January 8 Day 306: What’s Missing?

It’s the end of day three of the Joint Mathematics Meeting. There have been inspiring talks, earnest discussions, fond remembrances, and vulnerable honesty. But the fatigue is real. Conference fatigue + zoom fatigue + emotional fatigue and I am ready to return home.

No wait, I’m already there. And that’s what’s missing.

We have reached the point of the conference where I just want to hang out with my friends in the lobby (or a restaurant or the exhibit hall) and genuinely reconnect. Gosh, I miss everyone.

Cover image is a selfie by Joyati Debnath with Carol Schumacher, Lisa Driskell, Audrey Malagon, Hortensia Soto, Art Benjamin, Su Doree, and me—just hanging out before the start of Francis Su’s address at MathFest 2017.

Published by Jenny Quinn

Mathematician. Mother. Wife. Leader. I am the Executive Director of Seattle Universal Math Museum after many years working as a professor of mathematics at the University of Washington Tacoma. Mother of Anson and Zachary. Wife to Mark. President of the Mathematical Association of America 2021-2022. Past-President of MAA 2023.

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