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I don't think I will ever attain the level of a gifted conversationalist. I still feel as you do that I want to jump in to support or disagree with the speaker. Part of this comes from my undergrad education where I was one of 5 women out of 120 biology majors. Many of my professors, all male at that time, as well as many of the male students did not think women should be taking up space in the sciences, particularly biology, then a pre-med major. Part of this comes from my graduate training. As a pre-doc and post-doc student, our research team sessions were brutal. Every word was challenged, every thought was challenged. Many of the graduate level classes were conducted the same way. I had to develop a defense/offense technique to survive.

This is my third Institute and the continuation of developing the skills of respectful conversation that Paul models.