In 1974 at age 25 I had just completed a Master’s Degree in mathematics at the University of Maryland.
My initial plan had been to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor and research mathematician but it proved too difficult for me intellectually and emotionally. I was at a “fork in the road” – What direction would I take? How would I make a living?
At first I thought maybe I could find a position as a Junior College teacher of mathematics. I applied here and there but had few prospects.
I took a part-time job at a “copy center”. The store had just one IBM copy machine and people would come and drop their papers off for me to copy for them. This was a nice, easy distraction. MUCH easier than Complex Analysis and Algebraic Topology.
The university had a summer school class entitled “Teaching Mathematics in Secondary School”. I took that class and learned one very important thing – I didn’t want to Teach Mathematics in Secondary School!! 😊 Dealing with unmotivated students, discipline problems, onerous administrative trivia, and especially the elementary level of mathematics were among the many reasons for my disinterest.
A fellow graduate student had gotten a position as a computer programmer at the Census Bureau and suggested that I apply. I first had to learn to spell Census and Bureau which are rather difficult words. I did get the job. They figured that my mathematical background would enable me to learn programming quickly. And they were right. One of my first teachers there taught me FORTRAN IV which was the predominate language at the Bureau. I befriended that teacher (his name is Norman) and am still in touch him. He now lives in Berkeley. We used punch cards. We submitted our card decks and waited for the test runs to see what silly mistakes we had made. We had to make sure the programs were correct before running them on large datasets. I remember the number 14 million. When you do something 14 million times it had better be right! At that time FORTRAN was a very awkward language and writing complex programs was rather difficult.
Another excellent teacher at the Census Bureau was advocating for a more modern language named ALGOL. He was very much against the use of FORTRAN. I still remember vividly how he argued that FORTRAN could not be improved. He said, “You can’t polish a turd.” I took his advice and became one of the first users of ALGOL at the Bureau. Around that time we also started using “demand terminals” instead of punch cards – much easier. It was very creative and exciting. I felt empowered. It was so intensely fun that I began writing a sophisticated tool for all programmers at the Bureau to use. I did this on my own time. This was not an assigned project. It proved to be a very needed and useful tool. I still (50 years hence!) have a printout of it! This was a premonition of other extensive volunteer software projects that I am still enjoying. What can I say? I’m a hacker. It’s fun.
The Bureau is located just outside of D.C. in Suitland, MD. I found an apartment nearby and rode my bicycle to work.
The winter weather was severe. One time I was riding and the bike slipped on a patch of ice. I fell badly injuring my hip – the sacroiliac joint. It still aches from time to time. I did have a car and drove to work when the snow was too deep. One day the temperature plummeted way below zero. The car would not start so I didn’t go to work. I called my Mom in California and said to her, “Mom, it’s fucking cold here.” She said, “Oh, Jon. Don’t use that language.” I said, “I’m sorry but there’s no other word for it! It’s fucking cold!”
There were two women in my department who showed a clear interest in pursuing a relationship with me. I could not reciprocate and I felt sad that I had to disappoint them. I was and am definitely a heterosexual but was wary of commitment and losing a sense of self. This was a premonition of future romantic intrigues and unconventional relationship disasters.
On July 4th 1976 I attended a bicentennial Independence Day celebration on the grounds of the Washington Monument. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 Flags everywhere. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 Nelson Rockefeller was the vice president and he had addressed the crowd. (Rockefeller? ... Does anyone still remember Nixon, Agnew, Ford, and the Watergate hearings?) Around this time I had become very curious about food, nutrition, and health. After the event I walked around and observed the volume of garbage left on the lawn. I vividly and distinctly remember seeing a half-eaten hot dog in a white bread bun. I saw it “as if for the first time” and I asked myself, “What IS that?” I have now enjoyed a vegetarian diet for 46 years. And vegan for 17. It’s easy. And delicious.