Biography celebrity liz murray homeless to harvard
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From homelessness to Harvard: How the daughter of drug addicts turned her life around
Growing up with drug-addict parents, Liz Murray’s education soon suffered. But after a stint living on the streets as a teen, she turned her life around, resumed her studies – and secured a place at one of the world’s elite universities
Liz Murray today. Despite her tough upbringing she became a straight-A student
I was three years old when I first realised that my mother and father shared strange habits. They would retreat into the kitchen of our New York apartment and spread spoons and other objects across the table while communicating in quick, urgent commands. I was not supposed to bother them, but I watched from the hallway.
Water was needed – just a few drops from the tap – and so were shoelaces and belts. Then, at the very last minute, they would shut the door, blocking my view entirely.
One evening, when the door was closed on me again, I didn’t budge but sat and w
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Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story
2003 television film by Peter Levin
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story is an American biographicaldramatelevision film directed by Peter Levin.[3] The film premiered on Lifetime on April 7, 2003, and received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Thora Birch.[4]
Plot
[edit]Liz Murray is one of two daughters of an extremely dysfunctional Bronx family. Her father watches Jeopardy! and knows all the questions. Their bathtub does not drain, so she has to shower while standing on an overturned bucket, to stay out of the fetid vatten.
As a young girl, Murray lives with her sister Lisa, their drug-addicted, schizophrenic mother jean, who has AIDS and fryst vatten practically blind, and their father Peter, also a drug addict who is intelligent, but also has AIDS, lacks social skills, and is not conscientious.
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Liz Murray
Elizabeth “Liz” Murray was born in the Bronx, New York to poor and drug-addicted parents, both of whom would later contract HIV. Some of her earliest memories are of her parents spending their welfare payments on cocaine and heroin when she and her sister were starving.
When her father failed to pay the rent on their flat and moved to a homeless shelter, Liz was out on the streets. During this time, her mother succumbed to AIDS. “I saw her die without fulfilling her dreams and I knew that my time was now or maybe never,” she says. She decided go to high school, even though she was still homeless.
After many rejections, she finally opted for an “alternative” high school – graduating in two years. She did a year’s work a term and went to night classes. A teacher saw her gumption and mentored her. She was awarded a New York Times scholarship for needy students and was accepted into Harvard University, matriculating in the fall s