I was finishing up my big college search when I realized why this book was created. But more on that later. It all started the same weekend I needed to finalize my college list. My entire family was celebrating my grandpa’s 80th birthday by the ocean, so I wandered off for a few hours with my college list to try to choose a college list. I found this amazing place where the water had cleared out a tunnel, leaving a narrow bridge of rock over the open gully. The way the waves thwacked against the back of the cave was *so cool*. I could hear it a half-mile away (at night I thought it was a pile-driver. Fifty miles away from the nearest city). Anyway.

So I sit down with my list, and I center. I think roots and branches, very California new age. Since I haven’t been accepted anywhere I am merely choosing where I want to try to get in. So I try to decide the course of my life. And then I get stuck. My mind is blank, I stare at some birds and am non-productive. So I tried a different tact. I think “Who do I want to be when I grow up”. I could think of musicians, politicians, and teachers who I would love to grow up to be, but when I tried to think of women computer scientists I drew a blank. Ok, I know Grace Hopper and Radia Pearlman, but I did not have as clear a vision of what life might be like to be a computer scientist.

It’s not the all-male environment: I love wrestling and most of my friends from middle-school are boys, so I’m ok with that part. But the stories are what I miss. I have stories about singers, about politicians and teachers giving me a potential road-map for my future. But I was missing the stories about women computer scientists. I wanted to know what other women had done when working in a team where all of the men assume you’ll be the secretary. What the justifications for being ultra-fem in a masculine environment are. I could not think of any role models for how to live fully as myself in a challenging environment.

Amazon mailed me the book two days ago. After an embarrassing session with dancing and singing “I’m published, I’m published” I started reading everyone else’s essays. And I now I have those role models. I can’t wait to read the rest of the essays.

I am about to send in a large sections of my applications. I chose only schools with strong computer science and music, and where I could see myself matriculating. I’m glad I now can see how other geeks have dealt with college and life-after before me.

Anyhoo, that’s my tryptophan induced rant, hope you’re having a great turkey day!