Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged.
--JWOL & JPMc, 1970
All previous chapters were written and published in chronological order. This chapter, however, is following the previous chapter even though its events occurred earlier in the same way that Abbey Road followed Let it Be. Phil Spector was not involved.
Once there was a way to get back homeward,
Once there was a way, to get back home.
--JL, JPMc, 1969
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to return to Boston, my favorite radio station rises to the task to send me there. In late June, I won tickets from my favorite radio station to see a concert in Boston. People often tease me for entering contests. Well, who’s laughing now?
Since the radio station needed to know the name of my traveling partner very quickly, many potential companions were instantly eliminated. I thought that Goose would be a good choice since I like to have my 3 and 9 covered when flying, and I knew my wingman was up to the task. We easily created an itinerary for two days in Boston. Since the Label Lady made a “bank error in our favor,” we had an extra day in Boston than they intended. We put the extra day to good use as outlined below.
Coincidentally, the night before I left, the Dean of my college spoke to my local alumni club in Mountain View. While shaking my hand he claimed, “I remember you.” As I usually do in those situations, I reflexively replied, “I never touched her!” The Dean laughed, but the humor was lost on me.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
--KK and FF, 1969
In preparation for the flight, I packed a giant bag of broccoli and other anti-oxidants. I offered some to Goose, but he declined. I guess he is anti-anti-oxidant. Or pro free radical. Two hours later, my sleep on the plane was disturbed by the sound of him biting the heads off of animal crackers while watching the Smurfs. He clearly was saving his appetite for his preferred snacks. I promised to not alert PETA.
I was more excited about visiting Boston than in seeing the concert as Boston is a fun city crawling with personal memories as well as American history. Also, I had not been back to my college campus for many years. Parts of the campus were positively glamorous. The new athletic center was dazzling. The new Frank Gehry-designed building was sparkling. Even the older buildings in the Aero/Astro department had more than air conditioning and a new coat of paint applied. The Dean said that top schools needed to provide more than quality education to attract the top students; I saw how this effort was realized.
It was also good to see that some things had not changed. I was elated to discover that Strobe Alley was still in place with its famous Water Piddler. Also, my dorm still featured pictures of me in the hallway and the Desk Girl asked me to autograph one. There were many other sites I was eager to revisit. I showed Goose the Chinese restaurant where I first had Peking Ravioli, the Japanese restaurant where I first had sushi, and the dorm where I first had... oh, never mind.
One of the highlights of the visit to my alma mater was visiting Mama P, who had previously nursed me back to health after a lab accident. Years ago, I awarded her the Best Curves Award for being a test subject in one of my first usability tests and we are both still proud of the awards that that effort earned us. It was good to see her still doing well and keeping watch over things.
The student population at my college changed as dramatically as the physical plant did since I left. When I attended college, we struggled to find enough women to field a solitaire team. Now the number of women is so high that even the previously all-male dorm has women residents. Additionally, no sooner had we stepped inside Lobby 7 did we discover Goose’s favorite thing: girls cuddling. I never saw that when I was a student there.
At the MIT museum, we learned that MIT did not bill Ellen Swallow, its first woman student, for tuition. This was neither because she received a scholarship, nor because she was being enticed the way that bars provide “Ladies drink free” nights. The freebie was provided in case MIT changed its mind it would not have to refund any money. We found some other great exhibits in the MIT Museum. There was a wonderful display of my good buddy Doc Edgerton’s work. We found a great historical exhibit of robotics work performed at school, but disappointingly, they did not feature any of the work from my old lab. They featured a picture of the Grateful Dead playing on the Student Center steps in the early 1970s in one of only a handful of pictures illustrating student life. Since it was uncaptioned, I knew what it was only because I was aware of the show and I recognized the band and the venue.
Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.
--TJ
I have always felt that Boston was a great walking city and I was eager to stroll along some of my favorite paths. Even though we took the T more times in just a few days than I took it in any other year, we walked so much that Goose molted off a few feathers. In sympathy, I let him stop for ice cream, fudge, drugs, Animal Crackers, and other snacks whenever possible. I also tried to score him a ride with the girls in the Kissmobile, but my efforts were in vain—as usual.
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution,
Take a bow for the new revolution,
Smile and grin at the change all around
--PT, 1971
One score and several years ago, in my first class, on my first day of college, the professor gave the class the assignment to walk the Freedom Trail. During six years of living in Cambridge, I never quite walked the entire path. All these years later, I finally finished the last little bit by walking across the bridge to Bunker Hill and back. I now feel as if I have legitimately earned my Bachelor's degree!
I really enjoyed the visit to Bunker Hill, where we saw people celebrating their freedom and liberty. We wondered why they were all women. Maybe this is related to the fact that the Freedom and Liberty statues at the US Capitol are women.
I am woman, hear me roar,
In numbers too big to ignore,
...
If I have to, I can do anything,
I am strong (strong),
I am invincible (invincible),
I am woman.
--HR & RB, 1972
At Bunker Hill, Ranger Girl told us that the soldiers would rather die in battle than be nagged by their wives for getting maimed. She elaborated by saying that since the soldiers' wives would have no use for them if they could not work as a result of the loss of a limb, the soldiers built the redoubts to be only as high as their shoulders. This way, they would protect their limbs, but leave their heads exposed, indicating their preference of death to nagging. I was amazed and disturbed that the Ranger, having only a limited amount of time to describe events to us felt that this anecdote was worth its opportunity cost. This reminded me of an American history lecture I attended earlier in the year, where I was similarly disturbed. There, the woman instructor taught us a few troubling (to me) items such as how a certain group of women in the early 20th century considered marriage to be a contract whereby they exchanged sex for financial support and social status. I was amazed that having less than an hour to cover hundreds of years of history the instructor choose to include this and related information in her class. Ranger Girl implied that women over a century earlier felt similar to their more modern brethren. I guess things have changed since then, though. More recently, Gloria Steinem asserts, "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."
This further reminds me of a User Interface Design course that I took a few years ago. The woman instructor, a leader in the field, presented a problematic scenario to us for which we would design a product to alleviate. The scenario is as follows: a woman is making dinner and realizes that she forgot an essential ingredient so she sends her husband to the store to get it. The husband returns with an item that satisfies his wife's description. However, since her description was ambiguous, he inadvertently returns with the wrong item and the wife wigs out. As the female instructor summarized, we needed to design a product to account for the tendency(?) that women have to provide ambiguous instructions. I wondered why the instructor could not produce a less sexist scenario to which we could all relate. Couldn't we design a product that facilitated the recording of TV shows, improved access to one's music collection, made one's bed automatically? Similarly, wouldn't most of us like a product that enabled us to avoid traffic, TV commercials, and other unwanted things? Alternatively, don't many people have trouble programming VCRs, cell phones, sprinkler systems, and alarm clocks? Wouldn't improving these products' user interfaces be worthwhile class exercises? How did a derogatory sexist scenario win out over a plethora of other options?
Even more years earlier, I attended a lecture by another renowned woman user interface designer. She was a leader in designing toys for girls, as her research told her that most toys in stores were for boys. Her research also told her that girls liked keeping secrets and spreading gossip, so the quick reflex games and construction sets that boys enjoy were not desired by girls. A number of the class's attendees questioned the value and wisdom of reinforcing these sexist stereotypes. If it truly is society that is keeping women out of science and engineering, wouldn't girls be better off playing with chemistry and erector sets than with toys that encouraged them to keep secrets and gossip? Unless, as this woman claimed, girls/women innately prefer secrets to science.
I find it sadly ironic and disappointing that Harvard president Larry Summers can't publicly wonder if there are genetic reasons that there are few women in science and engineering without women storming out of the room, yet I have seen women make statements that are arguably much more offensive to their gender on a number of occasions without the same effect. I keep seeing women denigrate their gender and I wonder why. I also wonder whether this takes the place of the fact that women comediennes are not as self-deprecating as their male counterparts. Maybe I shouldn't wonder so much? Perhaps I should just be grateful that these women are taking advantage of an opportunity not available to men. I hope that this does not mean that the terrorists have won.
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.
--JA, 1776
Historically, Boston has always been a great place to celebrate Independence Day. As an American history buff, I was excited to visit the Old State House from whose balcony the Declaration of Independence was read in early July 1776. In fact, someone reads it from the same balcony on every July 4. Nearby, we discovered Boston's newest monument, the New England Holocaust Memorial. It was created by concentration camp survivors in the Boston area and it sits on the Freedom Trail. I was impressed with the number of visitors to the monument, particularly since many of them were unlikely to have had family members who suffered during the Holocaust. This monument and the exhibits describing Jews in Boston at the Old State House provided surprising bits of synchronicity with other recent travels.
Every generation needs a new revolution.
--TJ
Continuing our loop around Charlestown, we visited the Charlestown Navy Yard, where we saw the USS Constitution and learned about Powder Monkeys, Figgy pudding, and other cool things. Prior to taking the bridge back to Boston, I crashed a reception at the Colonel's house in Charleston. The soldier didn't seem to mind and we left him to his appointed rounds.
Money for nothin’ and chicks for free
--MK & S, 1985
Finally, it was time for the Mark Knopfler concert, the ticket that brought us to Beantown. Since the concert was at a new venue, and we were misled about its location, we arrived later than we had intended. Nevertheless, because I’m renowned for being early, we missed less than two minutes of the first song by the time we landed in our seats by the mixing board. Both the venue and concert were excellent and I would eagerly return with another contest victory. I had previously heard Money for Nothing performed by Clapton and Sting and I was now glad to hear it performed by its lead author. When MTV Europe honored me by opening on my birthday in 1987, they showed the Money for Nothing video first. I guess they figured that opening for business in the States on my birthday six years earlier was insufficient. I'll have to include these items in a future birthday trivia quiz.
I returned to California to celebrate Independence Day on land that was acquired from others many years after the Revolutionary War. The celebrations put me in a good mood to begin a new job. Stay tuned.
Dhanyavad for playing.
© Adam Brody (the Bay Area's most successful job finder). All rights reserved.
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