A Conversation

 Dear Mrs. Mariner,  Hope you've been doing well!  I recently finished your short stories from Backward and Blind, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all your teaching adventures!  Part of me wishes I heard more of these stories in middle and high school, but perhaps I wouldn't have been mature enough to appreciate them.  One of my favorites was the feminism debate story.  I felt inspired by how you were a role model not only in the classroom, but also just in the world as a well informed citizen.  I can only imagine how impactful this leadership was for your students then, where gender discrimination still pervaded the atmosphere.  I also enjoyed the stories about the swim meet and leg hairs and the poisonous plant, and I smiled seeing Pascal's triangle make yet another appearance in my life.  Understanding how you made an impact on your students' education (and beyond) made me grateful for your coaching MathCounts.  Maybe I already had s...

 I feel so flattered and warmed by friends' responses. I'm not sure what I expected, but I did not intend this additional feeling of awkwardness. A dear friend who lives in Utah asked her book club if they wanted to read this book; they did. I asked her to please let me know how the book group went. My friend wrote, "Our book group last night went great!! They loved your book and loved hearing my personal stories of how amazing you are.  They loved the short vignette chapters of your book because it made it so they could read it in smaller pieces around their schedules.  They think you are an amazing warrior who sees something that needs to be done and does it, rather than just thinking that it's always been this way so it won't change, or waiting for someone else to lead the way.  They mentioned several quotes they liked. I don't remember them all, but one was near the end of the book where you said something about allowing people to change and not be the pers...