Martha Carey

Here's some information about the other part of my life … when I’m not at Southwestern.

I grew up in Carlsbad, New Mexico, a small city with about a 50-50 split of Latinos and Whites.  One of my most formative experiences was the year I was an exchange student in Spain (between high school and college).  I know how it feels to understand almost nothing - and yet, inability to communicate is not lack of intelligence!

Over 25 years ago, I met my wife Elisabeth when I was a graduate student at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and she was a programmer at Shell.  After I earned my second master’s degree (Computational and Applied Mathematics) we moved to San Diego where I taught at a privileged, wealthy, and mostly White private school.  Our mixed-race daughter did not survive infancy, and I remember her as I strive make the world better for people of color.

During the pandemic, I began to study French, and now I study it and Spanish together to connect all my vocabulary!  I have sung in choirs and been a children’s church choir director.  I don’t play the piano very well anymore (you have to practice!) but I still like it.  Ditto the flute, and a Baroque instrument called the recorder.  I like to sew, though I mostly repair or modify rather than create from scratch.  I like spending time in my garden, and I love to dance and read ridiculous fiction.  (Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite authors.)  I am a fiend with jigsaw puzzles!

To keep balance and manage stress, I walk and do yoga.  I keep a journal and regularly practice a form of Chinese exercise called Qi Gong.  I am a Quaker (member of the Religious Society of Friends, where I worship in silent meditation), and I am a person of faith.

I believe that anyone who’s been broken can be healed, and we owe it to each other to be patient, listen carefully, and respond to what IS, rather than what we want, imagine, or hope.  This philosophy is core to my sense of being and purpose.