Pythagorean Theorem

Yes, I’m talking Euclidean geometry.  Stuff you might think belong with the ancient Greeks.  They are with us today and I needed them during college.  My first summer job at this erstwhile institution was resurfacing clay tennis courts.

The “boss” of my sister and I was a tennis player and college student that lived two doors down from us.  We were peons in his world so we pulled every weed from eight clay courts.  He arranged things and supervised us while telling the elite at the institution my father was now the president of, everything we were doing.

We dragged bags of clay and spread them out.  He ran the equipment, heaven forbid a girl could do that.  Then we had to put down the lines.  Two-inch tapes with alternating 4″ nail holes two inches apart.  We measured and put them down.  A day gone and it was crooked.  It was to measure but crooked.

The next day an old friend from high school stopped by and when told of our plight, he reminded me of Pythagoras.  I brought the solution to the table and got more respect from el Stupido and we got the other courts done in a few days.

Never was great in math since middle school.  Part of the reason is that girls weren’t encouraged in that regard and we moved to a part of the country where education was lax and girls came last in everything.  That’s why, after we moved back to normal environs I wrote my senior paper on Title IX which prohibits discrimination in sports.  It was entitled “Horses Sweat; Men Perspire; and Women Glow.

I was a kick-a** feminist even then.  I still had little interest in math (may have had aptitude, though) but was good on what my husband calls the “soft side” of education.  Thank me for sharing an embarassing episode of my young adult-hood.  Cheers, Dee