Posted July 12, 2006 at 7:46 AM | Tagged as: Computing, Meeeeeeee, Quotations, Technology, Women! | Comments Off
I am a geek, a computer nerd, a technologist, a computer scientist. Since a young age, I’ve been good at tinkering with mechanical and electrical things. I always loved math and computers, writing programs, playing games, and helping people achieve their goals through the use of technology.
I was good at other things too, and when people discouraged me from pursuing my interests in math, science, and technology, I focused on those other things. But, thanks to a liberal arts education (in which I realized my true strengths) and good people who helped reignite my interest in computers, I eventually came back to technology, and have made a career of my passion.
In 2003, just 29 percent of Computer Scientists were female. As Katha Pollitt (and many other feminists) would have me say, my presence here is a victory for the women’s movement!
I will not be scared away by statistics of dwindling numbers of women in the field, or by sluggish job prospects. I will not be intimidated by men in the field, nor will I be swayed by “opt-out feminists” who would want me to believe that my true calling is in the home by my husband’s side. Many women have gone before me, and I will seek to include more young girls and women in the field, and to support them as they traverse this rough and bumpy road.
Posted August 22, 2005 at 1:31 AM | Tagged as: Quotations | Just 1 Comment
Thanks to Molly for sending me this quotation:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- Nelson Mandela
Posted June 6, 2005 at 11:32 PM | Tagged as: Books, Meeeeeeee, Philly, Quotations | Comments Off
From The Philadelphian by Richard Powell, 1956:
They even took one weekend trip to Washington, D.C., which was where they had moved the national government after Philadelphia had started it going properly between 1790 and 1800. A lot of people from all over the country were taking history trips that summer. Some of them certainly didn’t know much about Philadelphia.
Like the woman who came up to them outside the Capitol in Washington and said, “Hello, folks. I’m from Ohio. I see by your license that you folks are from Pennsylvania.”
Anthothy said quickly, before his grandmother or mother could reply, “Oh no, we’re from Philadelphia.”
The woman looked puzzled and said, “They haven’t moved it from Pennsylvania, have they?”
His mother and grandmother laughed politely, so the woman wouldn’t feel badly about being ignorant, because of course Philadelphia was in Pennsylvania, but you weren’t from Pennsylvania, you were from Philadelphia. He guessed maybe out in Ohio there were no important places to be from, so you have to be from Ohio.
The book dedication reads: For Marian, who didn’t understand Philadelphia.
