Thoughts and Interesting Stories---Jeff Clark

I have been a member of the Mathematical Association of America for 48 years. They hold a national conference called MathFest every August; this year it was in Boston. There are still events going this afternoon but I have a dinner with my brother-in-law tonight and a 1:30 AM wake-up time for an early flight tomorrow so I'm resting/napping this afternoon a bit. In my youth I was overly burdened with nervous energy and thought little of all-nighters for work, seeing friends, etc. But now I am about to turn 65 and one seventh of the planet's occupants are sending me mailers about Medicare Supplemental insurance plans and things are different. So I've changed over the decades of attending these events.  Some of the changes make me more grateful for the conference and the ongoing work of the MAA throughout the year. When I was younger I focused more on mathematical talks and avoided a lot of organization-related sessions for fear of boredom. Now that I am older and have a bette...

MathFest is this week in Boston. I've done a lot of work getting ready for classes beforehand hoping not to be too frenetic when I return. I have wonderful memories of MathFest and the Joint Mathematics Meetings over the decades and so there is a confidence that the time will be well-spent being challenged in the company of friends. One of my university roommates went to MIT for grad school and so between visiting him in the previous millennium and my brother-in-law and his family in a suburb of Boston, I have confidence that I will enjoy Boston, especially outside of its 11 winter months. As always it is a bit hard to focus on the here and now as the logistics of travel (flight schedules, hotel booking, compensation paperwork for the trip) take residence in my mind. I don't really unclench even after all these years until I am unpacked in my hotel room and feel free to explore. I am not as ambulatory as I was when I started my career, both in terms of stamina and in having two...