Five Things

I've been shorthanded at work for the last month and a half- hence my lack of posting. In celebration of National Coming Out Day (tomorrow!) I have previously blogged about my own coming out- but I've now told most of that story (the bits of the story are here, here, and here. UrSpo recently did a post that serves nicely as a meme appropriate for a day dedicated to honesty in identity. The question is simple:

What five things would you pick to symbolize yourself?


1. Leon. This should surprise nobody. I have spent over half my life with the man. He has helped me to become the man I am today and my life would be greatly impoverished without him.


2. A butterfly net. Butterflies have at various times of my life been my hobby or my career, but they have always been my passion. Most people who know me strongly associate me with them. My current net has accompanied me across the country, and to many exotic places including Ecuador, Malaysia and Mexico, so it also represents my love of travel.

3. Home made cheese. Although a relatively recent interest, cheese making represents a lot of what I like about food and cooking. The end result is something that I really enjoy sharing with family and friends. For me, cheese making appeals to both head and heart. My heart responds to the nurturing aspects of making something good for people who mean a lot to me. For a while I was teaching the process to a friend and felt similarly about that experience. My head really enjoys the chemistry involved.

4. A Spo-shirt. This object is really about friendship. UrSpo makes fabulous Hawaiian-style shirts, and I am the proud recipient of several of these. A handmade gift such as this (or, for example, jam or tomatillo salsa) is a beautiful expression of friendship. I choose this item both as a specific emblem of my friendship with Spo and as a more general symbol of the importance of friendship in my life.


5. Bluff Spring Fen. I got the Fen at about the same time that I got Leon. It has been a joint project and a labor of love for nearly thirty years now. I would have had no idea when I started volunteering there, but the fen has influenced huge parts of my life: where I live, my job, my marriage. As with all great loves it has been the source of both joy and heartache. My decision to become involved remains one of the most fulfilling transformative experiences of my life.

Happy Coming Out Day to all!

Then & Now Meme

This one is from UrSpo. I liked it, and so I have stolen it.

Then ~ October 1989
1. Age: 31.
2. Romantic Status: Coupled.
3. Occupation: Research Biochemist for a biotechnology company.
4. Fun night out: Dinner out with my partner.
5. My BFFs: Gary and Gary
6. I spent way too much time: I don’t regret much about how I spent time then. That was the last year that I really liked biotech.
7. I spent not enough time: Interacting with the gay community. I felt rather isolated back then.
8. I wanted to be when I grew up: well known in my field of study
9. Biggest concern: Whether my relationship would be viable in the long run.
10.What my biggest concern should have been: Whether my relationship would be viable in the long run.
11. Where did I live: Elgin, IL
12. Dumbest thing I did that year: Not get it about how resource allocation really worked in my company.
13. If I could go back now and talk to myself I would say: There’s an emerging technology called phage display. Check it out. Also, have you ever considered learning how to make your own cheese?

Now ~ October 2009
1. Age: 51.
2. Romantic Status: Married. Same guy I was with in ’89. Thanks, Canada!
3. Occupation: Museum Curator.
4. Fun night out: Dinner with friends.
5. My BFFs: I fell very fortunate to have a rich life with friends, and that Gary and Gary from’89 still make the list.
6. I spend way too much time: Chasing funding.
7. I spend not enough time: Concentrating on the tasks at hand. It’s trendy to claim ADD, so I’ll just say that I’m easily distracted.
8. I want to be when I grow up: Well known in my field of study. It seems to be working out much better with this field than the one I was in 20 years ago.
9. Biggest concern: The vicissitudes of aging.
10. What my biggest concern should be: Balancing work with the rest of my life.
11. Where do I live: Elgin, IL.
12. Dumbest thing I have done this year: I’m having trouble coming up with something. Perhaps this means that I don’t take enough chances.
13. What I think I would say to myself in 10 years: Wasn’t that a time?

Summary
1. What do I miss most from 1989: The vitality of being 31 and still having most of my life ahead of me.
2. What do I miss least from 1989: Uncertainty about my relationship.
3. What have I accomplished in 20 years that I am most proud of: Participating in the significant advancement of the ecological integrity of Bluff Spring Fen.
4. What have I NOT accomplished in 20 years that I wish I had: I wish I had a more extensive publication record.

Nature Book Lovers Meme

I was tagged for a meme by ARJ at Science on Tap some time ago, and didn't even realize it until recently. The meme is simple:

Increasingly our daily lives are bound by a man-made technological world, yet most believe it important to maintain a connection to the natural world. Cite a half-dozen-or-so books you would recommend every young person read by the end of their school years to help them maintain a sense of connection to, and value in, the natural world.

I'll try for books that would be appropriate for folks at different stages of their educations.

1. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

This story of wilderness, survival and growing up was the first book I ever read that would qualify as nature writing. I wanted to be Sam and to understand the natural world as closely as he did.

2. Wild Animals I have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

I wondered if people still read this when I looked it up on Amazon. I'm delighted to see that they do. My favorite entry was SIlverspot, The Story of a Crow.

3. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.

We all need the fierce green fire.

4. My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir.

How did I get through the first 49 years of my life without reading this? I wish I had been exposed to the lyrical beauty of Muir's writing when I was still in school. Guilty admission: Thoreau has never really done it for me. Muir is awesome.

5. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin.

Because it changed everything.

6. My last entry is not a particular book at all. I would recommend getting, reading, and re-reading a field guide to some branch of the natural world. It doesn't matter which one. Don't just use it to look up new or interesting species that you have found. Read it. Look at the pictures. Get to know even those species that aren't from your part of the country. Think about which species you would like to encounter some day. If you have not previously done this sort of thing, I can guarantee that you will see the world a bit differently after the exercise than you did before.

Five Greatest Joys in Nature

This comes from Roy in England at The Fenland Walker blog. I wasn't tagged, but this is (gasp) a meme that is actually on topic for this blog. How could I resist?

My five greatest joys in nature:

1. Butterflies

You're shocked, I know. One of the things that I worried about when I switched from the biotech industry to the museum world was that I would stop loving butterflies and simply see them as work. It hasn't been a problem at all. I started to learn to identify butterflies when I was 7. They have been companions in the natural world for almost my entire life.

2. Bluff Spring Fen



If any one thing is my life's work, it's my stewardship at Bluff Spring Fen. I was introduced to the Fen by Leon at the very beginning of our relationship. In addition to being a passion in its own right, it is part of the glue that has bonded us together for many years.

3. The Sea The Sea (heading title for Pablo)

I grew up a 15 minute walk from the Atlantic Ocean. I went through a period of genuine mourning for it when I moved to Chicago 30 years ago. My grief was alleviated by my growing love of the tallgrass prairie and of Bluff Spring Fen. Still, 30 years on I still miss the ocean. I think I miss the rhythm of the tides most of all.

4. El Orden de las Solidades (heading title for TR)

The high plains. The desert. The high Sierra or Rocky Mountains. I'm drawn to the wild and lonley places of the American West. I love the silence and the vastness. I love the awareness of my own insignificance while I'm immersed in the wilderness. I always feel grounded and centered when there.

5. Tiger Beetles

The most recent of my five joys in Nature. I was introduced to them four years ago by my friend John from Colorado. I love them because learning about their biology represents a new intelectual challenge for me as I enter the later phases of middle age. They remind me that I need never stop learning.

100 Things Meme

It's so hard to keep an insect blog sparkling and appealing during a long Chicago winter. Plus I'm bored- the holidays are over. Key West is still weeks away. The weather is just dull. A meme might liven things up. This one's from a pretty cool blog called Guadalupe Storm Petrel. I found it when I was doing a Google search on island endemic birds. It's a random list of thigs one might do. I've bolded the ones I've actually done.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis- This is noteworthy?
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch- Cheesemaking!
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked (sadly, no racy stories)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb- Gary Lee or Gary could probably help me achieve this one.
26. Gone skinny dipping- occasionally with others.
27. Run a Marathon- But Leon has. Twice.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse Two, actually.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise - but not until about a year ago.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - being gainfully employed for an uninterrupted 25 years helps.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing - Mostly during grad school. I gave it up. Too many wasp stings. Try injecting yourself with epinephrine while dangling from a rope some time.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight- sadly never in a romantic context.
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted I may be cheating a bit here. It was pastels rather than paints. I was 12 at the time.
48. Gone deep sea fishing - but I've fished in the ocean many, many times
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain- Um, once was even with a girl.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie- Nope. Not all of us can experience the glamor of being a cowboy zombie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching- I've even seen the whales.
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma -but my blood has been unwelcome for many years.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check :-(
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - My stuffed elephant Tuzzy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square- Years ago, it was pretty seedy back then.
74. Toured the Everglades- Does canoeing count?
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London- Briefly, from a taxi while driving from the train station to Heathrow.
77. Broken a bone -two, actually. Not at the same time.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle- The driver was straight, but I still enjoyed hanging on while speeding through town.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person Edited to add: My Dad and I even had to carry Chilmark Girl back from Bright Angel Point (she was recovering from mono).
80. Published a book- Only a chapter
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper- yeah, Media Madness and all that. (A lot of the links on that page have expired).
85. Read the entire Bible- not in one sitting, of course.
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - Trout
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury- For one afternoon. Then the defendant (an insurance company) settled.
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one- too many.
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone- OMG I just got a new iPhone!!!
99. Been stung by a bee- Once it even resulted in full-blown anaphylactic shock.
100. Ridden an elephant

55/100. Not bad.

Six Things Meme

Way back last week, Bug Girl tagged me with a meme.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


1. In college I took up figure skating. I can still do an inside eagle and a waltz jump.

2. The first time I ever saw the Pacific Ocean was in Lima, Peru

3. I have Hitchhiker's Thumb.

4. My first time was when I was 21.

5. I hate raw tomatoes.

6. The worst year of my life: Age 13. But maybe age 18. The best: Age 40. Though life since 40 has continued to be pretty sweet.

I don't tag people on memes. I also break chain letters.

Five Things Meme

Ted from Beetles in the Bush tagged me with a meme. It's been quite a while since I've done one, so what the heck.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

• Designing exhibits for the soon to open Nature Museum
  
• Making my first attempts at breeding butterflies in the laboratory
• Attending my first ever Invertebrates in Captivity Conference in Arizona
  
• Refinancing my mortgage and going from sole to joint homeowner
  
• Loving my job for the first time in my life
  

5 things on my to do-list today:

• Take cats to vet for rabies vaccines - check
  
• Go to the bank to make a deposit - check
  
• Write Sarah's letter of recommendation
  
• Laundry
  
• Put up outside Christmas lights
  

5 snacks I love:

• Ruffles potato chips
  
• Caramello
  
• Northern Spy apples
  
• Mixed salted nuts
  
• Oreos
  

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire:

• Build home on Olympic Penninsula property
  
• Purchase property in southeast Arizona
  
• Pay off remaining debt from cost of building Museum
  
• Contributions to Friends of Bluff Spring Fen, Conservation Foundation
  
• Spend an entire year collecting insects at exotic locales around the world
  

5 places I've lived:

• Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts (childhood)
  
• Waterville, Maine (undergraduate)
  
• Evanston, Illinois (grad school)
  
• Des Plaines, Illinois (starting work)
  
• Elgin, Illinois (home ownership)
  

5 jobs I've had:

• Stockboy (3 mos)
  
• Machine Operator (stamp press and injection mold) (6 mos)
  
• Research Assistant (5 yrs)
  
• Research Scientist (13 yrs)
  
• Curator of Biology (11 yrs)

New Food Meme

I haven't done a meme in ages. This one is from Lemuel. I get the majority of my memes from him (thanks, Lem).

1) Bold all the items you have eaten.
2) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison - Yes. It was stringy.
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue – To quote cooking goddess Ann Hodgeman,"This seems like it’s been dusted with seventies powder. I expect to find it between the chocolate cheesecake and the Metrocal." But I like it anyway.
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush – Mmm. Eggplant. Love it.
11. Calamari - Yes. Meh.
12. Pho - Years ago in a Vientnamese restaurant. OK only.
13. PB&J sandwich – As a child I would have starved without this item. I still like them.
14. Aloo gobi – Yes, I LOVE Indian food.
15. Hot dog from a street cart – Yes, but not often. I really like them at the ballpark (Go Red Sox!)
16. Epoisses – Just recently. It was in a cheese flight that Chilmarrk Girl gave me for my last birthday. Not bad, though it was my least favorite cheese in the flight.
17. Black truffle – Never alone, but I’ve had it in things a bunch of times. A peak taste experience.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes – Yes, many times. Do I get extra points for having made my own elderberry, blackberry and apple wines?
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream – When I was a child, I was obsessed with the color green. This often meant eating pistachio ice cream, even though I wasn’t wild about it. I bet I’d like it better now.
21. Heirloom tomatoes - Yes, though I’m not a fan of raw tomatoes.
22. Fresh wild berries – Good god, yes. Life without them would be flat and colorless.
23. Foie gras - Only a few times. This is definitely a guilty pleasure, because I really like it. I even managed to have a bit during the time that it was illegal in Chicago.
24. Rice and beans - Yes.
25. Brawn, or head cheese – No, but I love the reference to this in George Carlin’s Picky Eater routine.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - I’ve tried a tiny bit of raw habeñero perpper, which is pretty much the same thing. Yowza! But they’re great in salsa.
27. Dulce de leche - Father, I have sinned. I have eaten Oreo cookies with dulce de leche in place of the crème filling. Given the opportunity, I’d do it again.
28. Oysters - Yes, raw, fried, and in soup. I could do without the raw. The others were good, but fried oysters are a distant second to fried clams.
30. Bagna cauda – Yes. My arteries are clogging just thinking about it.
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl – Can we talk? I’m a clam chowder snob. Growing up on the coast of Massachusetts will do that to you. Clam chowder is a sacramental food. It should never been eaten fron a sourdough bread bowl, and putting tomatoes in it is a crime against nature.
33. Salted lassi – A tiny sip. Yecch!
34. Sauerkraut – Yep. Never again.
35. Root beer float – Yes, and it’s been way too long. I’ve made both homemade root beer and homemade vanilla ice cream before. Those two really need to get together some time.
36. Cognac with a fat cigar – Why would anyone want to do that?
37. Clotted cream tea - Yes, in the Lakes District of England.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo – Yes, but never a really authentic one with filet powder. I’d really like to try that.
40. Oxtail - Yes. Oxtail soup is camping food.
41. Curried goat – Just recently. In St. Maartin on our curuise last winter, Someone (of Spo and Someone) had curried goat and let me try a bite. I was glad I got the conch fritters.
42. Whole insects – No. Many are probably surprised here. I worry because I have an arthropod allergy (see below).
43. Phaal – No, but I have had other really hot curries. Lamb vindaloo is wonderful.
44. Goat’s milk – Only made into cheese.
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more - I don’t like whisky. This would be pearls before swine.
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala - A big favorite of mine.
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut – More than I would care to admit.
50. Sea urchin – Yes, as sushi. Meh.
51. Prickly pear – Yes, a bunch of ways. As candy, in Canada Dry Cactus Cooler soda. Chopped pads (not fruit) in salsa. The two best: prickly pear jelly from Kathie and a single prickly pear fruit carefully picked from a plant in Garden Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains and eaten on the trail while viewing a very rare butterfly.
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone – No, but I really want to try this.
54. Paneer – Yea. Among other things, it’s in Aloo Gobi.
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal – No. I eat cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. Big Macs have too much crap on them.
56. Spaetzle – Yes. Meh.
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips - Yes.
61. S’mores – Yes. Among other places, over bonfires during winter Fen workdays. Did you know that Scrabulous accepts smore as a word?
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin – You can eat kaolin?
64. Currywurst
65. Durian – No, but I will probably try it next year in Malaysia. But the fruit I really want to try there is mangosteen.
66. Frogs’ legs – Yes. Meh.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Yes to all four. Beignets were the best.
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain – Many times in Latin America. In Peru they were a delicious remedy for Athuhualpa’s revenge.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho – Yes. Meh.
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost – No, but I’ve had the closely related Myost. It was OK.
75. Roadkill .
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - Yes, I’m embarrassed about how many of these I had in my youth. Berry was my favorite. It’s been many years.
78. Snail – Yes. They’re a great excuse to eat garlic butter.
79. Lapsang souchong - Yes. Interesting occasionally, it would never be my regular cup of tea (so to speak).
80. Bellini – Yes. Surprisingly, only once, because I liked it.
81. Tom yum – Yes. Yum is the operative word here.
82. Eggs Benedict – Yes. OK only.
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – No, but I have done the tasting menu at Charlie Trotter’s, so I’ve come close.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare – If synonmous with rabbit, yea. If this refers to a true hare, then no.
87. Goulash -Yes.
88. Flowers – Yes, many times and kinds.
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate - Oh, my yes.
91. Spam – Yes. My most memorable: At a guest house on the island of Dominica, I was offered ham and eggs for breakfast. I got Spam and eggs. .
92. Soft shell crab I can’t eat crustaceans because I’m really allergic to them. The few times I’ve had them they have tasted wonderful, but it’s a pretty violent allergy for me. This is why I won’t eat insects.
93. Rose harissa I’ve had both rose pudding and harissa, but never the two together. Harissa is a great spice.
94. Catfish – Yes.
95. Mole poblano – Good mole poblano is a sublime experience.
96. Bagel and lox - Yes.
97. Lobster Thermidor – No. See #92. .
98. Polenta – Yes. Uninspiring by itself, it’s a good vehicle for serving other things.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee – I hate coffee.
100. Snake – Never had the opportunity, but I wouldn’t turn it down.

Bonus: What food item have you tried that should be on this list but isn't?
Cuy, or guinea pig. I had it during a trip to Peru in the early 1990s. It's served with the head, paws and claws still attached. I found it greasy and nasty.

Book Meme

I haven't done a meme for a while. This one comes from Lemuel, who has been my primary meme source in life. It's also yet another excuse to get all geeky on everyone:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).

2. Turn to page 123.

3. Find the 5th sentence

4. Post the 5th sentence.

I'm at the breakfast table right now. This is from the book sitting right next to me:

Within the genus Cicindela alone, numerous examples of this geographic pattern are found among species in the subgenera Cicindina, Ifasina, Lophyridia, Calochroa, and Cosmodelia.

Aside to Lem- I'm sure you now regret asking. My site meter will go into free fall at any moment.

WInter Doldrums and a Boring Post

I officially have the winter doldrums. I'm unmotivated and just kind of blah. It's probably due to coming off of an extremely busy time of my life, but the short days of winter are not helping matters any. I was gently excoriated by UrSpo last night about my slow blog posting. What to do? A meme, of course. This one is from the Spomeister, but a lot of other folks have been doing it.

# 1-What is in the back seat of your car right now? My gym stuff, a bit of homemade cheese that I forgot to bring in to work with me, and my ice scraper.
# 2- When was the last time you threw up? About 3 years ago I got some kind of food poisoning. I remember it was summer because the windows were all open. I spent most of the night in the bathroom.
# 3-What’s your favorite curse word? The F bomb.
# 4-Name 3 people who made you smile today? It’s 6:45 AM. I haven’t even seen 3 people yet today.
# 5-What were you doing at 8 a.m. this morning? It’s before 8. Yesterday morning I was preparing a report for the USDA.
# 6-What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Commuting to work,
# 7-Where were you born? Wareham, MA
# 8-Have you ever been to a strip club? Nope.
# 9-What is the last thing you said aloud? Goodnight, dear.
# 10-What is the best ice cream flavor? Homemade raspberry.
# 11-What was the last thing you had to drink?. Earl Grey tea
# 12-What are you wearing right now? Khakis, a yellow Oxford shirt and a brown tweed jacket.
# 13-What was the last thing you ate? High fiber breakfast cereal.
# 14-Have you bought any new clothes this week? No
# 15-Where were you last? In my car.
# 16-What’s the last sporting event you watched? On TV, the final game of the 2007 World Series.
# 17-Who won? The Red Sox. Yay.
# 18-Who is the last person you sent a comment/message while blogging? Rodger at Rodger Dodger.
# 19-Ever go camping? Many times. I have blogged about it.
# 20-Where do you live? Northeast IL.
# 21-What song are you listening to? Nothing at the moment
# 22-Do you tan? Yes.
# 23-Do you drink your soda from a straw? Yes if it’s in a glass, no if it’s in a can.
# 24-What did your last text message say? I’ve never sent a text message.
# 25-Who are your best friends? Rick and Mel.
# 26-What are you doing tomorrow? Helping a new employee ease into her first day of work here.
# 27-Where is your mom right now? Pleasant Street Cemetery in Massachusetts.
# 28-Look to your right, what do you see? Plants of the Chicago Region by Swink and Wilhelm.
# 29-What color is your watch? Silver. Real cheapo Timex digital.
# 30-What do you think of when you think of where you live? The Fox River
# 31-Ever ridden on a roller coaster? Yes. I love them but don’t go often.
# 32-What is your birthstone? Topaz.
# 33-Do you go in at a fast-food place or just hit the drive through? Both. I eat more fast food than I should.
# 34-What is your favorite number? 1024. It’s 2^10.
# 35-Do you have a dog? I have 2 cats.
# 36-Last person you talked to on the phone? UrSpo and Someone.
# 36-Have you met anyone famous? Harold Edgerton, Liza Minelli, Richard Daley, Richard Durban, Rahm Emmanuel, Jane Goodall, Paul Erlich, Tomas Cech (Nobel laureate)..
# 37-Any plans today? Work on Monarch statistics.
# 38-How many states have you lived in? Massachusetts, Maine, Illinois.
# 39-Ever go to college? Colby College (BA), Northwestern University (Ph.D.)
# 40-Where are you right now? At work.
# 42-Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Winter.
# 43-Are you struggling to forgive someone right now? No.
# 44-Are you allergic to anything? Bee stings, codeine, crustaceans. I find it ironic that 2 of my allergies are to arthropods.
# 45-Favorite pair of shoes? Shoes- meh.

10 Things

I was recently tagged by MarkH to do a meme.

• Simply tell us 10 things about you that we don’t already know or would find interesting.

Well, I don't know if these will be interesting or not, but at least most people here probably don't know:

1. I was a born-again Christian for high school and part of college. I attended a Chirstian coffehouse sponsored by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. We were all reading and discussing writers like C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald (and, of course, the Bible). I was completely committed to that world view until I took a course in Biblical literature in college and was exposed to textual criticism.

2. Although I enjoy music, I am hopelessly un-musical. I have sometimes suspected that I was deprived of music at a critical period of brain development. Some of my tastes in music are fairly pedestrian, but some totally baffle people. I enjoy heavy metal and alternative (the Butthole Surfers rock). My partner is puzzled by my recent interest in country and western.

3. I have never taken a single formal course in entomology. My undergraduate degree is in biology. For my doctoral work, I studied biochemistry. Now people treat me as though I’m a bug expert. Shh…don’t tell anyone, ‘K?

4. I am just completing my fifth decade of life. Three of the decades (first, third and fifth) have been wonderful. I’m hoping that the sixth does not follow the pattterns of the second and fourth.

5. Cats are the most wonderful creatures on the planet. This is not my opinion- it’s an objectively verifiable fact. Just ask the cats.

6. I was painfully shy growing up. Back then, if someone had suggested that as an adult I would be doing lots of public speaking and appearing on television and radio with some regularity, I would have thought they were nuts.

7. I was born on Cape Cod. I offer this one because it appeals to my sense of romanticism.

8. I am extremely glad that the whole "reparative therapy" for sexual orientation fakery was not discussed widely during my adolescence. Although I have been fully out for over half my life, I had lots of trouble coming to terms with my sexual orientation in my late teens (see #1). Had I thought I could be "cured" back then, I might have pursued one of those damaging options.

9. I was 26 before I had my own car.

10. I have wanted to be a scientist since I was 12.

Heros Meme

This past weekend I attended a prairie conference in Chicago, One of the talks presented by Steve Packard, a luminary in the Illinois prairie movement and a long time friend of mine, concerned the heroes of the movement. Here in Illinois, we have a lot of people from a wide array of walks in life who are doing important ecological restoration work on a volunteer basis. I started out as one of them before making it my profession. Many of them have stories that include elements of the heroic, and Steve was telling some of these stories. It got me thinking about my own heroes and what it means to be heroic. I realized that I have a lot of heroes, and decided to develop a meme on the subject as a way of picking a manageable segment of them to write about.


Who is your hero from the world of literature?

This one is easy. My all-time most inspiring literary hero is Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. He understands moral clarity in a way that today’s self-proclaimed moralists can’t even begin to approach. He embraces concerns that revolve around big issues like justice and dignity, and does so fearlessly. More importantly, he projects strength and courage and doesn’t run when his principles are challenged.

Who is you hero from the history of your own culture?

Here in the United States, we have always had politicians (and worse yet, "deciders"), but only rarely have we had statesmen in our history. This one was tough, because although we a bunch of good choices from the earlier history of our country, I can think of none them from recent history. Thomas Jefferson’s clarity of thought and brilliant reasoning are, in my mind, a crucial part of why the US holds some hope of weathering even the current dark times in which we find ourselves. Jefferson distilled the best thought of the Enlightenment into a political system that may be seeing one of its darkest hours in today’s denial of reality by the politically ascendant. May his ideas triumph in the end.

Who is your hero from world history?

Nelson Mandela taught the world how to be right gracefully in the face of opposition by those who were being wrong savagely. He paid an incredibly high price for his principles, and was neither destroyed nor irreparably embittered by it. Sometimes when I am feeling impatient in the face of the bigotry that gay people still face, I consider Mandela who suffered much harsher bigotry and paid a much higher price in fighting it than I have ever been called to. It helps keep things in perspective.

Who is your professional hero?

I probably have an unfair advantage in that there are many people from the scientific world who embody the heroic: Lavoisssier, Marie Curie, Darwin, and many others. My choice is Dr. Rosalind Franklin, a crystallographer who studied DNA structure at about the same time as Watson and Crick. She did amazing work at a time when science was still very much a man’s field, enduring an unflattering (inappropriately, in my opinion) depiction in James Watson’s memoir The Double Helix. She did some of her finest work as she was dying of cancer, and likely would have won the Nobel had she lived (Nobel prizes are not awarded posthumously). She has remained a role model for my entire career.

Who is your hero from your own personal life? Someone whose name will not be familiar to many people but who exemplifies the heroic in an everyday way.

My maternal grandfather died when I was 14. Before I was born he was a teacher, and by the time I came along, a newspaper reporter. When I was in grade school- from the early to mid 1960s- he would occasionally take me along to the police station when he was picking up police blotter notes for his work. I was in awe of how easily he interacted with these (and other) powerful and important people. He was the only person before me in my family to have an advanced educational degree (a Master's in education). It’s been over 35 years since his death, and his memory still inspires me today.

Books that changed me

This is a cool meme that I got from Spo. Five books that had a profound effect on me. Not necessarily favorites, or great books. I was somehow different after I read each of these books than I had been before.

1. Beautiful Butterflies by J. Moucha (Author) and F. Prochazka (Illustrator). Amazingly, still available used from Amazon. It’s a coffee table book with stunning illustrations of amazing butterflies from around the world. I got it as an eighth birthday present from my great aunt shortly after it came out in 1965. The book contributed to my developing love of butterflies, but had two other profound effects on my life. The most spectacular species were all from far away places, and I immediately began a lifelong romance with travel. I dreamed of seeing several favorites someday, a dream that was recently realized for Morpho cypris in Costa Rica. The book also had numerous species with very strange names. Rather than an easily understood name like Cabbage White, these butterflies had two names, written in italcs in what appeared to be a foreign language. A person’s name appeared after them. This was my first exposure to the names of the some of the great lepidopterists from the age of exploration: Hübner, Bates, Staudinger. But it was more than that- these names had the ring of magic words to them. They haunted me. They were my first introduction to scientific nomenclature.

2. A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch. I discovered Iris Murdoch’s writing at the recommendation of a friend while I was in graduate school. She remains a favorite author, and this is my favorite of her works. It was the first Murdoch novel that I read, and contained a very positive depiction of a gay couple, Simon and Axel. I read it when I was just coming out, and carried the images of a reasonably functional gay couple with me for a long time.

3. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. This book was also a recommendation from a friend, this time while I was in college. Not the greatest science fiction novel that I have read by any stretch of the imagination, it was none the less a good read. I had tried and rejected science fiction previously, probably due to an unfortunate first pick (one of Heinlein’s more military works). I had come away from that experience with the impression that scifi stories were just macho paeans to militarism and weapons technology. This book had a real story to it, however, and got me started on a lifelong love of the genre.

4. The Chronicles of Narnia. My introduction to C.S. Lewis. When I was in high school, I went through a 5 year period as a born-again Christian, largely as a result of reading Lewis’ work and discussing it avidly with a group of students from a local theological seminary (Gordon-Conwell) at a nearby Christian coffeehouse. Althouigh I would later reject Biblical literalism (later still Christianity, and later even still theism), my time as a born-again Christian taught me many things, and provided a very safe haven for a deeply closeted and frightened young man.

5. The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I read this book when I was in the second grade. I resonated with the themes of trying to survive as a very small person in a world made for much larger folk and of being somehow different from others. More importantly than that, this was my first experience of a true love of fiction. It's now over 40 years since I read it, and I can still recall vividly the feeling of not wanting the book to end.

Nasty Food MEME

Ur-Spo has come up with a fun meme about the dark underbelly of food. Here's my shot at it.


1.Your oddest craving?
Fried Clams

2. The forbidden food?
I’m allergic to crustaceans (shrimp, crab, etc.). Fortunately, I’m not allergic to all shellfish (see #1).

3. A dish that makes you queasy?
Pickles

4. Your least favorite food vegetable?
Beets. And doubly so for pickled beets (see #3).

5. Your worst cooking disaster?
I tried a flourless chocolate cake from a cookbook called Beat This once. It looked cooked, but wasn’t. When I opened the springform pan, uncooked chocolate batter went everywhere. I said bad words.

6. A Cooking exercise you don’t do well?
I’m at my least confident cooking meat.

7. Food that arouses the most suspicion?
Head Cheese. The name alone gives me the willies, but it also looks gross.

8. A drink you used to drink but no more?
Raspberry flavored Zarex .

9. Least favorite fast food chain?
Pizza Hut. Why bother since you can get much better pizza just about anywhere?

10. When in doubt, eat….
Pizza (but not by Pizza Hut. See#9)

11. A restaurant faux pas that would get you to speak up?
Saturday night I ordered a glass of Zinfandel at an Italian restaurant and they brought white Zinfandel. Although, actually it was someone else at the table who spoke up- I didn’t want to waste food.

12. Is there something spoiled in the fridge right now?
A Tupperware container of mashed winter squash has been in there since before Christmas.

13. Food you can’t buy as your spouse/partner won’t allow it in the house
Althopugh we both eat things that the other doesn’t like, we don’t forbid food from coming into the house. Perhaps Ur-Spo should have a talk with Someone.

14. Food your spouse/partner likes that you don’t like.
Pickled Herring.

15. Your least favorite type of cuisine?
Japanese. I don’t care for either miso or sushi. The rest of the menu just doesn’t do much for me.

16. I food you hated as a child but now love?
Rice Pilaf. I now eat too much of the stuff (there’s a half stick of butter in the recipe, so it’s bad for you).

Grinch Meme

All this talk in the blogosphere about the wonder of the Christmas season has me in full curmudgeon mode. I’ve never created my own meme before, but I suddenly feel inspired:

1. What do you hate most about Christmas?

The travel! Every year I fly back to New England to spend the holiday with my family. This means travelling at the most crowded time of the year, during some of the worst weather of the year, to see Massachusetts at a rather dismal season. Forget those Currier and Ives images of snow-covered New England. We have snow no more than 1 year in 4. Usually it’s brown, damp and raw. The only redeeming feature is getting to spend time with my family, whom I don’t get to see often enough.

2. What is your least favorite piece of Christmas music?

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney. AIEEEEEE! Words cannot describe how much I loathe that one.

3. What traditional Christmas food OTHER THAN FRUITCAKE (too easy) is best sent down the garbage disposal?

Mincemeat Pie (Yuck).

4. Which animated Christmas TV special leaves you wanting to rip the wallpaper off of the walls?

The Tiny Tree. It's not that it's any more insipid than the many other bad Christmas specials. There is a song in it that's a pathetic ripoff of We Need a Little Christmas that vaults this one to the head of the line.

5. What was you least favorite Christmas gift ever?

When I was in the 5th grade, my great aunt gave me a hand-knit baby yellow hat in a girl’s style. What was she thinking???

6. Who on your Christmas gift list is the hardest to shop for?

My brother. Every year he promises to send a list of gift ideas. If he does, they come at the last minute when what he wants is already sold out. No exception this year. It’s Dec. 21 and I’ve heard…nothing.

7. How would you spend this time of year if you weren’t caught up in all of the holiday madness?

Doing many of the things that everyone says the Christmas season is supposed to be about: spending time with family and friends, taking the opportunity to reflect on how much love there really is in my life and how fortunate I really am in the world. Luckily, the chaos of the season doesn’t blot that out entirely. This year, I have a whole new set of connections that I’ve made through blogging. I’d wish you all a Merry Christmas, but in the spirit of the meme, I say instead BAH, HUMBUG.

Feeling Meme

Being new to blogging, I'm just getting used to some of the terminology. Apparently a meme is a series of questions that gets passed around from blog to blog and people compare their answers. Ur-Spo is a friend who blogs at Spo-Reflections and has recently created the Feeling Meme. Reading the questions of the meme, it's pretty obvious that we're dealing with a psychiatrist here (...so, Douglas, how do you feel about that?). Well, here's my stab at the "feeling meme.:

The most joyful I have ever felt. October 1999 at the grand opening of the museum. My dad and brother flew in from Massachusetts to attend the festivities. My partner came into the city for it, and we were also joined by my friend Rebecca. A lot of friends and acquaintances from Chicago drifted in and out throughout the day. I was just over 2 years into my career change, pleased with what had transpired, feeling very much that I had made the correct decision, and sharing the moment with friends and family.

The most angry I have ever felt. Several years ago, we had a temporary employee in my department. She was trouble from the word go. Always getting into arguments with staff. Making wildly unreasonable demands. I was not her direct supervisor, but rather her boss’ supervisor. In a disagreement that she had with her boss, she wrote a memo to the president of the museum (my boss) claiming that the project had been very poorly managed by her boss and myself. She claimed that when confronted by her about this I had become very defensive. She had actually not said a single word to me about her concerns with the project. That she would lie about me to my boss infuriated me. Two weeks later, she had a shouting match with a museum visitor in a public space. The visitor was angry enough to find out whom to write to complain about it. Appropriate action was taken on my part.

The most at peace I have ever felt. Early mornings over tea while camped above treeline in the High Sierra wilderness. There’s something peaceful about the stillness of that time of day combined with the stark beauty of the landscape. Oddly enough, one of these "most at peace" times for me occurred on September 11, 2001. It would be four days before I would hike back to civilization and learn of the attacks on New York and Washington.

The most shocked I have ever felt. When in high school, the dad of one of my classmates was murdered by her mother. If I recall correctly, a kitchen knife was used. I’d known this classmate fairly well, and had even recently been to a party at their house.

The most embarrassed I have ever felt. No way. There’s no way that I’m going there in a public Internet forum.

The most sad I have ever felt. My mother’s unexpected death in an auto accident. 'Nuff said.

The most frightened I have ever felt. Airplane ride from the West Coast to Chicago. Somewhere near Denver we encountered really heavy turbulence. The plane would dive, engines straining heavily, then labor to climb back upwards. We would abruptly drop vertically, and pitch sharply from side to side. I was terrified. It only lasted about 10 minutes.