in the news

This is one of the joys of growing up in a small town. Today’s Cordele Dispatch is running a story (Norton ‘has always had a love of how things worked’) about my acceptance to the Media Lab. While I haven’t yet seen the full text, I’m sure it will only add to my embarrassment. Hopefully, the horrendous photo will repel readers before they make it past the first paragraph. The reporter called me yesterday to get the details and I wanted to ask her if my mom had threatened physical harm if no article was run, but I was afraid the answer would be ‘yes’. We spent most of the time discussing which family members get mentioned in the article, so that I could avoid family exile. It will be interesting to see how the lab is described, since I described it in pretty vague terms. So, Let the ridicule begin.

later… I finally read the article. Unfortunately, they credit me with receiving an undergraduate grant, instead of a graduate research position. There is a subtle but important difference in being given money and being asked to work for a salary. Also, to be clear, I am not going to be working on smart houses and cars. I used that as an example as I tried to explain what the lab was all about. Apparently, I should have picked an example a little closer to what I will actually be doing. The little anecdotes of early childhood learning disabilities are all courtesy of mia madre, who improves them on every retelling.