Over the years, I've told colleagues and friends about things I have seen or experienced. Many times, people have said that I should write them down so that they won't be lost and forgotten, since some of them might be useful parts of our history. I've been writing them down, without being sure what I would do with them. I decided to gradually post them on this website, and see what reactions I get. I suggest reading from the bottom up (starting with the August 2017 post "The Meritocracy"). Thoughtful and kind feedback would be useful for me, and would help me to revise the exposition to make it as useful as possible. I hope that while you read my stories you will ask yourself "What can I learn from this?" I'm particularly interested in knowing what you see as the point of the story, or what you take away from it. Please send feedback to asilverb@gmail.com. Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully reflect on them!

I often run the stories past the people I mention, even when they are anonymized, to get their feedback and give them a chance to correct the record or ask for changes. When they tell me they're happy to be named, I sometimes do so. When I give letters as pseudonyms, there is no correlation between those letters and the names of the real people.

Thursday, September 30, 2021

A slice of lemon

I should tell one positive experience about applying for a university job. If my Looking-Glass University experience was the job interview from hell, then this was the job interview from heaven.

It began with a phone call offering me a postdoc position at the University of Chicago, and inviting me to visit. Not for an interview, since they had already made me an offer, but to help me decide whether to accept.

They put me up in a beautiful suite at the historic Quadrangle Club. Felix Browder, the department chair, took me for a lovely meal in the Club's elegant dining room.

Just before my talk, my host, Niels Nygaard, asked if I'd like some water. When I said yes, Niels went away and came back with a glass of water with a slice of lemon on the rim. I exclaimed at what a nice gesture that was, and he told me it wasn't him, it was the secretary. She had met me and liked me, and wanted me to take the job. I'll always remember that lemon slice. Sometimes it's the little things that one remembers.