On Monday October 15, 2007 Diane and I went to see Danica McKellar, Winnie Cooper from the TV show, The Wonder Years. A real favorite at the Kinnear household. She was discussing her book, Math Doesn't Suck. Also known for her roles on The West Wing and more recently How I Met Your Mother, Danica McKellar is an internationally-recognized mathematician and advocate for math education. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in Mathematics, Danica has been honored in Britain’s esteemed Journal of Physics and the New York Times for her work in mathematics, most notably for her role as co-author of a ground-breaking mathematical physics theorem which bears her name (The Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem). Quite a smart young woman.

Danica didn't look much different than she did on the last episode of the Wonder Years except for the fancy dress and hairdo. She is very petite and looks much younger than her 32 years. She explained how she was terrified of math in junior high and how she overcame it. She wrote the book to help middle school girls overcome the stereotype that girls aren't smart enough to do well in math.

She discussed her acting career a little but mainly discussed her book. She took a lot of questions from the audience, and surprisingly most of them were about math and came from young girls.

 Danica said that she doesn't get to the east coast much. She brought her mom along for the trip.

Jim & Winnie. Eat your heart out Rob.