DC Cherry blossoms

Blossom on tree

Took these photos on Capitol Hill this weekend, over the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival

Here is a little glimpse into where I live….

This photo reminds me of a wedding.

These trees have such an entrancing abstract shape!

Hot Times in Mad Science

Once in a great while the clouds of memory, fact, and philosophy part in my mind to reveal a glimpse of the vast unknown that lies beyond. I treasure these moments in humble appreciation of how little I or any of us know about this world or any other. But what is ‘knowing’? Many would say that we only know what we see for ourselves, therefore science has built a framework on this basic concept so we can ‘know’ something we haven’t seen by trusting information that has passed through this highly regulated structure. Indeed, only by standing on the scaffolding of scientific knowledge can any of us hope to see the larger picture of systems, laws and populations.

Rivers of ink have been spilled over the assumptions, implications and justifications for mathematical models of infinitely complex natural systems. I have always regarded the folks who devote their careers to the important yet widely underappreciated task of assigning numbers and patterns to nature with a quiet reverence, and despite the tone of the rest of this post I still do. I spent last week at my first science symposium specifically geared at population assessment of crab stocks in Alaska where researchers presented their findings on just this subject. It was, to say the least, eye-opening. One thing particularly struck me: mathematical models are only as good as the data collectors and model makers. Nearly every talk pointed to some potential flaw in models currently in place to determine the management of fisheries in Alaska, which by the way is among the most sophisticated states in the nation in fisheries management. My jaw repeatedly fell to the floor as I considered the implications of our collective lack of knowledge in foundational biology. What if king crabs live an average of 10 years instead of 20? What if snow crabs grow more slowly or are less effective in reproducing in different parts of the state?

The symposium ended, and I made my way back to DC with a renewed sense of purpose. I had been swept up in the glamour of a political life, but who could blame me… it’s quite a switch from canneries to embassies. I forgot what brought me to DC in the first place, the overwhelming feeling that things can and must be run better from the bottom up and the top down. Solving fisheries management problems is not optional, and if you ask me the solution has to contain some more conservatism. Also, allowing researchers to focus on critical science issues instead of those the 111^th Congress finds interesting (or “shovel-ready”) this fiscal year is key, and that solution is a little more liberalism.

One thing I’ve learned this week: The next time I ponder the unknown, I will take a moment to look down at the scaffolding.

Sing one for them.

From the ages of 8 to 18, I spent my free time singing and traveling to perform in chorales and chamber groups. Through music I’ve seen Mozart’s cathedral in Salzburg, a 100 year old woman’s birthday party, and the US secret service’s preparation for foreign heads of state, but I just as vividly remember milling around back stage at Disneyland. The movie “Pocahontas” was rocketing toward the height of its popularity and as such the perimeter of our stage was sprinkled heavily with large, cartoonish leaves – an ironically fitting false front for a false frontier. From the audience’s perspective the scene was idyllic in the swaddling sense only Disney has perfected, but standing on stage looking out all I saw was a thicket of lumber loosely held together in a Jenga-like patchwork of logs in various states of decay. All traces of the majesty on the other side were gone. I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder this vision because it was time to perform. And if you’re going to sing, might as well sing it for someone else.

I may not be a singer anymore, but the art of performance is a valuable skill that certainly came in handy last week. It started with a few long-awaited Hill briefings. I have to admit that I’m undeniably star struck in the presence of our news-making American politicians (speaking of false fronts and false frontiers). During these briefings I was able to see how the same set of key messages can be tailored to grasp the attention of a staffer, a republican or a democrat senator. For many years I tutored students of varying backgrounds, degrees of education, and levels of English competency. To rephrase a message in order to get it across to someone unfamiliar with the subject matter is not wrong, in fact it is exactly what should be done to avoid misinformation. You can see by my sharing this thought process that I’ve struggled with the concept and practice of Senate ‘briefings’ but ultimately even a level of communication so abbreviated that it can be reduced to a half page of approved talking points is much better than none at all. Going to Capitol Hill is always an adventure, and once again I found myself hopelessly lost in the tunnels under the Senate offices. Thankfully next to the Senate Hair Salon there was a small gift shop where I was able to pick up a few trinkets for my friends and colleagues in Alaska.

A few hours later I was greeted in Anchorage with a nostalgia for my Alaskan life. It immediately pervaded my memory to the degree that the entire interval I’d spent in DC became a blur, as if it had passed by over a weekend or even a vivid dream. I’m sure this was at least in part a coping strategy as I needed to focus on my thesis defense the following day. And after countless long nights and stressful days fussing over it in the final weeks of preparation, I was overcome relief that it was finished and I’d passed. Exhaustion quickly followed suit, but I was delighted to fly to Kodiak over the weekend and celebrate with the dear friends who could make living on a tiny island off another island off mainland Alaska feel like the happiest place on earth, which incidentally is exactly what they did. Speaking of the happiest place on earth…

It struck me that perhaps a whole forest somewhere was cut down to prop up these fake leaves on that Disneyland stage… I wondered what Pocahontas might have said about that. Since then when I’ve come across a particularly lovely place I ask myself, “am I seeing the forest supporting this facade, or just the leaves?”. Is policy the structure behind the government, or is it the product of its supports? Is my pervasive nostalgia triggered by a genuine love of Alaska as a whole, or just the fleeting glamour of the life it at times provides? The answer to these questions won’t come easily, but I’m sure eventually they will come.

A drum roll, please.

p-u-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r…. The beginning of a drum roll is always the best part, that knee-jerk gleeful reaction of knowing that something is going to happen…. really soon! By the middle it sinks in that this raw excitement might not culminate in what I want to hear, so to avoid stressing I submit myself to excessively philosophical rationalizations of life until I’ve either a) made peace with either outcome or b) lost my train of thought and started the process again. That’s the thing about drum rolls- they’re all exclamation points and no text. Such went the last 7 days.

At work, the bulk of my time was spent finalizing preparations for a barrage of “Hill Briefings” next week. As a government entity, we are not allowed to directly ask politicians for money as that is the larger agency’s (in my case, NOAA’s) role. This rule is part of a checks-and-balances system to avoid excessive earmarking, targeted spending for a representative’s pet projects, of government funds. To keep our foot in the pond (without splashing perceptibly) we can legally ‘brief’ members of Congress on our sanctuaries and programs, especially the ones that are or could be in their district. I applied for the Knauss Fellowship in part to learn how messages pass up the chain from constituents and researchers to politicians, so this was an interesting week for me although the day-to-day preparations of briefing materials involved more paper-clipping than politicking. Next week’s trainings and meetings will be truncated for me, however, due to a more pressing demand for my presence in Alaska. By my next entry I will have defended my masters thesis! I will stick around Anchorage for another week to attend and present in a scientific conference on crab biology, so my next two updates will come from the Last Frontier.

Yesterday, in an effort to experience the political diversity of DC I wandered over to a nearby political conference. It was certainly something new, and if you find yourself in DC it is worth the effort to gaze upon the exposed roots of ideology and activism for any party.  On the opposite side of town, a couchsurfer staying with me this weekend attended an 11,000 strong youth conference on reforming energy policy in the US. She told me that last night a few thousand of them got bored and decided to storm the White House chanting ‘Wake Up, Obama!” and “What does democracy look like?/ This is what democracy looks like!”. Apparently the secret service was surprisingly benign, although snipers were in prominent display. I’m planning to check out their rally on the national mall tomorrow morning, but not the mass arrest staged at the Capitol Hill coal-fired power plant. No thanks, I have a job and a plane to catch in 3 days!

As I wait for meetings with Senators, a DC protest rally, and my thesis defense the drums roll on at a feverish pitch…. r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-at!