Magic Jewball

When I was in High School, I was not the biggest math and science fan in the world (not so much now either, I have to admit, even though I’m in the Math and Science department, ironically). In our senior year, we were allowed to drop one or the other because the actual requirements were fulfilled. I dropped science but I said to my adviser, “trust me, after I graduate, I’ll never do a math problem again.” No, seriously, one of the reasons I chose Johns Hopkins was that it had no real math or science requirement and what it did have could be checked off by taking things like “The History of Math.” Which I took. I also took Statistics but I was a social science major and would have had to take that anyway.

Then I left and worked for a record label where I proceeded to do math every day. I told this story to Lisa Tagio, my favorite math teacher, so she could tell her students. Anyhoo, one of the things I hated and found most soul-sucking about marketing music was the Powerpoint presentation and its useless bullet points of nothingness. I vowed I would never do a stupidass Powerpoint presentation again.

I know, I know. But did it have to be so soon? In one of my classes, our first project is to be done in groups and the bossiest person in the group said, “OK, I’ll do the essay, Joan, you do the oral part, and Becca, you do the Powerpoint.”

Next Powerpoint presentation: how to become the bossiest person in the group.

Title comes from yet another Nine Inch Nails song, but it’s not available on Napster. And it’s my favorite one! D’oh!