A great feature of Bell Labs and later AT&T Research was the mentoring program. For years I was a Summer student and graduate student mentor. I was lucky enough to have been around some really outstanding people. A few years were particularly great - one of them had two remarkable people: Jessica and Wayzen. So many stories and a theme of too early invention and being a bit in front of the reach of your headlights.
Jessica was from a largish family. For several years I had meetings in lower Manhattan and would have lunch in Washington Square Park on nice days (NY Dosas on the South end of the Park is the best food cart I've ever come across). I kept running into Jessica's horticulturist sister Rebecca who was kind enough to join me for lunch and teach me things about the how and the why of urban parks.
Last Fall she gave a talk that's worth sharing. With all of the bad news and feelings, something positive.
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