"Inspiration comes in moments of red wine andpoetry," Brown muses, "but the actual productionand the actual process of getting things done iscentered around the incredible and meaningfulsupport of family and close friends."

Brown, Known affectionately as"Winnie-some-Bum" within her family, has amazedrelatives with a continuing string of successesdating back to adolescence.

"I most admire her perseverance," Nicholassays. "She battles through anything--if she setsher mind on something, you can bet she'll get it."

He particularly remembers a time when Winsomebet their father that, even though it was only hersecond time debating , she would win the regionaltournament. True to her prediction, she won.

"Most everything she's striven for, she'sgotten," Nicholas adds. "At university, forexample, every single play she's wanted to getinto, she's got. She's wanted to get into, she'sgot. She's never had one loss."

Yet Brown herself believes she has had oneloss, or, at least, one experience with failure.She deferred Harvard for a year, opting instead tolive at home and try her hand at writing Butinstead of brandishing her pen, she found herself"busy having lunch with Mum, reading books, andcooking." She ultimately went to France thatSpring to spend a semester studying in Cognac.

The experience for Brown turned out to be apositive one coming as it did after a series ofsuccesses in high school." I found out early inlife what it was like to fail," she saysmatter-of-factly. "It was a very human experience,and very good for coming to Harvard--I couldappreciate the privilege of being in a universitysetting."

Still, family and friends reject the notionthat Brown could ever fail, citing not only herprodigious talents as both an academic and anactor, but also, her compassionate personality.

"She has the ability to make people put theirguns down, convince them that she's worthy oftheir trust," says Mark Z. Sourian '95, a closefriend of Brown's for the past two years. "Itcomes across in her acting or even just in herreadings of poetry--her honest, genuine spirit. Ithink that in our culture, it's harder for a womanto be as funny as a man, yet Winsome is one of thefew women I know who truly manages to carry itoff."

Brown hopes to carry her sense of humor andflare for comedy into her professional life,eventually starting her own T.V. show. There, asshe describes it, "I can entertain, have a bit offun, and provide a bit of wisdom."

But she is also philosophical about what thefuture holds, stressing that her ultimate goal iswhat she has strived for throughout her collegeyears--"to try to figure out what good is, and tryto do it." And for more than just emotingmonologues from plays or lines from poems. Itmeans being with people.

"I read philosophy, literature and history,"she says, "and there's no doubt that all threehave deep meaning. But while it's sometimesalluring to live life according to books, I try todefine myself as someone who exists and tries todo good with what she's been given.

"It's the people around you who are your life,"she continues," And that's what I am, really--aperson of people.