Beauty and Caring: On Noticing

When I was five or six, my grandfather tried to explain square roots to me because of a time he saw on the clock; years later, an address caught my attention on the way to the beach; the memory of an ordinary childhood dinner eventually became the starting point for a meal I wanted to cook for my parents.

In this talk, I'll follow these stories through math, family, and food. They begin with small details: a clock, a number on a map, a bowl of curry. Paying attention to them led me to questions and projects I hadn't anticipated, and gave me ways to share what I cared about with people I love.

I'm interested in what happens between noticing something and deciding it deserves our time. What makes a detail beautiful to us? Why do certain memories stay with us? What might happen if we took our small curiosities more seriously? I hope these stories give you space to think about something you find beautiful, an interest you've put aside, or a person you'd like to make something for.