Part 1

Q: How Many Shoes?

i.

said the inventor

extraordinaire

there’s only one pair

that i can wear

ii.

slides her foot

white workday shoe

“one pair at a time”

quotes interview

iii.

chorus

not two not three

not even four

you really don’t

need any more

iv.

there’s a moth to find

shorting my circuit

love time or money

choose your own verdict

.

to be continued….

Grace Hopper

“In another lifetime I read an interview with mathematician and career public servant Grace Hopper. Unable to find the original I must rely on my ancient impressions.

The interviewer asks “You’re powerful and famous, so why don’t you go for a lucrative private sector job? “

Grace responded, “I can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.”

Her answer speaks volumes to me. I clearly found resonance here and so I have never forgotten the interchange which has now vanished beyond the grasp of Google. Sitting in a queue in my mind, and as I watch dumbfounded at a world where greed on steroids exceeds human welfare, this thought squirmed its way to the top and appears here today.

An inconsequential question: how many shoes does one person need? Perhaps for many it is. Yet I find many other questions with the same DNA – crawling, bug-like and forthwith.

– D

background
Grace Hopper, 1906-1992, mathematician, computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral. She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to COBOL ( a computer language based on English words, still in use today ) “Amazing Grace”, as she was nicknamed, noted and articulated the concept and computing phrase “debugging” after discovering a moth which had infiltrated and halted her computing system.
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