[3000 words] Autobiographical sequence [1 – Earliest Memories][2 – The Birth of Venus][3 – Playground Dynamics][4 – The Long, Long Walk Back Home][5 – The Great Paralysis][6 – My Teacher] By 1964, a couple of years longer than it should have taken, [the famed mathematician John] Conway finished his PhD thesis, which explored a modest byway of set theory. …
[1500 words] [Part 3 of the Autobiographical Sequence] [1 - Earliest Memories][2 - Birth of Venus][3 - Playground Dynamics] Scene 1 I am in the southern playground of Hawthorne Elementary school -- an open, cement-paved square. There's a group of kids playing together by the monkey bars. I'm off to one side. My thoughts swing …
[3000 words] If you don't get what you want, you get sad. If you consistently don't get what you want, you get depressed. Depression is a sort of hibernation of the soul. When physical winter makes the food scarce, certain animals hibernate their bodies. When psycho-social-spiritual winter makes enjoyment scarce, we humans hibernate our minds. …
David Leon 