So as I return for the first time in just about two months to a math ed setting, I am reminded of the gaps that I will hafta bridge now that I have settled upon some sort of math-leadership role. The gap is between the experienced and the inexperienced, the largely black female Caribbean contingent and the younger more American-educated and flexible set of which I am one. Most people were under five years' experience or well over 15. And these differences show when problems are given to be solved: while I am much more patient than I was fresh and brash out of college two years ago--by far--I am still less patient with adults than with children, perhaps because my particular colleagues tend to have pedantic tendencies I find distasteful, though that is probably how I come off anyway to more of my friends than I would like to admit. Still, the furtive adrenaline rushes of discovery are welcome, and I find myself able to rein myself in while also much more confident than I ever was.

Incidentally, Paul Hamm should fucking give up the medal. I mean, if you're that good, you'll win (for real this time) in four years again. It's sad, really, this nationalist fervor.