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November 7, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR KRIS MOODY
IN NH
Perhaps others might have suggestions for occupations that
combine
different skills and passions. What I want to say is, never
forget that
your life is a collection of connections. You may have hobbies
or other
experiences that are not at all related to your professional
life, yet fill
important needs for you. Perhaps you will choose a career
that is math
oriented, but you will be the newsletter editor for some non-profit
volunteer work you do outside of your job. Or maybe you'll
work in a
career that concentrates on your writing skills, but you volunteer
as
treasurer for some group or organization. Maybe you'll help
out at a
school, club or in a town office, or maybe you'll even run
for a political
office. There are so many pieces of our lifes that are woven
together. I
think that most of us have many different skills and loves,
and the more we
are able to tap into these different pieces of ourselves,
the richer our
lives are and the more we are able to share with others. And
I think we
are happier too. So don't stress out too much about having
to give up one
thing for another. You don't have to give up on anything.
There is always
a way to do the things you love to do.
**********
November 7, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN
RI
There are a few opportunities to write "creatively"
about math - I'm
thinking of Martin Gardner's work, Douglas Hofstadter's "Goedel,
Escher, Bach", the column in Scientific American. But
math is
fundamental to so many sciences that your interest in in math
can
lead you in many, many directions. And you can write about
any of
those, too. You might become a scientist and write research
articles, or a science writer for newspaper or magazines.
Or you
might incorporate math and science, or the doings of mathematicians
and scientists, into your novels. "Flatland" by
Edward Abbott,
writing under the pseudonym "A. Square", is a tale
about math;
"Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman, a physicist,
plays with how the
world would be if time were different (and I see that as rather
a
mathematical concept). It's hard to say to you, "Go be
as original
as these authors - there's your career!" But to write
you must write
_about_ something, and you'd better be interested in that
something.
If math interests you, you can work it into your writing in
ways that
will interest your readers. I've already expressed my admiration
for
John McPhee's books about geology and geologists - why not
math as
your subject?
Searching on "math poetry" turned up quite a lot,
including this
anthology: http://kate.stange.com/mathweb/mathpoet.html
including
these lines from Carl Sandburg:
"If you ask your mother for one fried egg for breakfast
and she gives
you two fried eggs
and you eat both of them, who is better in arithmetic, you
or your mother?"
Now, what does it really mean to combine math and writing?
:-)
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