Orography
intermezzoMONSTRARE, root of admonish and remonstrate, all I remember from Latin class and also the eyes of my first middle school crush. I am lost amidst conjugations and declensions — though to say “lost” is generous, as I don’t think I ever really studied — it did not occur to me that Latin is a language and must be taken as such, with regular memorization through spaced repetition — I will take nothing from this course but a few roots and an enduring proclivity for a strong epicanthal fold. She is a year my senior chronologically and probably several decades academically. In high school she will be in linear algebra while I’m still in calculus; she will be in differential equations when I’m in lin alg; she’ll be in complex analysis while I’m taking diff eqs. Always rising higher —
ON THE INTERNET: you will find people say all sorts of things. They are often telling a truth but it need not be yours. You can safely ignore most commentators. You can just as well oblige them! But for what it is worth I should let you know that I have been to some of those oft-exalted places — nueva, brown, facebook, jane street, the inner crannies of the startup world (ouroboros?) — and I will tell you now that I found no secret peak of brilliance, no locus of geniuses in incomprehensible communion. “From the mountain you see the mountain,” maybe. I used to draw maps, and I always had to explain the depth of a mountain range. Novices are prone to drawing one lone summit or maybe a single string of peaks, but if you stand atop the Sierra you will find that there are crests in every direction. While you are up there, try to compare their altitudes. (Good luck!)
IN ANY CASE the number of people I have known to be “out of my league” has proven to be vanishingly small, and I suspect that the people in that set are mostly there because I’ve put them on that pedestal. It is easy to believe a mythos. Easier still if the divinity has a good voice and a cute smile and a sharp tongue. If you still think that there is something substantive in this text then I recommend you reconsider.