Re: Gabor Lukacs in the Globe and Mail

[Gabor Lukacs <lukacs@cc.umanitoba.ca>]

Dear Peter,


As I hinted in my earlier message to the categories list, had I been in
control of the article, I would have written it quite differently. The
journalist's original intent was not to mention Walter Tholen, or any of
my postdoctoral studies AT ALL because in her opinion, that is not
interesting for the public...

Without boring you with the details, let me just say that I spent the
WHOLE last day of mine before my departure to Europe arguing with the
journalist about this particular issue. The little that *was* eventually
mentioned about academics was a result of this 7-hour-long dialog (or
monologue?). Although she claims to be an expert of academic affairs, she
seemed to have a hard time to understand that an academic success or
achievement is the success of many academics (supervisors, colleagues,
etc.), who should be given due credit for their role.

The way I look at it is that: (a) Mathematics was exposed in the press,
which is a good thing; (b) Nothing terrible appeared about me, even if the
details of my social life are somewhat distorted (the reporter forgot to
mention that I eat cold beans out of a tin...); (c) She did not write
that I am a crook. So, after all, the article is OK...

Finally, I doubt that with the nerdy picture that was chosen for the
article I am going to be flooded with fan's letters.

But, Peter, your sense of humor did not deteriorate since I saw you last
time in Halifax, which is the real good news as far as I am concerned.

Thank you for writing to me/about me!


Best,

Gabi