ABSTRACT
On a rainy early fall day back in the 1990s when John was a professor at the University of New Hampshire, he and I returned from lunch to find a construction crew working outside the window of his office. They were erecting a frame to support something in the trench below them. The structure did not appear to be custom made for this job though it was adjustable and could be modified to fit the particular task. As we watched, one of the workers raised an end of the aluminum scaffold. That shifted the diagonal bracing and the other worker raised his end slightly. His move shifted the original worker’s end as well as the lower supports at the opposite end, a move that both men responded to wordlessly with minor adjustments. One attached a support bracket as the other shifted his end to receive its telescoping arms. And so it went for five minutes while John and I watched their dance.
