LIFE UPDATE: I'm Moving to North Carolina!

I have a very exciting announcement that you may have already seen if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram. I did a post back in October announcing that I had moved to New York City after my year in London.

After eight months in New York, I am moving to Raleigh, North Carolina. It wasn't long after I moved to New York that I realized that it wasn't for me. It's hard to put exactly into words what I dislike about New York (other than the subway and the weather, of course). I've discovered that while I like New York to visit, it's not a good fit for me to live in. New York's not for everyone -- just like any city won't suit everyone. It took lots of talks with my parents and friends, therapy sessions, and journal entries to make this decision but I'm thrilled to have made it.

I do think that part of the problem for me was that I longed for New York to be more like London and was continually disappointed when it wasn't. It's sort of like if you dated Chris Evans and he was perfect and then dated the guy that you had a crush on at university after. Maybe I would have liked New York more if I hadn't fallen head over heels for London first. Who knows?

All of that said, I'm very excited to be moving back to North Carolina where I'm from. I've never lived in Raleigh as an adult so I'm excited to explore more of it. I can't wait to see my family a lot more; my mom's entire family lives in North Carolina, so I'll get to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins' children a lot more. And I'm looking forward to exploring North Carolina's historic sites and theatre scene!

I will be starting a job as a Content Developer and Producer at Relative Scale, a digital studio that creates experiences for spaces, in early July. I move this coming weekend which will give me a week to get settled (and relearn to drive a car!) and a week to spend at the beach for Fourth of July. 

I call these my 'British army commander' shorts because they remind me of old
British army uniforms from the Boer War or WWI so I couldn't resist this pose

I'm keen to get involved in the North Carolina blogging scene so do let me know if you have any NC based blogs or vlogs that you like. I'll have more updates once I'm settled in North Carolina, but for now follow along on my Instagram and Twitter for my move! x

2019 Tony Award Predictions!

With the Tonys just around the corner (I can't believe they're tomorrow!), I thought it was time to share my predictions with you all here. If you'd like to hear a lot more detail about what I'm predicting, you can listen to our Next Best Theatre predictions episode. I've gone out on a limb with a few of these (notably the acting categories for musicals) because I always like to make a couple of risky predictions!

Best Musical 
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: The Prom

Best Play
Prediction: The Ferryman
Alternate: What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Revival of a Musical
Prediction: The Waverly Gallery
Alternate: The Boys in the Band

Best Revival of a Play
Prediction: Oklahoma!
Alternate: Kiss Me, Kate

Leading Actor in a Musical
Prediction: Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Alternate: Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Leading Actor in a Play
Prediction: Bryan Cranston, Network
Alternate: Paddy Considine, The Ferryman

Leading Actress in a Musical
Prediction: Eva Noblezada, Hadestown
Alternate: Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Leading Actress in a Play
Prediction: Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
Alternate: Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman

Featured Actor in a Musical
Prediction: André de Shields, Hadestown
Alternate: Patrick Page, Hadestown

Featured Actor in a Play
Prediction: Bertie Carvel, Ink
Alternate: Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This

Featured Actress in a Musical
Prediction: Amber Gray, Hadestown
Alternate: Ali Stroker, Oklahoma!

Featured Actress in a Play
Prediction: Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
Alternate: Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman

Book of a Musical 
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: Tootsie

Score
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: The Prom

Scenic Design of a Musical
Prediction: Beetlejuice
Alternate: Hadestown

Scenic Design of a Play
Prediction: The Ferryman
Alternate: Network

Costume Design of a Musical
Prediction: The Cher Show
Alternate: Hadestown

Costume Design of a Play
Prediction: Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Alternate: The Ferryman

Lighting Design of a Musical
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: Beetlejuice

Lighting Design of a Play
Prediction: Network
Alternate: The Ferryman

Sound Design of a Musical
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: Beetlejuice

Sound Design of a Play
Prediction: Network
Alternate: The Ferryman

Direction of a Musical 
Prediction: Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown
Alternate: Daniel Fish, Oklahoma!

Direction of a Play
Prediction: Sam Mendes, The Ferryman
Alternate: Rupert Goold, Ink

Choreography 
Prediction: Kiss Me, Kate
Alternate: Hadestown

Orchestrations
Prediction: Hadestown
Alternate: Oklahoma!

Do you agree with my predictions or not? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I'll be watching on Sunday night with my theatre podcast co-host Dan. I'll be live-tweeting, so reach out to me there if you're watching too!

All About: Sophie Germain, Female Mathematician

When my little sister told me that she was doing a paper on a female mathematician from the eighteenth-century, I was surprised as I'd never heard of Sophie Germain. I did my undergraduate degree in history, with a specialization in intellectual and cultural history and focusing on women in particular. I've been working to incorporate more of my love for history into this blog with reviews of historic sites I've visited and thought that a biography series of interesting (and largely forgotten) female historical figures might be a nice addition.

No one could have guessed that Marie-Sophie Germain, born in France in 1776 to a wealthy middle class family, would become a world-famous mathematician. However, her work on the subjects of acoustics, elasticity, and the theory of numbers are considered to be important to the history of mathematics even though she suffered from her lack of a formal education her entire career. She struggled from a lack of resources and access due to her gender that kept her from making the mathematical discoveries she otherwise might have.

Sophie's interest in mathematics began when she was thirteen. When the French Revolution started, she turned to her father's library as she had to stay inside. She was fascinated by Archimedes who inspired her to study mathematics. Her parents disapproved and tried to dissuade her, but eventually relented in the face of her determination.

When Sophie was eighteen years old, in 1794, the École Polytéchnique was founded as a school for science and mathematics. Using the name of M. LeBlanc, she obtained notes from lectures since she couldn't attend them herself. She submitted a paper at the end of term about number theory that impressed Professor Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Even after finding out she was a woman, he agreed to mentor her. He introduced her to other scientists and mathematicians including the German Carl Friedrich Gauss who didn't learn that she was female until several years into their correspondence.

In 1809, the French Academy of Sciences held a contest to explain the law about the vibration of elastic surfaces. Sophie's entry was the only essay the first year, but her lack of formal education was too apparent and she was not awarded the prize. Lagrange aided her and she entered again two years later, earning an honorable mention. She entered one last time after three years and finally won with an essay called "Memoir on the Vibrations of Elastic Plates." The committee noted that there were errors in the essay, but those would not be corrected for decades.

In 1816, Sophie befriended Joseph Fourier who managed to get her tickets to attend the Academy of Science's session, a privilege only normally allowed to the wives of members. She was also invited to attend the Institut de France's session, a great honor for a woman. However, her career was cut short at the age of fifty-five when she died of breast cancer on June 27, 1831. She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

While she didn't have the opportunities within her lifetime that would have made her name well-remembered after her death, Sophie did receive some recognition. Sophie's nephew published some of her works after her death. She has a prize named after her at the Academy of Sciences, in addition to a street and a girl's school named in her honor. Unfortunately, her gender held her back from achieving what she might have but she still managed to forge a way to become a mathematician despite the odds being against her.

A big thank you to my sister Hannah for introducing me to Sophie Germain!

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4