Check out my “Crone, Chronos” interview with Anna O’Brien of Luna Station Quarterly for thought-provoking questions about time travel and more.
LSQ: Yay for women and math! How often have you come across a fictional female character who excels in this subject? Thoughts on this?
I can’t think of a female character in fiction who excels in math. (I would love to hear from someone who can.) However, I hold an undergraduate degree in mathematics from McMaster University and graduated summa cum laude despite not having been the “best” at math in elementary or high school (and having been a dropout at sixteen). In my opinion, the patriarchy is one colossal barrier to women excelling in math, but so is our success-driven society. To excel at math, you can’t be afraid of failure. Problem solving takes patience, self-compassion, self-belief. Many women don’t have safe zones (of time and space) in which to make mistakes and try again. When I was studying mathematics, I was already at rock bottom in many respects. I had nowhere to go but up.