The voices in my head

This is a Thinking post. I have been Thinking. I have been Thinking about Something. Thinking is a disease. When there is Something on your mind, the people around you will almost definitely hear about it. They may catch it and begin Thinking as well. I am currently very contagious.

The topic of the day is Culture, Mythology, and the Voices in my Head.

Today, while looking for something entirely different, I stumbled upon an article entitled "The sexual politics of genius," by Moon Duchin, a mathematician now at the University of Michigan. You can do a google search for it (put the phrase in parentheses) and you'll get it in its entirety. It's a bit long, but I found it to be a very interesting read. The article argues quite compellingly that the isolated genius in the ivory tower is a myth. Not only that, but a very masculine myth. I can't do the article justice in these few sentences, so I encourage you to look it up. Go look it up.

I am not a genius. I have never been a genius. I will never be a genius. It would be convenient to be a genius, except for the bit about having to be male, but I don't aspire to that (unless, of course, I'm having a lot of bad migraines). Instead, I want to make my subject accessible to all people, so that everyone can play the games with those who want others to call them "genius". When everyone is allowed to play, the rules change a bit.

And speaking of changing the rules, I read another article recently that indicates that the rules for success in mathematics are different outside of the US. In the US, we scorn boys and girls with mathematical talent, and it shows in the demographics of those who are most successful in math -- in the US, many are immigrants from countries that value and nurture math.

My department chair gave me a copy of the article, and asked me what we were going to do about it. "You're an American female and good at math," he said. I suppose he was indirectly implying that I am a total social loser. But we already knew that here on this blog. More directly, he thought it would be most helpful if I could please change the social atmosphere in the US. I am doing my best, but I need your help.

Please do try to nurture the mathematical talent in your American children. Thank you.

Finally, I have also been reading articles about being successful in my new academic career. Apparently, one common thing with early career people like me, is that we tend to belittle ourselves in our heads. This is even more common of new women and minority academics. I am a woman academic, and I do often ask myself if I'm really good enough to be in this job, especially given the fact that I'll never be a genius and all.

The advice: Stop listening to that voice in your head. Tell yourself you'll be fine and get back to work.

I am not actually going to go back to work now, but to bed instead. I do plan on being fine, regardless. At least, I will be fine provided I can get some sleep, and then stop reading tangential articles when I do get back to work. But it is interesting, isn't it? Makes you Think.