eling the united states this summer getting advice from people we feel to be really influential. (female #1) i need to focus on the broader life philosophy. (female #2) i'm just hoping to find something that clicks with me. (male #1) i've had a strong interest in politics, but i feel like i have no idea what i'm doing. (barney) most of us, by the time we're 35, have made two or three career decisions. you can experiment, you can try out. (female announcer) state farm has made it possible for this documentary series to be shared on public television stations across the country. roadtrip nation would like to sincerely thank our friends at state farm for helping a nation of young people define their own roads in life. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. (female announcer) roadtrip nation would also like to thank the college board for supporting this series.

the college board: connect to college success. (male announcer) roadtrip nation is also made possible by at&t: helping connect students to success in school, in the workforce, and in life. (female narrator) everywhere you turn, people try to tell you who to be and what to do, but what about deciding for yourself? roadtrip nation is a movement that empowers people to define their own roads in life. this past summer, teams of roadtrippers crossed the country, hoping to gain insight into their lives. on the road, they met all kinds of interesting people to learn how they found their way. this is roadtrip nation. ♪ (liz) oh gosh...it feels like i've been gone at least a month and a half.

(liz) we're doing so much, and there are so many new experiences. the time thing's just... [makes baffled sound] (female #2) somewhere over there... the tree's right in my way. (liz) [excited] oh, i see it! (female #2) right now the trip is this perfect balance of being happy and comfortable, and struggling and being uncomfortable. it's like being happy and getting all these rewards and it's just the only time that i've had that. ♪ (male #1) i would love to be a congressman or a politician, but i do have concerns that that's just not my personality. (aaron) i am real sensitive to a lot of things so that is why

i want to know who they are and what they deal with, or if they really are tough-skinned and not bothered by stuff that other people say. (aaron) when we went to meet barney frank, it was the last day of voting in the house for the health care bill, so it was hectic. we came in and we just started talking about how we're on a fun road trip to discover ourselves. and i think the feelings collided from how he was feeling, and how we were feeling, and i don't think the timing was right. alright you're the new group, okay. i'll be with you in a second. ♪ nice to meet you, i'm autumn. i'm aaron. i'm liz, nice to meet you.

hi. (aaron) thank you so much for taking the time. the purpose of why we're here is we're traveling with a show called roadtrip nation. we can start off with explaining each of our stories. my name is aaron-- you're explaining them to me? why would i want to know them? i don't mean to be rude... you mean the kids listening want to know them? yeah, it's a good question. we'll tell our stories, then get an idea of your story and the choices you've made to get where you're at. (aaron) i graduated two years ago with a degree in marketing. i got a job right away and i hated it in two months. in the meantime, i volunteered for the obama campaign and realized that i had a strong interest in politics, but i feel like i have no idea what i'm doing. and i didn't go to school for it...i know very little. did you know that politics was something you wanted to do? yeah. exactly when i was 24. i was in mississippi. there was something called the mississippi freedom summer.

mississippi in 1964 was hardly part of america if you were black; it was an awful, brutal, repressive place... you couldn't vote... they found that if white people were mistreated the way black people were, the rest of america paid attention in ways they didn't when the black people were, so they asked for some volunteers. a couple hundred of us went down. then i went back to graduate school and realized i didn't have the temperament to be a professor. i have a very short attention span. a short attention span is an asset if you're in politics, because you have to switch gears all the time. a short attention span is not helpful in writing a ph.d. thesis. (autumn) out of the years you've been working in politics, what do you consider your biggest successes and what do-- there's no way to talk about that without sounding very boastful, so i can't do that. [laughter] (liz) so what was it that got you into politics in the first place. i don't know. how do you know that? by high school, politics had interested me,

and i knew i wanted to be involved. but i never thought i could ever be elected myself. first, because i'm jewish. when i graduated from high school in 1957, anti-semitism was a factor in my career choices. but i'm also gay, and i knew that when i was 13. so i thought my chances of getting elected were nil. (aaron) it's funny, i'm gay as well, and we're all from montana, and i really want to make a jump into politics, ontana-- um, it's probably the case that montana isn't ready. more and more places are, and i would say to you about jumping into politics: learn what your traits are, and to the sense that you can go to places where your traits are weaknesses... stay away from them, and where they're strengths, go there. also, since there are many more people who are perfectly capable of being elected officials than there are spots, don't count on winning.

move somewhere and have a job you like doing while you're not winning, and then meet as many people as you can. meet people in clubs, meet people in organizations... but it means ingratiating yourself with local people. (aaron) so since you spent over 25 years of your life in politics, is there anything you've had to give up that you were passionate about, or considered going into? probably 42...years; i started in 1967. um...give me the question again. yeah, um, what do you feel you've had to give up? my free time to some extent; i don't see my family as much. i've had to give up my privacy; people know how much money i make. and recently i've become very busy, and the problem is i can't read anything just because i want to. i have to read things that i have to learn that are very complicated and very boring.

what advice could you give for someone who's interested in getting into politics, but finds that they really don't have that thick of skin? that they may be more on the safe side... don't run yourself; find other people to help. find an advisor role. (autumn) how do you personally deal with criticism or anything like that? you get somewhat used to it. if it's really unjustified, you get angry about it. but if there are people you've never met who think badly of you, you just have to get over it. what would you give as more general advice to kids that are in similar situations we're in? ...just getting out of college and unsure. do not think that what you are now deciding is what you have to do for the rest of your life. don't overload the decision's importance. most of us, by the time we're 35, have made two or three career decisions. there is a tendency to put too much weight into it. you're not making a decision that's going to bind you for the next 75 years. you can experiment,

you can try out. that's the major one. (liz) is there a certain thing that keeps you going for the past 42 years? well, now it's a sense of obligation. i'm tired, and i think about... it'd be nice to have some free time, and not have to read a lot of stuff i don't care about. but i have this chairmanship-- it's an important time for the country. i'm in the middle of stuff, and i just can't walk away from it. i'm getting old and tired, and i'm working too hard. this would have been a great job 20 years ago, when i was 50 years old. it's a lot of work now. (aaron) that was hard! (aaron) that was the hardest interview, i think. he didn't deter my idea of going into politics at all, but i guess i didn't get enough of the story and the struggle, and him coming out. and i didn't get enough of that to feel the connection.

maybe that's a good thing; maybe it isn't that big of a deal. i just don't think it was the right time for him, i guess, to be talking. (liz) i think for aaron, he's gotten the realization that if he's passionate in politics, why not go down that? if it doesn't work, that's okay. "i'll go and follow this other thing i'm interested in." (liz) to look at it more as a learning experience, a life experience, as opposed to failure after failure. (aaron) it's humid in virginia. (autumn) hey, aaron? do you know if we're talking to one girl or the whole team, or a few? (aaron) we don't know. (aaron) we're going to interview the dominion derby girls. roller derby isn'tn) something we get in missoula, montana.w. we're about to start scrimmaging, so you're just in time; we just broke off into teams.

[whistle blows] (pretty skate machine) come on guys! go, go! (pretty skate machine) roadtrip nation has arrived! (aaron) we're here. (aaron) thanks for having us. hi, i'm autumn. (pretty skate machine) hey! get with it! the back of the freaking pack... (pretty skate machine) you should be behind her! (female #3) i heard a few years ago about roller derby, and i kind of remembered it from being little and seeing it on tv in the 80s. and all i remembered was it was girls on skates who hit people, and the thought of roller skating and hitting people really excited me. (aaron) were you guys afraid of jumping into roller derby not having any experience, or experience years and years ago? oh yeah. i was the girl that was scared; holding onto the rink wall when no one was trying to hit me.

it was a little scary at first; i was afraid to fall. (margaret) we're programmed as kids to be afraid of falling. "don't fall!" and as soon as a child falls, the parent snatches them up... "don't fall! oh my god!" here, you better be well within your comfort zone to fall. (pretty skate machine) go, go! (aaron) oh! (heather) the first big wipeout i had... "i'm alright, everything is intact, "nothing's broken, nothing's hurt... i'm going to be alright." after that first big hit and fall i was fine. i tell these girls that, too. these new girls get so upset with themselves if they can't keep up with the pack. and i go, "i was you! i was you. i couldn't stand, and i'm older than you" i started when i was 30. if you really want it, you're going to do it. you have to want it that bad, and know it just takes time. (aaron) she was referring solely to roller derby,

but i kept thinking, "that's so life...that's life." (autumn) the times that i've not followed through with things it's because i start to think about what other people are going to think about it. (autumn) "you can't be afraid of falling" is the same as saying you can't be afraid of failing. oh! (autumn) okay, we bought food at one point, and we stuffed our fridge full of it. and then one day our fridge stopped working. so we're cleaning it out! (autumn) ohh! (aaron) go as quick as you can. (liz) faster! (liz) look at that hot dog right there. (aaron) that's squash! that's not a hot dog! (liz) that's not squash! ew! (autumn) before going on the roadtrip, part of me was like, "i just want to stay at home," because that's where i'm comfortable, and that's what i enjoy.

so it's funny now to think of...every single part of it, day to day, pushes me and makes me realize i'm glad i did it. ♪ (autumn) we are in new york, ny! ♪ (autumn) no, i've never been in massive chaos city, so when i see a real skyscraper apparently i'm going to be blown away. (autumn) wow! (liz) we're meeting with liz mandarano today. she was a lawyer for nine years, and now she's teaching yoga. there's definitely people we can learn from that'll have

broader life advice for us, and i think for me that's what i need to focus on more, is the broader life philosophy. (aaron) i think i see it. (liz) is it open? (liz) i think we can just go up, can't we? ♪ (autumn) never in my life could i do that. hi, i'm liz. nice to meet you. i'm aaron. nice to meet you. ♪ (liz m.) i was a french major; i went to rutgers college. there isn't a lot you can do with a french major in life. i graduated college in 1992, and that was during a pretty nasty recession. i did what a lot of people do during hard times, which is, "well, i'll just go to graduate school."

and i ended up picking law school. i was too mature; i didn't even think about the repercussions of the loans, or did i want to be a lawyer? or what being a lawyer was like. you go to a law school or a medical school, your parents will be proud of you; it's simple as that. i thought about dropping out after a year, and i'm not a quote unquote "quitter," and my ego got in the way, and i kept going and kept accumulating debt, which, i don't know if you guys have, but it's-- [laughing] uh-huh, i see the looks on your face: "i get it, i get it, i get it." i did a brief stint in dc, and then i worked for the same firm for seven years. i can't say it was a bad experience because i was around people that i got along with. so everything you hear about that type of lifestyle as being just heinous, was not relevant to me, and i was not happy. if you're not happy

under those circumstances, you've got to take a step back and ask yourself, "well, what's going on here?" when i started at that firm in '98 there was this woman there who was in her forties and she had that yoga look: she had the slender, healthy, happy, you know...zen look. but i asked her what she was doing, and she said, "i do yoga." so i started doing yoga about once a week, and i did that for six months. then i started twice a week, and after a year it was three times a week, and after two years it was four times a week, and it just became very much a part of my life, and i really felt peaceful. i was at dinner with two of my friends, and i was chatting about this concept i had, and one of them just looked at me and said, "you should open a yoga studio." and that was may of 2005, and this place was open september of 2005. it was as if the second she said it, i had to do it.

and i hadn't even thought of it... and i'm being honest with you, i hadn't thought of it for a second before she said it, but the minute she said it, i had to do it. i've never been happier in my life. and i remember saying to myself, "savor this, because it's not going to happen again." [laughing] it's just not going to. so that's how i ended up here. (liz) so when you decided to start the studio, what fears or apprehensions did you have? i had none. [laughing] i had none. i had absolutely not one. i was just so elated, and that's why i said: "savor it." i knew. i would walk into a deli, and i'm a typical new yorker: i don't say hi to anybody... i'm not friendly... i'd be like, "hi! how are you?" because i was just so happy. and since i was a lawyer, i wasn't like i was carrying around this book of business. as a yoga teacher, i had nobody. so we opened up and this place was empty.

the first couple of months we'd just be sitting around doing absolutely nothing. maybe, like, one student would come in. if we had four students in a class we'd be like, "wow! that's great!" [laughter] but no fears, and that's how i knew it was the right thing. you can't regret something when you feel that way about it. so now it's four years later, and it's pretty cool. and having the baby two months ago was the first time i've been away from teaching for more than a week, and i missed it so much. and i'm going to be honest with you: this place has been open for four years, but with this recession i'm like any other small business... i'm suffering. so i don't know if, down the road, the place will survive in this kind of climate. but the one thing i'll say to you is that if it does fail, i won't regret it...that i know. i'm so envious of you.

you just seem almost fearless when you jump into anything. i think that's really rare. uh, yeah. i actually... i'm known to jump. and i will say something else about that, and i'm going to give you some more background about the baby because it's relevant to this. i think people like you when they sense an honesty in what your decisions are. for example, when i did make the decision to have the child... had i been a lawyer, i would have had all the time in the world. as a business owner, especially as a woman, you don't have a lot of time. and i found it very hard to develop a relationship with any guy who didn't complain to me: "you never have time to see me." so it's been really hard to develop a relationship, but at the same time, i'll be 39 in two weeks,

and i said, "it's going to be now or never, and i don't want to rush a relationship." and i don't know if you know people who have, but i certainly do, and i didn't want that. so i used a donor to have the baby. i sat down my friends and i said, "is this a crazy idea?" and nobody thought it was crazy. i was surprised at how many people came into my office and asked me how it felt to do what i was doing... and kind of on the side said to me, "i've always had this dream or that dream." and that's another example, i don't care if it's professional or personal, where you think that people would think you're insane for making the decision you made and not be able to relate to you as much if you quote unquote deviate from whatever the norm or the standard is, but i have found that to be completely the opposite. i do think that you should do what you feel is right for yourself.

(aaron) in a lot of ways she's like the person i want to be. she's so fearless. she's made so many decisions that she just was like, "i know that's what i wanted to do and i did it, and i didn't care." (liz m.) one of the virtues i like best is courage. i don't think it's valued that much anymore. i'd rather fail and do what i think is right for me than not do anything, or do what i think is safe, which isn't necessarily safe in the end. (aaron) we've seen so many times that these people did jump into something completely different, or they did pick up and leave home, or they did quit their job and almost live in their car, and they're totally fine, and they're better people. so when you see that over and over again, you really feel like, "yeah, i know that everything

will be okay and i'll be happier." ♪ ♪ (female announcer) roadtrip nation extends beyond the program you just watched. it's a movement that includes students creating their own roadtrip experiences. here's a quick snapshot of the movement in the classroom. (female #4) the place i grew up in...it was tough, you know? it's the bronx. [laughs] no one's pushed me to be, like... "oh, be a doctor, be a lawyer... you need to go to college." (ashley) i'm at a point where i'm confused and worrying about where i'm going to be and what i'm going to do. (male #2) in yonkers, our children are very insulated. we live eight miles from the greatest city in the world; the kids had never been south of 121st street. (aleyde) we're in washington, dc... finally!

(ashley) today we're interviewing arne duncan. (kaitlynn) he's the secretary of education for the united states of america. i am so nervous, and i don't think i've everr been this excited before. (ashley) did anyone doubt you in your process of trying to become the secretary of education? oh sure, you have people doubt you all the time. people are going to doubt you all your life, and people are going to continue to doubt you today, and people doubted the president every step along his path. the question is: do you let those doubts stop you? i think it's so important that you not let those external doubts become self-doubts, and in fact use that as motivation to work harder, and do better, and to prove people wrong. so how's this whole roadtrip nation thing been? it's been good? this is such an awesome experience. (aleyde) i'm always going o cherish this in my heart. (autumn) we are in new york, ny! (autumn) gosh...we could do anything our little hearts desired. (aaron) i feel surprised that it's over in a few days.

(liz) it's still kind of scary... thinking of making that leap. (zee) it's a huge roller-coaster ride. there'll be high times, low times, happy times, sad times... and you just have to hang on. (nathan) i've found that if you step out, you'll hit rock. you'll be able to keep walking; there's always something to catch you. (female announcer) to watch more interviews from the road and listen to the music that keeps us driving, visit www.roadtripnation.com. online you can learn more about the movement and how to bring the experience into your classroom. ♪ ♪

(female announcer) state farm has made it possible for this documentary series to be shared on public television stations across the country. roadtrip nation would like to sincerely thank our friends at state farm for helping a nation of young people define their own roads in life. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. (female announcer) roadtrip nation would also like to thank the college board for supporting this series. the college board: connect to college success. roadtrip nation is also made possible by at&t: helping connect students to success in school, in the workforce, and in life.