introspective writing

In 3rd grade, my class had daily math worksheets called 'minute math'. I never finished them in time and I was very frustrated to not be able to keep up with the class. My teacher decided to run an experiment... They read me the answers out loud and I couldn't even write them down in 60 seconds. I appreciate the effort to figure out what was holding me back. 

In 4th grade, I had to do my math homework on graph paper, with precise numbers of squares between my answers. I could never get it right... Lots of late nights crying, feeling stupid. Now I appreciate that having the answers in a grid is much easier to grade. As a student it was torture. I loved the problem solving aspect, but the way it was graded destroyed my confidence. 

I had an art teacher who was also a family friend, who gave me a book of Origami. Tomoko Fuse's classic, 'Multidimensional Transformations.' I've spent thousands of hours in a flow state executing her designs and exploring different types of symmetry. I will forever be in her debt.