Photoessay #853 - Redwoods and Calculus

Often as our family members (particularly our children) experience important events, we think back to our own similar experiences. Somebody buys and house or has a baby and we're right back there in our memories.

Naomi struggles a bit at WSU academically. Her classes require a lot of reading and writing and she doesn't always score that high. I know she's working hard. Yay for Naomi for going to see the TA about a history paper she wrote and moved the score up ten percentage points.

I remember UCSC and my own struggles. The students there at that time (1970-1974) were extremely bright, even brilliant and the academic standards very high. Not always easy for me to hit even the mid-point despite my high grades, test scores and general intelligence. Papers for everything and not enough for it to be on time and cover the assignment, your arguments had to be finely constructed and your conclusions clear. They were generally compared to published papers of that time. And people though Pass/Fail/Evaluation was easier???!!! No way!

I took Honors Calculus when I got there. What WAS I thinking? Generally my math skills were excellent. So so hard, nothing applied, no numbers, no problem sets, it was all theoretical mathematical philosophy. Yikes. Priscilla would patiently tutor me. What a nightmare for me and my notion of myself. I had that book until just a few years ago. Finally I thought, what am I keeping this for???

I grew up in the semi-arid Sacramento Valley. I longed for greenery. (Why do you think I live in the Pacific Northwest). When I went there, I thought the UCSC campus with it's green hills overlooking Monterrey Bay and the thick lush redwood forest behind, the most beautiful place in the world. Still do. I never became indifferent to the landscape, I loved and appreciated it every day I was there.

OK, Sandy, pull this together, would you?

A phenomena in the fall at UCSC especially at Crown College (where I was, the college with the science emphasis). The evening after the first Calculus midterm, distraught freshmen would wander alone among the redwoods, mumbling and wondering, trying to console themselves regarding this first midterm that they surely failed. Part of the Crown College experience. And, somehow, we didn't worry a bit about walking around alone in large tracts of forest. I did it, guess I still do. I remember one evening when I was a senior, I met my beloved cousin Mark (also at Crown) wandering unhappily in the woods. Wait a minute, I thought, is this the night of the first calculus midterm. Sure enough it was.

Naomi, you'll make it!!!!