| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | Every year, between Christmas and New Year, my uncle would come to stay with us from out of state, and the whole extended family would come to our house three or four times in that week. We'd spend the day or two before then preparing, cooking, making batter and dough, and brining turkey. When the family was visiting, we would stay up late and sing carols around an old piano, with each of the cousins taking turns picking their favorite. In the afternoons, we'd play cards or charades or other family games. There would be snowball fights, and sometimes we'd take sleds to a nearby hill and spend the day sledding. On Christmas night, my uncle would dress up as Santa Claus and distribute to each child the gifts for that year from aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents. After the day's festivities had calmed down, my mother would stay up reminiscing with her brothers, while we all cleaned up and listened to their stories. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My older sister and I were inseparable growing up. Our parents used to joke that we could read each other's mind, because we'd so often start the same sentence at the same time. Everything one of us would learn, we'd teach the other. When either of us was cast in a play, we'd rehearse lines together for so long that we can still quote our scenes back and forth to this day. Even once I was in college and she was in medical school (at the same university), we'd get together to study and catch up on life. We live 500 miles away from each other now, but we still visit back and forth a few times per year, and of course, we both visit home for the holidays. Last year, in the fall, I received an unmarked package with no return address, containing sheet music for Christmas music, arranged for violin (her instrument) and cello (mine). No words were necessary to understand the assignment, and I showed up ready to play my part. I trust my whole family with my life, every single person. But my sister sees the world exactly the same way that I do, more than anyone else I know. We have the same sense of humor, the same sense of justice, and the same view on how to live a good life. I've learned to seek her advice because, if we disagree, it's because one of us is missing something. Sometimes it's one of us, and sometimes the other, but every discussion is worthwhile. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | My first thought is to list different traits I admire: trustworthiness, generosity, thoughtfulness, ingenuity, courage, patience, and more. But as I think over what traits to include (and in what order), I think all of these stem from something deeper: the ability and willingness to look beyond yourself and beyond the present moment. More than anything else, I admire the farsightedness and forethought to recognize that the future is important in the same way as the present, and that other people are important to their communities and loved ones in the same way that you are to yours. It's easy to be honest and trustworthy when you weigh the long-term effects of having a reputation for honesty against having your word taken with a grain of salt. It's easy to be brave when you've cultivated the wisdom to consider the long-term consequences of inaction against the immediate risks of action. Understanding other people's perspectives and appreciating the validity (or at least appeal) of multiple points of view, is what lets people work together across cultural and philosophical divides, and picturing those affected in the future by current decisions (including your future self) is what makes present sacrifices possible. So, more than anything else, the traits I admire are wisdom and perspective. I admire people who do their best to see the whole picture and understand the importance of every part of it. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | My sense of humor is strongly based in cleverness, wordplay, and absurdity, so it's hard to describe any event as "the funniest thing ever to happen to" me. I tend to prefer jokes, bits, and stand-up comedy over situational comedy, but I do have some funny stories to tell. I remember once on a family vacation, when I was about 11, we went on a raft tour of the Firehole River in Wyoming. We're from a northern state, so the water wasn't too cold by our standards. When the tour guide said, half-joking, that the water was safe to jump in during the present section of the river, we watched a group of college-aged young men glance around, egging each other on to see if any of them would jump in. Without hesitation, my 8-year-old little sister threw herself backwards into the water and started to swim alongside the raft. My older sister and I followed soon after. Watching that group of fraternity brothers slowly realize that they couldn't allow themselves to be outdone by a pack of children led by an eight-year-old girl and resign themselves to taking a quick dip in the chilly river, was the highlight of that day's adventure. It's probably much less amusing in the retelling, and I'm not doing justice to their facial expressions, but at the time, we found it hilarious. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | To start, I would travel to Alaska. I've wanted to see the Northern Lights ever since I first read about the Aurora in a children's fantasy novel (The Golden Compass) and then discovered that it was a real thing. A friend of mine spent a few months after college in Alaska doing competitive dog sledding, and the idea has stuck with me since I heard about it. Gliding through a pristine wilderness surrounded by huskies sounds like paradise. I'd go hiking and sightseeing with friends, and we'd warm up every night telling stories in front of the fireplace. We'd stargaze, miles from light pollution, and watch the sky turn around Polaris almost overhead. Maybe we'd go on a backpacking trip along the Chilkoot Trail. It would be the longest backpacking trip I've ever done (5 days), and I'd love to give it a shot. Then I would go to Buenos Aires to study Tango in the city where it was first danced. I've heard from people who have visited, and they say it's the Paris of South America. Argentina is rich with agriculture, and the cuisine is renowned. There are hundreds of venues with food and live performances, and dozens of tango instructors with international reputations. I want to focus on being the best that I can be, taught by the best, with the kind of dedicated focus that's only possible with no distractions or intrusions from the complications of everyday life. If time and money were not an issue, I'd want to see how good I could get. They say you can tell a good leader by the smile on the follower's face, and I can't think of a better adventure than devoting myself under ideal circumstances to developing my skills in a craft that brings other people joy. After that, I'd like to experience the Atlantic islands. Maybe a walking tour of Iceland or part of Greenland, or a visit to the castles of Scotland. I'd want to experience the culture and stick around long enough to make some local friends. Pen-pals with different cultural perspectives are one of the great joys in life, and memories of rolling emerald hills or mists over the moorland would last a lifetime. Finally, I don't know if this kind of "travel" is what the question had in mind, but I would also visit family more often. I have cousins across the US, and two in Australia. I have one sister on the Northeast coast and another in the Midwest. It's so easy to let time go by and keep in touch over phone calls and the occasional reunion. But being there in person, as a part of everyday life, is the glue that keeps families together across generations. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | There are traits that I hope my children inherit and lessons I want to make sure they learn. They're both important, but it's necessary not to confuse the two. There are plenty of traits I hope I pass on. There are dozens of little ways my life has been made easier through no virtue of my own, ways that I hope my children will get to experience also. My health has always been stellar, and my metabolism makes it easy to keep an active lifestyle and a healthy physique. I pick up new skills quickly, and it's easy for me to focus on developing my interests. I've always been academically gifted, and while talent is only half (or less) of achievement, finding academics easy and engaging has enabled my successful life path more than any other single factor. I hope things come easily to my children. I hope they have the same knack for discovery, for music and math and reading, that has added so much meaning to my life. I hope they tear through books and find it fun and easy to talk about ideas. I hope they're hale and hearty, from the day they're born well through adulthood. All the things I've been able to depend on, I wish everyone would get to experience, and no one do I hope that for more than my children. But potential is only a small part of where people go in life, and I want my kids to be able to make the most of whatever gifts they're born with. I want to teach them that their job, from childhood through adolescence, is to make decisions that make them better people: more skilled and capable, more disciplined and reliable, more trustworthy and kind, and all the other things that make you a valued and supportive member of your chosen community. I hope to pass on my love of learning new things, accepting that everyone feels self-conscious when they start out, but that a year of focus beats a decade of coasting, and if you can buckle down and dedicate yourself to accomplishing your goals, you'll be amazed by the results. I hope my children understand the value of work ethic, consistency, and dedication. I hope they learn to be patient, to plan and not give up when results are slow to arrive. I want to teach them that education is the ticket to wherever they want to go, and that achieving a track record of success when you're young gives you the flexibility to experiment once you're older. I want them to understand how vital it is to surround yourself with people who support the best version of you, people who embody the values that you aspire to. There are many worthwhile values and goals, from ambition to contentment to family to service, and no one can tell you in advance which are best for you to pursue. But once you know who you want to be, it's your job to find (or build) a community of people who encourage that version of you. I hope they experience the joy of friendly competition, of having friends who push each other to do better, and see competitions as an opportunity to test their approaches and learn from each other's successes, and as occasions for camaraderie instead of animosity. I hope they remember that everyone's perspective has an element of wisdom in it, and the more perspectives they understand, the more wisdom they can bring to their own decisions. I hope they remember to be patient with other people, and that as they achieve success and power, it becomes more important to be gentle and understanding, not less. I want them to know that a good sense of humor will carry them through rough times and delicate situations, and that finding the funny side of something is often the first step in making it better. I know it's not as easy as telling them these things. You've got to show them every day, encouraging them when they're moving in the right direction and correcting them when they're not. You've got to build an environment that demonstrates why and how doing the right thing is best in the long run, and then help them generalize the lesson with consistency and repetition. I used to work with troubled kids at a rustic sleep-away summer camp, and I know how stubborn children can be when they've developed harmful patterns of thought or behavior, and how easy it can be for them to learn the wrong lesson when they see unfairness or inconsistency. But I think it helps to know in advance, with all the clarity that comes from writing it out, what values you want to impart. |
