simple pieces are also simple pieces. So the whole point is to break


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[Assistant] To replace appropriately the, those, those intermediate steps with derivatives, so, so as to compute the x derivative. So, so I have to use the fact that the,


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[Assistant] Derivative of x cubed with respect to x. Oh, I better do partial derivative. Partial derivatives of x cubed with respect to x is 3x squared. So now I'll, I'm sorry, I'll put maybe a formula and then a number. So that gives.


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[Assistant] Uh, that gives 3 times 4, 12.


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[Assistant] And the derivative of x cubed with respect to y gives zero. Clearly. That's zero. And then the


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[Assistant] Derivative, so I'm doing the x derivative. So the derivative of y with respect to x is, you get to tell me, if I'm, if I'm computing partial derivatives, is 0, is 0. y and x are independent. And that's, this is the reason in my view that the forward method is, is wasteful.


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[Assistant] Because I'm going to have to do another whole graph for the y derivative.


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[Assistant] In other words, tracking the, tracking the x derivatives


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[Assistant] A whole lot of stuff never got off the ground. So we never should have looked at it.


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[Assistant] So maybe, I don't know whether to erase that, I think I will, just because I don't know what to do with it there.


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[Assistant] So now, now let me take the ones that I really need. Uh, is the derivative with respect to x of x plus 3y, which is 1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so that gives me the answer 1 for any x, actually. Okay. And now what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh I, yeaah, I'm really, I don't need these. This is a waste of time. Isn't it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is it only x derivatives I want? Anyway, let's just keep going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can see this takes a little organization and I'm not practiced with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what am I going to do? I'm looking for the x derivative of, I've got to use a product rule now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I found the x derivative of that factor was 12. The x derivative of this factor is 1. And now the x derivative of the product. So now I'm going to do a somehow product rule. The x derivative of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, this product, I should have given these two terms a name. Let me call...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me call that first term x cubed and the second term x plus 3y. Call it f.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'll call the two terms C and S. So I now need to get, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I now need to get, so that's dc ds. This is dc dx, right? This is dc dx.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this one is the SDX.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the cdy, do I need to know that? I'm sorry, this computational graph has thrown me. But now, now I want to use the product rule. And I'm taking x derivatives, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I should have computed C and S, haha.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I see I've got to need those in the product rule. So I should have computed C as being 8.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I needed the eight and the, oh, is that our, is that, what's up? I've, I've just been running along here without getting myself in the whole picture.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, 8 and 11 is right, but now I'm looking for the derivatives. Right, so I don't multiply those, that's not the product rule.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] S times, so, so this product rule, I should, I have to do this combination of, this is now the product rule.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Plus s dc dx. I think I'm on track now. And now I want to put in numbers. So c is 8.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The SDX, have we computed the SDX? Yes, the SDX is 1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And now s itself is computed as 11. And dc dx, we compute it as 12. I don't dare look. Have I, am I, am I?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think I'm gonna get- Oh no, I don't know the answer yet. Sorry, I'm not trying to get 88, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You see I'm in trouble, but what I, what I imagine here is that's 8 and that's 132, so I'm getting 140.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ha! Is there any possibility that that's the right answer? For D, for D.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, you, by watching me struggle here, you're seeing the, the idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, every step, I take the derivative of each step, so it was a power step, x cubed, so I had a 3x squared, and a sum step, so I had a 1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then I, the next step was a multiplication, so I needed the product rule for that. I, I have these separate numbers, so I put them in. And, uh, so it's a, the computational graph finished.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We only needed two levels, and we got eight and a hundred and thirty-two hundred and forty. Okay. But we didn't get dfdy. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wanna do that? I would rather do the reverse mode.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And do them both at once. That's the point of the reverse mode. It's very efficient. It's very efficient, actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Computing the gradient after you've done the work for the function.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Computing first derivatives, you could compute AND first derivatives.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With about, like, four or five times the cost, not n time. That's amazing to me. That is amazing. That I can compute the gradient very efficiently.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By, by the back prop. So I have to, have to show you the backwards way. But, uh, so I'm just, yeaah, just, uh,