“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.”
On her NASA calculations:
“Early on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start. I said, ‘Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.’ That was my forte.”
Katherine really stood out in her field because she was the only woman who asked questions.
“The women did what they were told to do,” she explained. “They didn’t ask questions or take the task any further. I asked questions; I wanted to know why.“
In 2011, when asked if she still counts things:
“Oh, yes. And things have to be parallel. I see a picture right now that’s not parallel, so I’m going to go straighten it. Things must be in order.”
The sky is blue and all the leaves are green. The sun’s as warm as a baked potato. I think I know precisely what I mean when I say it’s a shpadoinkle day!
And with that, I’m getting the fuck off this couch and I’m going to clean this apartment!