Martha Olney

Martha Olney was born in Oakland, CA and grew up in the Bay Area. She very much stumbled into studying economics. It was 1975, the beginning of her sophomore year at the University of Redlands. Class registration was in the sweltering hot gym, with tables lined up around the edges in alphabetical order. The English department did not have the class Olney needed, and so another option was needed.

I backed into the middle of the room. [The tables were] English, then Engineering, and then Economics. I didn’t want to take engineering. There was no line at the economics table. So I went to the economics table and because it was 106 degrees, I was inside a gym, it was hotter than spit, and there was no air conditioning, I said “Do you have anything that’s a Tuesday/Thursday morning class?” They had something called Intro to Micro. I said “Good, I’ll take it” and signed up. That’s it. That’s how well thought out this was. Read more . . .