Gratitude: Magdalena Portmann
Today I went to the celebration of Magdalena Portmann's life. I wanted to wait for this before writing my gratitude post for Magdalena. I'm glad I did wait because the event was so lovely and gave me so much to think about. Thank you to Jackie Cassell and everyone who made it so special. I met Magdalena when I first came to Britain. She was school administrator in the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences (COGS) and one of the first people who made me feel like I had a life in England. I cannot remember the details of my earliest encounters with her, but at some point Magdalena started inviting me to Pizza Express in Lewes on Friday nights, where various friends (some from COGS, some from elsewhere in Magdalena's life) would gather for a nice supper and lots and lots of talk. I was the odd one out, not living in Lewes, but it didn't feel like an effort to take the train in the opposite direction from home at the end of the week. It felt like sanctuary. Magdalena ...