{"id":1,"date":"2019-10-18T12:51:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T12:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/livingproof\/?p=1"},"modified":"2019-10-23T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:03:47","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/livingproof\/2019\/10\/18\/welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the Living Proof blog!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the <\/span>Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey<\/span><\/i> blog! We are so happy you\u2019re here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Living Proof<\/span><\/i> is a project that was borne out of interactions Matthew Pons had with a number of his students. One semester, Matthew had a strong cohort of women in his Analysis class. He was impressed with their work–their ability to grapple with the course material, try problems, learn from their failures, and seek help when they needed it. From his perspective, they were succeeding. Unfortunately, from their perspectives, they were failing. They felt like mathematics shouldn\u2019t be so hard, that the fact that it was difficult for them must mean that they aren\u2019t intelligent or aren\u2019t cut out to study math. Matthew tried to reassure them that everyone struggles–that he himself struggled with the subject as an undergraduate–but they brushed aside his encouragement. Perhaps they assumed that he was being dishonest just to make them feel better. Perhaps they assumed that his struggles couldn\u2019t have been as bad as their own. In any case, Matthew thought, \u201cIf they don\u2019t believe me, who would they believe? Maybe they can\u2019t identify with me because I am not a woman. Maybe they can\u2019t hear what I am saying because I am their professor.\u201d This gave Matthew an idea. He needed to collect stories from a wide variety of mathematicians about times that they faced crises of confidence when they were in school. So, he got to work assembling an editorial team and reaching out to people to ask them to tell their stories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With tremendous support from the AMS and the MAA–especially Steve Kennedy, MAA editor and the project\u2019s biggest cheerleader–the <\/span>Living Proof<\/span><\/i> dream became a reality. Stories of struggle and resilience, told by 41 mathematicians, were shared in a book that was made freely available by both organizations. But there are many more than 41 of us in our community. And people aren\u2019t defined by a single story–there are so many stories we can share. This is why we felt it was important to start the <\/span>Living Proof<\/span><\/i> blog. We need to <\/span>continue<\/span><\/i> sharing our stories. We need to hear new voices and hear about different types of struggles. We need to hear more people talking about the same struggles so that people who are just now beginning to live through these experiences know that they are not alone. Our ultimate hope is that someday–perhaps years from now–someone tells the story of how what got them through their biggest challenge on their own path to becoming a mathematician was reading the stories of so many others in <\/span>Living Proof<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Welcome to the Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey blog! We are so happy you\u2019re here.\u00a0 Living Proof is a project that was borne out of interactions Matthew Pons had with a number of his students. One … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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