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MathFest 2026

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 better sense of how things work my priorities have reversed.

At this morning's Business Meeting our outgoing Executive Director reviewed our mission and values statements, pointed out specifically Trump's policies oppose them, and specific activities the association was doing to defend them. It is heartening to hear people address values and how we act on them in a communal setting. I enjoy some of that at my university but the MAA takes it so much more seriously (espousing values and actions) that I want to encourage my university to do better. Since I am faculty ombudsperson sometimes I have opportunities to do so.

When I was younger I was very very very (did I say very) nervous giving talks. Now I'm not. That comes from the experience of realizing how much the content that I value is valued by others, the experience of adjusting my metrics to draw satisfaction from clarity in sharing the content with others no matter how many or how view, and some of it is the self-confidence that has accrued with me from doing it well for a while now.

When I was young and overburdened with nervous energy I loved to explore. I'd get up a couple of hours early each day just to explore a different section near the convention, see where stores and promising restaurants were, get a sense of the character of the neighborhood (which is never representative of the city as a whole but does vary from city to city). I took pictures of everything. When I had gaps I'd ride the bus/subway to see things far from the hotel that I thought I might like; I found that I do love seeing each city's art museums. For other meetings in January I'd try to get to a symphony concert but there aren't ever any in August.

When I was young I didn't recognize many folk, but of course I do now. That has been the thing that I enjoy the most in being older, feeling more of the community of folk I've worked with over the years.

Physically travel gets harder for me every year, and my university's travel budget grows less and less supportive each year. I used to go to more things but I am cutting back as I grow older, with sadness. I am really going to miss this stuff in retirement, and will only attend things near me that I can get to on my own dime.

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