493. Alas! A Roadtrip Nation Interview with Ms. Sara Miller McCune

Shannon and I had anticipated in interviewing Ms. Sara Miller McCune... the book and magazine publisher, the entrepreneur, and now philanthropist... for quite a while... since October? But the cards of life fell as they did, and the interview finally was conducted... today! It was well worth the wait. In essence, we had an extensive interview with Sara, but we also had two short interviews with Todd Capps, who is the director of the Holden Foundation, and Michael Todd, the on-line editor of Miller-McCune Magazine, who is frequently a guest speaker to university functions in concern of communicating technical issues to society. I had met and spoken with Michael about 3-4 times before... and when the time is right (and my advisors won't kill me for it)... I hope to intern with the magazine....

Shannon and I have been very persistent about holding a filmed interview with Sara simply because she is one of those individuals who sees clear links with science and society, knowledge and change. The motto of the Miller-McCune Magazine is "turning research into solutions," which seemed completely common sense to her, but apparently is not a mainstream mode of thinking or mentality in journalism. One random man off the street heard the motto from our mouthes and he proclaimed, "Turning research into solutions?!! Ain't that what research is for in the first place?!! DUH!" Ya, well tell a scientist that... Hmmm.... When we asked Sara "Why do you think scientists perceive 'advocacy' to be a cuss word?" Her response was very logistical. In short, the way how science works is through peer-review. All you are trying to do is talk amongst and impress your colleagues in order to achieve credibility. After a while, scientists rack up a "track of credibility" which comes with the baggage of potentially multi-million-dollar laboratory set-ups... just a snowball earth of INERTIAL CREDIBILITY amongst academia, and for you to step out of character and start seeking dialogue to a broader public and express concerns about societal-environmental change pertaining to your research, then all this track record of credibility can be destroyed, slowly or rapidly.... Breaking your inertial credibility is not an option for academic survival... which is ultimately a form of financial survival as well.... And Sara said in similar words, well hey, since scientists aren't in the best possible positions to voice their thoughts, we as Miller-McCune Magazine can work right along side them and be the voice for them to facilitate the translation of research into solutions, whether policy change, grassroots change, or whatever change that needs to incur based on the new knowledge we have acquired. Then again, though the magazine also serves as a safe haven, a venue that allows scientists to express their views on human-environmental change. Scientists are actually frequent contributors to the magazine.

So, this is a very practical, matter-of-fact response I find as valid, but I also find it saddening that people are not allowed to say things simply because of preserving this inertial track record, this inertial accumulation of a certain reputation.... As if lack of freedom of speech is inherently embedded within this human system. *Sigh!*

As a run-down overview, Shannon and I showed up to the headquarters of Miller-McCune Magazine in downtown Santa Barbara around 2:30 pm. We were both somewhat distraught because Shannon's boyfriend Ben is struggling with a severe medical drama, trying to survive a staff infection that has implanted itself in his heart. Gosh, how horrible! All the best to Ben! Our thoughts are with you! But we managed to show up just in time... 2:56 pm, struggling to get inside 804 Anacapa. Apparently the building has historical significance... a little bit of adobe in there somewhere or other... and a changeover of interesting parties, all the way from restaurants to churches.... I was actually a bit thrown off by the layout of the building. First off, there were NO SIGNS anywhere stating that this place was "Miller McCune Magazine." It reminded me of this super-multi-million-dollar-space-ship-like-music-studio I ventured into off of Haley Street (Santa Barbara Sound Design). You could never tell that studio was there from the street; it looked like a plain white-drabby building from the outside! I always perceived journalism headquarters to be some giant big hub with people in crammed cubicles, and layers upon layers upon layers of clutter.... There was a since of common space among everyone. This building was much more spaced out. Everyone had substantial space to themselves, and potentially even their own rooms! There wasn't much clutter up on the walls. Honestly, I think the level of space is superb because I know myself that I do need a lot of space and time to be an effective writer....

Finally, Shannon and I were able to venture into the building, though it was a bit tricky, and we were greeted by Todd Capps, and then Sara soon after. We sat down and "warmed up," familiarized ourselves with each other, and Todd explained how the Holden Foundation was seeking to have more "cohesive efforts" in social-economic-environmental sustainability rather than all this piecemeal patchwork that is currently going on in the non-profit scene... or in general, which includes a redundancy in programs. The first problem is that several non-profits focus on one specialized subject without realizing the interdependent nature of the problem... like environmental groups not accounting for the social factors in environmental problems... or social groups not calibrating their issues of concern to the broader environmental context. The second problem is that several organizations are REDUNDANT in their efforts. I had come to this fundamental epiphany as an undergraduate about 7-8 years ago. I tried to make an "Environmental Resource Guide" toward the end of my undergraduate UCSB experience, and I was just simply frustrated to make a list of campus environmental organizations be simply redundant in their overarching mission statements. It turned out that each organization had slightly different (1) visions (2) methods of achieving those visions (3) issues (4) in different regions (5) composition of individuals. I learned that these redundant organizations reflected more so a byproduct of the properties of human behavior. Humans aggregate in small friendly groups by region / issue of concern, and when an organization reaches a certain scale, then a level of impersonal interaction occurs, and more strict bureaucratic regulations would have to be imposed to maintain the organization in one coherent piece, and dear lordy, who wants to make more bureaucracy in the world... we have enough already....

The Holden Foundation seems to have a great mission in terms of synthesizing the patchwork, but before organizations can actually start having that type of mentality, I think we as a human species need to first start synthesizing the patchwork of our own minds.... Otherwise I don't see much of anything getting anywhere any time soon.... But hey, someone is out in the right direction... We'll see where it all may end up! I'm always open to new experiments! Nevertheless Todd was very open and welcoming to me and Shannon, and it will be interesting to see how the Foundation unfolds.

After the meeting with Todd Capps, Shannon and Sara sat around a wooden table in Sara's office, right behind a very colorful painting. They were very close to a brick wall, so I'm not exactly sure how that will pan out as backdrop footage; it may be slightly cluttering.... It's good to have distance between the subject and the backdrop.... Ohsy wellsy, it's all on the fly anyway.... I did set up a light stand to have a bit more brightness, contrast.... Shannon and I filtered out some main questions we wanted to ask Sara, and overall the interview went very well. Sara was conscious of her speaking softly, and it is actually very helpful for her to state that--I adjusted my camera's volume accordingly.

We ended up talking for about an hour's worth of tape, but I bet about 1.5 hours total. There were lots of jewels and gems that she stated, sometimes very blatantly, and sometimes very subtle. An example of subtlety was when she discussed how life throws so much at you, and you have to learn how to filter and prioritize. In a metaphor she whistefully stated, "You can't pick every single leaf that falls on the ground," and I thought that was a very clever way to make her point. The two blatant, screaming messages came in a quote and a metaphor. The quote: "Money is a renewable resource. Time is not," which I remember was stated by her son. The metaphor: "Life is an open book, not just for reading, but for experiencing, and for writing." This quote was paraphrased a bit, and Sara left the metaphor open-ended for us to interpret for ourselves.

Overall, Shannon and I listened to a fascinating suite of stories about how Sara came to founding Sage Publications, co-founding the McCune Foundation, and setting up the Miller-McCune Magazine. We even had some discussions about Sara's involvement in sustainable development projects in other countries, some through the the collaboration? with Dr. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University (I don't know how or why, but so many arrows have pointed me to the direction of Jeffrey Sachs, time and time again... hopefully it's not just me). Sara even referred us to one of Dr. Sach's programs on sustainable development. I suppose the academic publishing profession started when Sara just graduated from college, as an undergrad, and back in the day, there was still the expectation for women to be housewives, but she had a hunch she wouldn't be one of those. She applied for a few jobs in publishing, and was hired by MacMillan, Inc. (?) Since then, she fell in love with the profession of publishing. Sara specifically mentioned that she did not go to graduate school, though she did consider it, but she was always continuously learning on the job through her authors, and the publishing process itself. It seemed like everything fell into place afterwards. It was surprising to hear from Sara that "educational publishing" has not been so severely hit as other newspapers and other publishing houses in this "changing media climate," and that Sage Publications / Miller-McCune Magazine has of course established an on-line presence to coincide with print media. We also had a splendid series of digressions and personal anecdotes, which were a pleasure to listen to. As a "strict journalist," I probably would have "cut her off" because journalists are to get to the meat right away... but I honestly feel that this mentality is just a bit too inhumane at times, and I wanted the ambiance to be as friendly, conversational as much as possible. Digression is a property of human nature. Let one subject stream into the next even though there are a few curves in the road, or you didn't take the shortest route from point A to point B. There are a lot more gems in the videotape; I can't wait to crack into it, and find more golden soundbites!

It was unfortunate that Sara had to leave a bit in a rush. We didn't have enough time to get a couple of photographs, nor have her participate in our little "art project" of "name," "profession" "quote of the day" written out in our sketch book.... But it all worked out overall. Sara will send me the art project in the mail.

Our grand finale was a comical tour of the Miller-McCune Magazine by thee one-and-only Michael Todd, who somehow establishes his own humorous credibility through jokes of continuous self-deprecation. And honestly, he is VERY good... it works very well.... I will officially call this jokester methodology the SELF-DEPRECATING GLORIFICATION; I should try it myself! I wish Hollywood stand-up comedians would do this more frequently; their methods are SELF-OVER-GLORIFICATION. I can see why Michael does a lot of guest-speaking to several universities and other public lectures... he's just so fast and witty and spontaneous... making humor out of everything that everyone else could simply see as ordinary... even boring. It turns out that Michael has taken an interest in wildland fire management issues, as he has done an article in the past relating fire's contribution to climate change. He happened to (embarrassingly) stumble upon my father's quote, "Trees are bombs" in our little Roadtrip Nation quote book, and I stammered, "Oh, that's just my dad. He's a fire ecologist." And then a little chain of questions followed up to a point in which... oh that would be a great idea for my father to do an article on Miller-McCune Magazine addressing alternative policies/management regimes to deal with wildland fire! Oh cool, cool! My father has had so much boiling up in him, I think doing an article like this would really allow him to vent. I also told Michael that my father's been hammered by other media sources, but their interviews have been largely "shallow," in which they come bug you the day of the fire and forget the next day that you exist. He completely understood, and I said that would probably mean much for my father to have such an opportunity.... So, I have to hook 'em up, hopefully my dad can meet Michael directly!

Shannon and I left the meeting in good spirits, a bit frazzled in a wonderful way... our minds trying to process what exactly happened, but our thoughts soon returned to the other sad realities of Ben and the onslought of other school obligations. I knew I couldn't focus unless I recapped and did a blog.... So here I am. MENTAL DIGESTION!

470. Roadtrip Nation Briefing with the Barry Spacks Creative Writing / Teaching Interview, Santa Barbara, California

Before all the hubbub of Extras and Central Casting, Shannon and I had a spectacular evening interviewing my poetry professor/writing pal thee-one-and-only Barry Spacks! He's been already embedded in my brain... and my blog... and so I call it, attempting to acquire the "Barry Spacks" consciousness, which includes unboundedness, succinct artfulness, and telling stories for the sake of storytelling without butchering the story (and poem) for the message. Aka preachy used-carsalesmanesqueness for the environment. Thoughts lingered the day after as I unwillingly stormed into Los Angeles to sign up for Central Casting (it's not that I didn't want to do it; I just felt overwhelmed... didn't want to do it that particular time and day...).

Shannon and I ventured into Barry's and Kimberly's cozy little Victorian home off Bath Street in downtown Santa Barbara... and I was finally able to see his office den, which is riddled with very cool art I had NEVER seen before--Barry had not placed on his website (there's one I particularly liked, playing on the notion of an inner universe and an outer universe, boundaries of order and chaos). I remember seeing the livingroom scene. I remember Barry being interviewed about the craft of teaching poetry to the local Cable Channel and I was like--we need a NEW setting. The sun was setting quite fine and there was little light left when Barry and Shannon settled in the kitchen, on a bench, with really cool figurines and cacti and buddha-like wood carvings in the background. Maybe a little cluttery, but interesting all the same. It represents Barry.

I have about 1 hour of interview footage and some B-roll. Perhaps I need to get some footage of the house--external B-roll, perhaps a later time. I remember showing up early, sitting in the car, contentedly delving into "Dead Cities" by Mike Davis, two key chapters on impact tectonics and "a natural history of dead cities." It's fine writing, but I would have to do a lot of "fact checking" in order to verify the validity of the prose.

But anyhow, Shannon was a superb interviewer as usual, and Barry had some very crucial points to make that are guarantees to be included in our Roadtrip Nation film.

(1). Major quote of the day. The most important thing I need, besides breathing, is to have the right to be creative, every single day. And Barry is fortunate he is able to squeeze creativity time, every single day.

(2). Major drivers of storytelling: message driven, or story-telling driven. Learn how to tell stories for the sake of telling stories. Messages can be there, but don't bombard with messages like meteor impacts with a sacrifice of the art! Major issue with environmental-related storytelling. (Need to balance message with storytelling). (Sierra Club storytelling junk mail used car salesman letter I received).

(3). Barry's a skeptic as to whether people can easily be scientists and artists, all in the same head. And, me, I, Victoria, am some form of guinea pig to see if I can get away with BOTH. Barry said that the writing style of science is so strict, so exacting, so precise, so lanuage-tecky, so robotic, that he is not sure that if scientists can easily start learning how to write poems, which require a mentality and looseness about the field. Barry actually recommends scientists to PAINT rather than do CREATIVE WRITING in order to get into an "artistic mode." Though, a scientist going into creative writing does have some BENEFIT. They have a greater repertoire, inventory of metaphors that are not necessarily common or accessible to the public. So, scientists in their tecky, specialized worlds have an opportunity to bring new material to the creative writing process. Most creative writers only tap into "the great history of American/World writing," they don't outsource in terms of their experiences and subject matters.

(4). A beautiful metaphor. Most writers/individuals in America are focusing on ME ME ME. Self growth and self development until the self becomes the center of the universe and there is no other universe out there. But what Barry emphasizes in class and in writing in general is to take this big ball of an "ego" and scrunch it and smoosh it down to a little blue gem, and then smash it with your foot, and watch the dust blow away in the wind. (But why is the gem blue?) If you are a true writer, the sense of self completely vaporizes and you become the system to which you are writing. FORGET THAT THE SELF EXISTS AND YOU BECOME THE SYSTEM AND THE STORY ITSELF. That's a trip. I can do it easily. When I was high school I was practicing this all the time. I had no sense of self. I was everything around me, but not my self. Then because everything around me had pulverized me into an anorexic stick, I had to invent this concept of self at age 17 just to survive and realize that I cannot be at the whims of my surroundings all the time. But then again, my sense of self has developed to be very relativistic, more so what is my place in this universe and society? The relative self in light of the evolution of the universe and life on earth. I feel very small... now by default. No new epiphanies here. But I suppose, intrinsic to my own personalities, and given a non-disturbing background, I can very easily forget that I exist and become the things that I am writing about. As I told many people, when I am writing a story, I am experiencing it. I am seeing it. I'm going through the emotions. I am experiencing it. This philosophy is associated with Buddhism, I think. Barry's affiliated with Tibetan Buddhism? I think, as well as works a little with Zen Buddhism and Koan-stuff.

(5). I learned that potentially a very easy way to get out of service in the military is to state that you wanna be a "poet" when you grow up. It worked for Barry back in the day!

(6). Barry and I are both prolific ramblers, so I guess it's very good that Shannon was there, and she was interviewing, because if it were Barry and me... well, it's dangerous... black hole phenomenon of human conversations.... Black holes are cool though!

(7). Having participated in theater, Barry considers himself a "performer" when he's teaching. People don't even realize that teaching is a performance practice and study.

I lost an orange clamp.

And another final key point that Barry made is that ... he recited a poem to us. It was about a mountain, and how sometimes we are given knowledge--as if we were being spoonfed--and sometimes don't we wish we simply didn't know? The poem reminded me of the brutality of those car GPS units like "Constance" in Mark the photographer's car. That machine made the process of driving and exploring a totally mindless, mechanical experience, and there is no sense of spontaneous adventure otherwise. Sometimes you wish there were no grid there. No grid left. No grid at all! You could re-invent the universe all to your self! Who wants all knowledge at the finger tips? Invent your own worldly map!

After the interview, I talked with Barry one-on-one about our novella-sharing. It was very-much-needed advice! This is potentially our next subject of discussion! And then I went to find Shannon and wished Ben happy birthday at Sharkeys downtown Santa Barbara. The bar was empty for once. And then I had Freebirds and went to bed. Zzzzz....

466. A Phenomenal Interview, More Like Casual Conversation with Mike Davis (Ecology of Fear, City of Quartz, and Human Environmental Writing)

Well, well, well, what can I say? Roadtrip Nation is changing my life. Surprise?! Perhaps not. Yesterday, Shannon and I had a totally outside-the-box interview with Mike Davis (most well known for Ecology of Fear, City of Quartz), and I am not exactly sure where to begin... and most certainly... this cannot... and will not end. Here goes my stream of consciousness: There's the beginning aspect of things, like here I am sitting at this neo-cool-looking house in a nice neighborhood within the noisy flight path of the San Diego airport, staring at THEE Mike Davis, like the one who wrote all those books, and is this MASSIVE name in environmental writing, the "MacArthur Genius Dude" and so many other accolades in which society acknowledges his ingeniousnessessessess, who by default combines issues of social and environmental change (when most of the university is used to divorcing such topics)... well to say in the least, we both agreed that the university is full of bullshxt theories all around, let alone pin-headed specialists who don't have much context in terms of what the hxll everyone else is doing outside of their narrow field of study. But here I am... here I am... having this casual conversation with Mike Davis.... And I'm just jittery inside thinking this CAN'T be happening, this is a special moment in my life right here and now. I worked very hard in my own self development to reach this moment to come to FULLY APPRECIATE and have the the ability to RELATE to the works of Mike Davis.... Pretty soon, Shannon and I came to realize that he's one of those MacArthur folks: not only his mind is a massive encyclopedia of the history of environment, history of science, history of social movements, and WHO KNOWS what else, but his mind has the capacity to SYNTHESIZE and ORGANIZE these concepts. He has the best of both types of intelligence. For me, I don't have much of an encyclopediac inventory, but I have synthetic capabilities.

I have probably met three or four of thos MacArthur Fellow types, and honestly, they have brushed me off as if I were a piece of snot or the unwanted overly eager graduate student mosquito they thought I was going to suck their blood.... but then to think that Mike Davis was so excited to meet me just as I was so eager to meet him! I think we both feel we're in this odd fringes region of the university--synthetic thinking doesn't have much of a place in academia anymore--and we're just kind of at the fringes, looking at this circus arena, this zoo, and trying to make sense of it, not only in academia, but the context of the university in society. We're both frustrated with the lack of history of science and science writing programs in southern California. Most of them are in northern California. We're both frustrated that the university has made such a huge effort to deny and strip the socioenvironmental context of scientific pursuit and human-environmental change. And a bonus, Mike feels that the Endangered Species Act is doing a major disservice at managing ecosystems at landscape scales. Okay... lots and lots... and lots in common... lots of literature sharing to do.

Gosh, I am just scratching the surface.

Mike Davis discussed quite a bit of his history--and his professional career. He claimed the job title as "activist" and Shannon and I were puzzled, like... that kind of job description doesn't exactly exist in today's world. He ended up marking "disobedient writer" in our quote book, and that seemed to make a lot more sense. Mike was born in Fontana (so was I), raised in San Diego in a "blue collar family" as he called it, and had difficulties... he had to stop high school for a while and join the work force. His experiences as a laborer had a profound impact on him and his thinking. Mike went into detail of his time working as a truck driver and laborer for a furniture company that distributed its goods all across America, and he had been directly exposed to issues that are mostly "behind the scenes" to the rest of our eyes. He never finished a Ph.D. in history at UCLA--not exactly sure why--but it doesn't even matter because he has had so many professorial appointments in so many types of departments over the years (Geography, History, American History, Architecture, Pioneer Mountaineering Writing Class, now "Creative Writing" at UCR, an odd appointment for him, because he's never taken a creative writing course, he's learned through self discipline, plus a career in the publishing industry in London? he describes himself teaching classes he knew nothing about initially... )--he essentially is Ph.D.ed but in a more informal way. I could say he's had more of a profound impact on several disciplines than most other professors.... So, he's done his part, I'd say. So, at one point, when he was doing this back-breaking labor in a furniture company (in his forties?) he had an appointment to teach urban planning for one day at week at UCLA, and it was a very bizarre experience he had. He was paid more for teaching an urban planning class at UCLA than he was for all his work in the furniture industry! First of all, he came to realize how manual and physical labor is highly undervalued in this American Society and how people in the university sit on their butts and not necessarily have real world experiences, create weird theories on how the world works, and they get paid much more. Mike doesn't mean to overly romanticize manual labor, but he felt that he was contributing much more to the world by moving a box from point A to point B than sitting in a classroom, telling stories to students. HE FELT THAT HE WAS A PART OF THE PROCESS, AND THAT HIS EFFORTS CONTRIBUTED TO EVERYONE ELSE'S EFFORTS. And that is a fundamental concern I have about the pursuit of science... and the role of science in society. THE REALITY IN THE OUTER WORLD versus THE REALITY IN THE UNIVERSITY are so dichotomized, so black and white... it's so traumatizing... I would just have to sit and laugh... no wonder why my Ph.D. question is "what's the point?"

That story was a huge moment for me. I look at my own life through the lens of Mike, and I see parallels, lots of parallels.... I was a high school geek who worked her xss off and went nuts at Del Taco cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors over a month. Manual labor had a profound impact on me. Why was my high school experience so dichotomized from real world work? How come real world manual labor only required me to exercise about 3% of what I had come to input in my brain? Why do I have high affinity for laboring fishermen and lesser affinity to math modeling, office-quarantined ocean-marine-biology teckies, the glorified scientists of society? Where has science gone? There are hardly any "naturalists" "outdoor field scientists" anymore, in ecology, evolution, AND the Earth Sciences. It's a dying breed, dying to tecky work and modelers who can barely have a grasp of reality. Computers have put science in the mental stone age.... Okay, same old stuff. Same old stuff. I'm preaching to the choir. But I've got a new choir member. Mike Davis and I agree... agree... agree....

Mike's affiliated with socialist groups / Marxism. I HATE being affiliated with ANY political group. I like to consider myself a BIOLOGIST figuring out the intrinsic, natural science underpinnings of human behavior and the constructs of society. Hence, this blog, this human society is biologically incorrect! I think that humans are completely detached from the notion of being biological creatures, detached from their local landscapes. I think political constructs are artificial, with no discrete boundaries. And my being a scientist, I don't like that. My take on America and many European countries is the concept of "degrees of freedom" and "degrees of constraint." Every country needs a socialist baseline of stability and degrees of freedom in order to invite an invitation to playful competition driving innovative change. If the basic needs of the vast majority of the population any society are not met--air, water, food, overall internal and environmental health, family, shelter, safety--then the society is by default UNSTABLE and is vulnerable to REVOLT/COLLAPSE. I think there needs to be a threshold of people who are impoverished to lead a revolt against those who have control of most of the resources. "When the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor, there is going to be rebellion." Good Earth material, amen. I remember the Wikipedia stating that perhaps the next ideal form of society is small-scale, decentralized, local systems. Everyone can know each other, treat each other well as an instrinsic checks-and-balances system, and that all transactions are local and attached to the regional landscape. This certainly makes sense to me!

Some other things we talked about. Since Mike is an "activist," the notion of having a "job" never really hit him until his forties, because before then, it was all about being an activist--changing things. Mike was involved a little bit in the riots in Isla Vista in the 1960s (burning of the banks) a bunch of rioting student surrounded by police throwing tear gas at people. Students would be revolting and surfing, and they would be crying while they were surfing because of the tear gas. It was a landscape unimaginable to me. Isla Vista is more like an MTV riot nowadays than a riot with the anti-war movement. Mike Davis said something profound--I am paraphrasing him--"Cross-generational discussions are very difficult to engage in. I don't know how anyone in my generation could even have the nerve to give the younger generation any advice on how to define their own roads to life, because of all the problems that we have contributed to and dumped upon the younger generation. Technically, I'm not supposed to be saying that, but that's why I'm here. Saying things that I'm not supposed to say." I'm shedding a tear. That's probably the coolest quote I have so far for Roadtrip Nation. Mike's just making me more determine to succeed. Mike said he's all about "Question Authority," just like my advisor Armand; he has that bumper sticker on his car. I thought it was weird, because he was and still is my authority, and I follow him around like a puppy dog. The bumper sticker somehow made me trust Armand even more.

Mike discussed a few progressive universities in Europe that are transforming their curriculum in which professors' lectures are taped, made free for all, and then graduate students would have small-scale discussions with groups. It would eliminate the problem of 600 students to 1 professor problem. I told him that this experience in the university is downright "demeaning," and I had to supposedly plee for a "learning disability" stating I could not funciton in these classes due to high anxiety. I think the environmental context created this anxiety, and as soon I was out of these service classes, then my grades went up.

Mike is actually kind of shy about "interviews." He's had the BBC England come to his house a few times so he could be the expert authority about Los Angeles. BBC England has created stereotypes of Los Angeles and California, and these stereotyping stories have not changed a bit over the last 20 years. He stated that French media is more edgy and progressive. Makes sense with Michel Gondry and all. Mike apologized a couple of times, "Sorry this isn't exactly the interview you were expecting, huh?" I classify this interview as "outside the box" along with Randy Olson--probably the two most impactive interviews Shannon and I have conducted.

So, then Mike and I came to the subject of writing. He said that he learned how to write in his thirties, and it was a very VERY painful process. He thinks that creative writing programs are a bit futile in terms of the concept of someone teaching someone else how to write--people train themselves. I agreed, but I stated that my goal is "to teach people to teach themselves." That I think teachers can do phenomenal things if they help students, encourage students to ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, AND FRAME THEIR MINDS TOWARDS THE PROTOCOLS OF CURIOSITY, then teachers do have a service in shaping, influencing young writers. Many creative writing classes involve getting together in a circle and everyone reading their blurb and then critiquing, starting with the schmooze of "what I really like about your writing...." People are so into complimenting each other, and no one is willing to listen to an honest, harsh critique. Mike Davis had an ultimate metaphor for schmoozing fragile writer egoes: going to a construction site with a hazardous building situation HALF DONE, and then you start to critique, "What I really like about your project." Same thing with writing. Mike sees writing as a visual building block game, just as I see it! I'll give you my two cents, eh? Mike said that many undergrads at UCR are interested in science fiction, fiction, romance fiction. Most graduate students are interested in fiction. And if there's ANY nonfiction, it's MEMOIR. There's NO SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING. No training about how to tap into your surroundings. Geeze goodness. Pathetic. Mike said when he was in his twenties (his students are mostly in their twenties), it was an outrageous, perhaps SELFISH notion to even consider writing a memoir. Who in the hxll has an interesting life? Mike--even in his sixties--is not even willing to touch on the notion of a memoir of his life.

We complained about how science/environmental writing was non-existent in southern California universities, let alone ANY history of science courses. But then, how can we train people to do science writing then their jobs are vanishing into the dark side? I told him my approach is that this society does not need science journalism per se, but this society will always need SCIENTISTS. And that the goal is to train scientists (with pertinent research topics) to become better storytellers at the interface of diverse audiences inside and outside the university. And Mike agreed that's the way to go. I have two endorsements for an experimental science/environmental writing course: Mike Davis and Randy Olson. I need one more official sponsorship and then I will go to Bruce Tiffney and Claudia Tyler and ask them if we can set this up. I'm not exactly ready yet. Mike's shaken my internal tree, I have to figure out where I'm at right now. Mike asked me whether jobs exist in "environmental media"? I said basically, NO. I'm going to have to fight for it. I'm going to have to convince people that this is a worthwhile scholarly pursuit. Good luck to me!

Mike's currently teaching a landscapes and writing course, in which he states it's very experimental. He was really excited to hear that I was interested in sitting in! Woohoo! He says it's an interesting crop of students. I think on one of the first days of class, Mike went into depth on the first geologic expeditions of the Grand Canyon (1850s? 1870s?) and how these three geologists (Powell, and two others... my meager memory) went through these amazing analyses of the region. They had to invent so much terminology just to describe what they were seeing, for example, the Great Unconformity. Mike discussed the evolution of the researchers' observations over time. How SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION was MORE ACCURATE than PHOTOGRAPHY back in the day--the role of scientific illustration! And the emotional thrill of these adventures! Back in the day, the Grand Canyon was indeed the wild west for geology. But to re-experienc the thrill of exploration, no one has implanted any pre-existing perception of the land, and you are to craft your own conceptual understanding of the Grand Canyon from scrap? INSANE! Mike said that the writing/landscape course is like a geography course rehash, but with its own twist... but no one needs to know that!

Mike was kind of interested in my dad's background and I told him how my dad backdoored into the university. Everyone in the family was pretty geeky and academic oriented. My dad hated school period; he self trained himself in vegetation and climate through observations and experiences as a child in the San Gabriel Mountains and then in an accidental field trip, my father made some observations of the vegetation zonation and the professor's jaw dropped and the next week he was hired. My dad as an undergrad was pioneering in aerial photography analysis of the vegation of southern California. Pretty crazy stuff.

Mike Davis really loves the work and adventure of field scientists, but he also discussed how even these scientists have their own departmental pirrhanna situations. Ha! I would know. Mike also made a point in terms of a shift in his writing career--He received a large advance from a New York publishing house to discuss the Los Angeles riots, and he had several contacts that would make an amazing story discussing the social injustices in Los Angeles, but he came to this point realizing, why he should be the one who has the right to tell the story about the difficulties of these people's lives? Such heart-wrenching stories! And then he fell back to his true passions for SCIENCE. And that is when he not only explored social problems of Los Angeles but also the biophysical problems of the design of Los Angeles, and how the social and biophysical aspects intertwine.

There was lots of discussions of strange, exotic places all over the world. Mike is currently writing a teenage adventure thriller series on scientific expeditions to really whacko places with unthinkingable ecosystems. The things you're trying to conserve are the things that will kill you--poisonous snakes for example. In a certain way, Mike is publicizing certain regions of the world that receive very little attention. He's totally enamored with Greenland, east Greenland. He told me one place I need to see is Greenland. Strange--most people tell me to go to the tropics. There was a lot of discussion about the Enuit people and their relative isolation from the rest of the world. 100+ names for types of snow. Geeze. The aspect that stuck out of my mind is how the people were "craving for winter" not summer. Because in summer the bugs eat you alive. There are interesting dynamics with sled dogs--somewhat "brutal" relationships in terms of dominance hierarchies and maintaining pack order. You must keep the the dogs partly trained and partly feral to maintain social organizaiton among the dogs and their masters.... The list goes on.... What can I say? Mike Davis is a very well traveled man.

Mike had this idea of doing an "Environmental Impact Report" of Los Angeles. HA! I told him about the quote from Aldous Huxley, "The most populous City is but an agglomeration of wildernesses." Doing a complete local and global EIR impact of Los Angeles. Where all the food comes from, the materials, and where are they dumped out. That would be INSANE! Such a cool idea! I asked him if he was going to do that--he says his writing gigs come and go with his appointments. He seemed very excited at the topic, but perhaps at the moment a bit time strapped with alternative commitments. But GREAT IDEA! Ha! And in Question Reality, I was trying to write a summary report on humans on planet earth for the Decapodal Pogostickapoids! Same idea....

MAJOR DRIVER FOR POST APOCALYPTIC SCIENCE FICTION STORIES THAT STAY TRUE TO THE SCIENCE--IMAGINING "SUCCESSION" IN A CITY. THE FIRST MOUNTAIN LION THAT ROMPS THE STREETS. Does "nature come back" as is... or to what degree of alteration? We discussed that, post war, post disease, it's different. I told him about the issues of reforestation in Costa Rica, same principle, secondary types of communities returning to once originally rainforest, then abandoned pasture, agricultural landscape.

Mike and I discussed how American science has framed biology and evolution in a VERY POOR WAY. For example, "Organisms adapt to the environment, rather than organisms mold the environment. Organisms as a geophysical force on this planet." Hands down agreement. Secondly, as an aside, I told him I removed the words "nature" and "culture" from my vocabulary. I said those words created ambiguity and problems of discussion on clear ideas. He agreed, good move. And thirdly, I told him that American evolutionary biologists frame evolutionary studies from the the point of view of COMPETITION. Like some kind of capitalist version of evolutionary studies. And that Russian approaches to evolution have seen more of a SYMBIOTIC-COLLABORATIVE approach to evolution. Goes along with socialism quite well. Hence the evidence of social context for driving scientific frames of reference. Mike Davis gave me a Vernadsky (sp?) book to read "The Biosphere" a biogeochemical perspective, and then I told him about Andy Knoll's research paper on "the geological consequences of evolution."

Joke: "Men are linear. They can only do one thing at a time, whereas women are more multi-taskers." I heard this claim twice. I'm not too sure if I agree. I can multi-task when some things I do are automatic knowledge, but I don't necessarily agree all men are linear. Take for example, my dad. He can drive safely and look and describe all the trees around him--to the chagrin of my mother! And then there's a famous music composer--Chopin, I believe--who had the ability to tune and process 6 different conversations at a party all at once! I CAN'T DO THAT! That's overwhelming! Wish I could!

I think Mike Davis is science writing but BEYOND science writing. Science writing plus IMAGINATION. For example, science fiction that does justice to science--post apocalyptic stories and such. Man wiped out from the world, what would happen? As Seth said, "The bad news is the world is going to hxll. The good news is that the world will be a much better place afterwards!" That's good for me because I got this whole alternate reality fiction streak in me! Imagine succession, small to large. Reverse engineering, like playing jenga with an outcrop.

RANDOM FACTS: Mike said Wallace was one of the best self-trained scientists ever, but he went onto the spiritual side of things. Lots of British laborers, mechanics and craftsmen, supported and advocated for evolutionary theory. Used word epistemology several times. Mike's totally into igneus rocks and geomorphology. My fetish is for sedimentary rocks and fossils. Powell. Dutton. McPhee. Powell expeditions. Rediscovered emotions. Climate models and climate field scientists are in TWO SEPARATE UNIVERSES. He claims he doesn't write to change the world? Then what for? Yes he does, doesn't admit it! Polar Federation. Affiliates with landscape art and classical geology. Top rated science writers are at Science and Nature, but Science is mostly dry and NONEDITORIAL. Nature has more EDITORIAL. And the Lancelet is VERY EDITORIAL medical journal. Mike Davis is concerned about how the public has a perception of scientists but NO ONE HAS A GRASP OF THE BEHIND-THE-SCENE CULTURE OF SCIENCE. Mike Davis says that there is no frontier for science writing to educate the general public, but there is a frontier for science writing for political/social change. That's where I come in. Amen. Same for Miller McCune. That's why they're different! That should be exposed, how knowledge is not fixed and debated all the time! Old fashion geography where natural and social sciences meld together. Klamath, Siskiyous, Eocene. Self-trained scientists. Unified Interdisciplinary Scientists, not many of those anymore. Russian interpretation of evolution as cooperative survival. Anti endangered species act. I told Mike Davis my first paper was on SCALE AND METAPHOR as drivers for narrative in science and social-environmental change. Mike Davis added "metaphors that don't lose their meaning in simplification." That's the magic of great science writing. Darwin's metaphors are very powerful in our everyday lives. Wallace-Humboldt, founders of biogeography.

I think I'm recuperated from my intellectual drunkedness from last night. I ended up talking to Mike Davis into the wee hours... 11pm.... I am so excited! His wife Alessandra is an art professor at Mesa City College who is doing hands-on art exhibit courses (museum studies) and his two twins are a riot. The boy loves rocks and the girl loves animals. They have their own taste for things!

I was really honored Mike said he would read "The Mountain's Last Flower" and give it an honest critique. I told him I was up for trading, and he asked me to read and honestly critique two chapters in Dead Cities. I teased him saying that this book is already "fixed" and "set in stone"! But no, what about an honest review? Who has given an honest review?! I'm SOOO excited!

438. Before I Sulk, I Must Celebrate! ROADTRIP NATION INDIE ROADTRIP TEAM SHANNON AND VIC!

Letter from Kristin Esteves, Indie Roadtrip Nation Coordinator, detailing Shannon and my acceptance letter for an Indie Roadtrip. The PDF can be found here.
http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/roadtripnationgoahead.pdf

So, the deal here is, BEFORE I sulk, I should CELEBRATE! I just "heard the word" from Kristin that Shannon and I were accepted for an Indie Roadtrip Grant exploring the Next Generation of Gonzo Scientists--emerging professions and programs in science, art, and environment/ conservation. I will have to talk to John Bohannon to see if we have approval to spread the word of Gonzo Science. I am seeing, after my conversation with John Richards, is that there needs to be a DISCUSSION ON THE INTERSECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF SCIENCE AND POLICY/ADVOCACY/ACTIVISM (Lacky paper). Science as a culture. Generating a culture of science. And if there are any boundaries at all? So, I'm kind of seeing a blur. Honestly, that will have to be the embarking discussion of this whole film. A scientist discussing the blurry boundaries between science, science communication, science advocacy, and policy shifts. Emotional versus rational decision-making. I see that I will have to establish a mirror effect with filming.

Just met with Dr. Dick Hebdige at UC Riverside, and he told me these interdisciplinary science-humanities programs seem to be blossoming everywhere--UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside Palm Desert, Arizona State University--it's just that there not "large" right now, and they are nevertheless NOT united--and perhaps a bit without direction.

Anyhow, I'M SUPER DUPER EXCITED! This news has really cheered me up. Now, I must go back to blog 437 and sulk. Yipee! Waah-waah!

433. Roadtrip Nation: Continuing the Journey of Self-Construction Over Mass-Production

Picasaweb Caption: Yesterday Shannon Switzer and I (Vic, just look me up as "Stokastika" ha ha) went to visit Kristin Esteves, the Coordinator for Indie Roadtrips, and we had the most wonderful conversation! Shannon and I are interested in careers at the intersection of science and society, more so science-art-society in terms of linking knowledge with inspiration and human-environmental change. We want to find out "who are the people who are willing to do something different at the interface of science and society? Who are the new generation of scientists who are willing to connect the dots in any way possible to solve real-world problems, despite the modern, constricting conventions of academia?" Shannon and I are on our way to applying for an Indie Roadtrip with the guide of Kristin, and I guess a starting point is to have a picasaweb photoalbum. So far, I'm showcasing a collection of really cool Roadtrip Nation stickers... but I'm sure the photoset will keep expanding....

"Wow! This has been very inspirational!" I exclaimed to Kristin Esteves (Roadtrip Nation, http://roadtripnation.com), and Shannon Switzer, (Aquasoul Shannon, International League of Conservation Photographers, http://aquasoulphotography.smugmug.com/), "I really wished we just filmed our conversation right now! Maybe we can do a retake!" We all laughed. Shannon and I went out of our way to meet Kristin, the manager of the Indie Roadtrip Division of Roadtrip Nations, in Costa Mesa, California, and we emerged from their cozy, non-cubicle-super-comfy production company at the edge of an obscure road (perhaps 5 miles or so from the nearest beach) filled with hope and big dreams.

Randomness can sometimes converge into coherent order.

Let's see, where to start. First of all, I heard about Roadtrip Nation indirectly, through my parents watching PBS, and I was jealous of the three dudes who went on a bus all across the country (in which I had the privilege of being introduced to one of them today, I met a celebrity!) to meet a bunch of really cool, creative, intelligent people who have ultimately constructed their own roads to life. Roadtrip Nation was a line on my computer and occupying a dimly lit neuron in the back of my head until... I encountered that big green bus in the middle of the lawn between two high-traffic bikepaths at UCSB! It was fall quarter of 2008 and I just returned to graduate school. I was fairly depressed about my situation in life--starting from scrap again after transferring through three different graduate schools, having a very rocky relationship with one of my advisors, getting trashed by a guy who has the ability to emotionally sever himself from close to anything within a few minutes, lack of new friends... the list goes on.... And here was this massive, flaming green RV bus right in front of me! Boy, was I excited and dreams started to whirl in my head. I was informed by the Roadies that Roadtrip Nation was based in Costa Mesa, California, and I tweaked my head in surprise, "Huh! You're local!" About two-point-five hours from UCSB. That was WONDERFUL!

I took two or three cards with them, and I kept dreaming about how I wanted to interview people at the interface of science and society; people's whose feet have dug deep into the realm of science, but have felt compelled to translate the stories and adventure of science into creative products, from narratives to art... such as to inspire and educate the public... as well as move a few chess pieces in the political realm. Well, back them, with a swirling brain and no one really to talk to and share ideas with... these ideas remained largely dormant inside me.

In early November of the same quarter, I was filming the strangely bizarre artwork of Scott Chatenever (engineer-gone-artist) who creates ceramic pieces that almost look like real life. Many people are often fooled as to whether it is a real coral reef or a piece of art. He had been greatly inspired by chaos theory... or the leftovers of the engineering equations... and how the chaos element of the equation ultimately has its own order. I hung out with Scott on Santa Barbara's First Thursdays Artswalk, and in the wee hours of the night I had my fill. I was walking down the street in a total slump (the day had been tremendously overwhelming), and someone calls my name. It was Scott Bull, head of UCSB's Coastal Fund and President of Santa Barbara Surfrider. Scott had this promotional art-surfing-ocean event held at a very cool jewerly shop downtown for Surfrider and he wanted me to film it. 100 bucks. I was so so... SOOO tired... but I managed to still pull it off and do it. Of all things, I was carrying my film camera with me. Talk about being at the right place, right time. It ended that Oscar Flores (my friend) edited this film and I had to pay him $100 out of my own word and I lost out in nearly all dimensions for being over-committed... except for one thing. At the very end of the Surfrider Ocean event, I met some very friendly, blond-headed girl through Scott Chatenever. Her name was Shannon. She told me that she graduated from UCSB in biology and environmental studies. Shannon was seriously involved in photography, and that she was currently interning at the Santa Barbara Independent weekly magazine. I kept her card and didn't think much of the encounter for at least a month or so... well... you can't blame me... because my grandfather passed away, and I essentially gave the finger and any other possible f*you to the whole world, as I hid and was by myself for most of the entire month. Then I happened to pick up the Santa Barbara Independent sometime in early January... and on the VERY FIRST PAGE was a picture of Shannon! Apparently she wrote a few blurbs in the magazine and had an opportunity to interview Jean-Michel Cousteau.

In the beginning of winter quarter, I called up Shannon and we eventually met... along with several social events... from birthday parties to an informal screening of Sharkwater. It was a lot of fun. I had tried to start a group that was exploring the interface of science and art, and Shannon constructed a strategic name called "Woven Atom," which visually could mean the notion of "synthesis" at any scale, except most importantly, there were absolutely no negative or cliche associations with the term, and I thought it would be a perfect name for a group. Shannon, Lydia, Becca, and I started meeting once a week or once every other week, and we had an opportunity to discuss issue at the interface of science, art, and collective change. After a quarter of realizing I was not getting my work done for my Ph.D. I came to the conclusion that starting a group right now was not a very intelligent thing to do... and so I have become more reclusive as of late. It is my fault and my failure, but I am hoping that when the time is right, a group such as this can be resurrected.

What was really cool during winter quarter is that during this time period I self-published a book of poetry called "CHESS: The Poetry of Human-Environmental Change" and that Shannon was accepted into the International League of Conservation Photographers (she happened to meet the Director of the League at a Photography show in Las Vegas, Shannon is encouraging me to join... and I AM working on improving my portfolio!).

Shannon returned to Oceanside (her hometown), and I myself have met some wonderful, inspirational fishermen through my job as an objective note-taker for the Fisheries Information Network (FIN), which is now leading me to spending quite a few weekends in the San Diego / southern California area. Shannon and I have kept in touch. We are so like-minded in our vision for our future and our level of determination to succeed, despite the distance... it would be a great loss for the both of us if we didn't maintain contact... and eventually... serious (or seriously fun) collaboration. Like right now.

At the end of March of 2009, I finally was determined to go visit in person Roadtrip Nation. I saw the website at http://www.roadtripnation.com/, and it was very vibrant and encouraging, but there was no human flesh behind the pixels on the screen. I needed to see reality for myself. I discovered the address and phone number through Googlemaps: Roadtrip Nation. 760 Newton Way, Costa Mesa, CA, 92627, 949-764-9121. I was really excited to discover a production company that was OUTSIDE of Los Angeles (the Central Casting experience was a bit much for me). I was absolutely mortified to show up at the end of an obscure street full of sleepy businesses and perhaps even some car repair centers... only to find a segment of a building/warehouse that had this... nonprofit look. Roadtrip Nation's interior walls were coated with trendy collages and inspirational quotes, as well as an ancient massive green RV that now serves as an office, a fairly large "collective meeting space" that was filled with couches, a production room (where several computer were being used to edit films), and a hallway with a few collectively shared offices. It was as snuggly and as anti-corporate you could ever imagine! Amen, I found a College of Creative Studies (CCS) Mecca OUTSIDE of CCS. The fundamental mottos for Roadtrip Nation were "Define your own road to life." and "Self-construction over mass production." Personally, these kinds of philosophies are so compatible to my own that I could be won over through these concepts... but I still had to meet the people behind the scenes. In the first trip I met a lady at the front desk who was a bit harsh with me, but it turned out that I think she was having a bad day because the second time she met me, she was very kind and enthusiastic... and stated that she remembered me! Eventually, this team member transferred me to Luke, because I wasn't exactly sure about the programmng and exact opportunities at Roadtrip Nation. It turns out there are three main pathways: (1) applying for the PBS production of Roadtrip Nation in front of the camera (2) applying for the PBS production of Roadtrip Nation behind the camera and off-season / highschool education division (internship), and (3) applying to the Indie Roadtrip grant process, either as a film-maker or blogger/photographer. I was interviewed by Luke for the potentiality of becoming an intern, but then I told Shannon about the opportunity, and since we are both struggling to be in the realm of science, art, and society--on the same road to life, but oblivious to the opportunities out in the world after we receive our graduate degrees--we've been bubbling and oozing over the phone about how we could collaborate this summer and apply for an Indie Roadtrip.

About two weeks ago, Shannon and I attempted to speak with Kristin at Roadtrip Nation... through a random drop-by (it was a crazy day because I was stuck in bad traffic, Shannon was on three hours of sleep, and it was her last day of moving from Santa Barbara to Oceanside), but we found out that Kristin was frolicking around by her bravesoulonesome in London, engaged in her own Indie Roadtrip! At least Shannon found the place and became familiarized with the season. The second time I visited the production company, my level of comfort and familiarity started to grow... especially with the privilege of sharing my discovery with Shannon.

And finally, I sent an email to Kristin... and to my surprise, I found a very friendly, encouraging email in return (I am only saying this was a "surprise" because I have met a bunch of religious cult weirdo freak rejectionists in my short stint exploring the tar pit swallowing jungle of Hollywood). We were about to set up an appointment... and low and behold... all elements converged today with much success!

Shannon and I showed up a little after one (I was a bit antsy because I hadn't jogged yet), and Kristin was just about rappng up her relaxing lunch. Kristin has this wonderful gestalt personna about her... and in my ghost reference head... she reminds me very much of this super intelligent geology graduate student I used to hang out with at UC Riverside--Jen Sabado, around 5'7" semi-dark skin, dark staight hair a bit beyond the shoulders, trendy-glasses, soothing, laid-back voice, fit-physique, "eloquent-physically-fit-trendy-geek-type"--so that aspect of my memory vamped up with my level of comfort. We had the opportunity to sit down and chat in a collective office for about an hour... and slowly started deriving mental maps of each other. Kristin Esteves was part of the first Roadies I believe back in 2005, and ever since then, she had stumbled upon several job opportunities within Roadtrip Nation. She loves her current job so much and she said it suited her well because through she graduated from Cal State Monterey, she still didn't know what she exactly wanted to do with her life. Though Kristin committed to an interesting Teaching-English-in-Prague type of job starting October, and she wouldn't have known of this opportunity if she hadn't been working with Roadtrip Nation. Kristin also has mastered her writing abilities through this job, and she can be proud to say that she is establishing herself as a writer (Sweet! That makes three of us in a single room). Shannon's been around the world... with an outside-the-box Africa research adventure (I saw lots of gorilla pix!), much more so than myself, in which my mother being Greek has forced our "traveling experiences" to be largely endemic to this single country in Europe.... It is an eye-opening adventure on its own, but largely frustrating because there are a few dozen more countries sitting there north of Greece, waiting to be sampled!

I guess the most crucial part of the conversation came when I started mentioning my history. I graduated in CCS Biology at UCSB blah blah blah, but I transfered to three different graduate schools... from UCLA to UCR and then back to my quasi-academic-liberal-environment of UC Santa Barbara in which my non-traditional undergraduate education really made me have a hard time dealing with a world outside that is designed to compartmentalize you into a very tiny box. The world overall does not welcome "globalist, interdisciplinary" thinking, and there are very few people out there who would be willing to take you under their wing and protect you... but you otherwise have to do your own legwork.... I told Kristin and Shannon that conventional science is short of solutions in terms of meaningful and widespread impact in human-environmental change, beside the mentioning of the academic "ivory tower effect." That is why I have become interested in the research and practice (outreach) of science and society. What is exactly "science" because the conventions of science have shifted over time? What is the role of science and society? The interface of science, media, policy, and public awareness/inspiration? What is the future of science? What is the future for scientists? What are they expected to know? How are they expected to behave? Are they to remain cut off from the world, or are they to play the game of being a stakeholder in the circus/arena of multi-disciplinary problem-solving? Who are the people who are constructing/pursuing innovative programming synthesizing science and art for human-environmental change? Why can science NOT be divorced from art? How come science HAS been divorced from art? (historian of science and art, Ernst Haeckel, etcetera). Why is there a divorce between collective learning and collective behavioral change (e.g. science and policy)? How can a scientist sit in front of a computer and crunch numbers all day (sever his rational thought from emotions) to make an obvious doomsday conclusion... rather than get out of his office and attempt to do something about the problem? And just because a university scientist testifies to Congress about a certain issue, why is this called "advocacy" and this is looked down upon? Weren't cavemen doing science? If you learn something new, you change behavior, individually or collectively! You just don't sit there and watch the sky fall or the house burn amidst the overgrown pine forest! As a graduate student, when I walk out from the university, what should I be expected to know and do? What types of jobs are available to me? How will the structure of society be like? Do they even exist? What are the tools scientist need to become responsible, interactive citizens of society? How come science is in the shush shush for careers? Why does it remain an elusive profession, especially when most of the world we live in has been shaped by the pursuit of science and engineering?

Well, there you go. 20 questions. Stuff I am willing to ask. And so I have discovered that "modern conventional science" is only a PART of the recipe to human-environmental change. What else does a scientist need to know to become a complete package deal?

Kristin and Shannon seemed very intrigued by these questions that I was asking, and the final major point that I made was that when you are a young student and have a clear vision (e.g. synthesis of science, art, and society), but the existing structure of society does not have doors open to you, do not have avenues or pathways... it's a very painful experience because essentially your sensical unbounded ideas are stuck in your head. Your personal vision of the future, the very structure of your mind does not match the structure of society. A very fundamental mismatch that makes society seem like a bunch of prison walls in nearly every direction. Perhaps creating a film can lead people to start thinking about things... and maybe creating a culture of science, a culture of change through film can start breaking down the prison walls and people may be intrigued to open doors and design new opportunities. It's a dangerous road to walk, but nevertheless exciting.

We live in a world of dichotomies... rationale-emotions, science-art, science-society, humans-environment... when this world fundamentally NEEDS synthesis.... Where do we go to find people who are willing to cross conventional boundaries and connect the dots in any way possible to solve real-world problems at the human-environment interface?

I suppose those are some of the fundamental themes Shannon and I will touch upon in our film.

I was thinking in the car on my way up to Costa Mesa from San Diego... "I am eager to be a scientist and remain a scientist, but I am not willing to sacrifice my expression of emotion for the pursuit of science. Emotion needs to be a part of the equation... of course within sensible balance. And there needs to be new ways for scientists to express their concerns... their emotions...."

Beyond that, Kristin, Shannon, and I started discussing some logistics... like formatting mini DV tapes all the way to sacrificing my stationwagon--painting it green--for the benefit of the film. Kristin seemed extremely excited about our ideas and our passions, and she also seemed very impressed that we made the effort to come visit her and overlay a friendly face and community of dreamers on top of a website that does not radiate emotion the same way how human interaction does.

There are several things that Shannon and I have not figured out yet. Will we be place-driven or people-driven? Who will be the bare minimum of three people we propose to interview? What part of the summer? Late July? Early August? So many things to think about! And this blog is just the beginning... collecting my thoughts into some level of narrative-like coherence. It's all ROUGH DRAFT!

Anyhow, Shannon and I left Kristin of Roadtrip Nations with big smiles, and we two UC Santa Barbarians went buzzing a bit afterwards on what our next steps were. It's amazing to think that I found a sounding board for my brain, a collaborator! My first self-deciding collaborative film, where my film camera and crew become a cohesive, coherent extention of myself--not an appendix or tonsils, but more so my lungs, an extra pair of reflexive eyes, and most importantly... my heart.

The world looks very beautiful today, because randomness has formed some degree of order. And it was all unexpected. We keep pursuing order, one day at a time, and even more wonderfully unexpected things shall happen!

This is the best possible internship I could have ever applied for... because our own creativity is the name of the game!

OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS:
**science: abstract to practical, from esoterika to pervasive
**science-art-society: a new academic culture of change--"If Science is a Culture, then where will I find it?"
**creating a shot list, defining our style before we hit the road, what will be our universal "toy" that will symbolize a connecting of dots and building blocks....
**BUMPER STICKER: Bureaucracy. A Global Disease.
**Luke mentioned the film crew structure for Roadtrip Nation is very ORGANIC--order comes naturally, take it as it comes, pursue that keeps working, scrap what doesn't work, order emerges through retrospect
**Kristin mentioned how one day of traveling is like one week of living your usual, sedentary lifestyle.
**Why are things not changing rapidly? (1) Lack of catastrophe (unwilling change) (2) Lack of will power, motivation, consciousness (willing change) (3) Lack of technical knowledge--or self-pursued know-how (e.g. waiting for Toyota to crank out hybrids versus we tinker with our extra time to convert our very cars into electric vehicles, converting a power grid to solar-power panels through our own means) (4) We are too interdependent (crutching other aspects of society to produce products rather than being independent in technological pursuits)

Potential Route:
**Painted Green Subaru Legacy as Sacrificial Lamb for the summer
**Either a west-coast route or an east-coast route
**Be people-interview driven over place-driven

**Suggestions for people to interview, a starting point:
**Godfrey Reggio and Phillip Glass (Qaatsi Trilogy)
**Michel Gondry (film director / science slant, wanted to be a scientist as a teenager)
**Werner Herzog / Errol Morris (Arizona?)
**Santa Fe Institute, President is Geoffrey West, houses scientists and writers (New Mexico)
**Mary Carrillon, Ice Stories, providing scientists with media tools and programming (Exploratorium, San Francisco)
**UC Santa Cruz Science Writing Program / Scientific Illustration Program--several recommendations, names (speak with Robert Irion)
**Tap into Shannon's Contacts with National Geographic, International League of Conservation Photographers

UCSB Locals:
**Milton Love (fisheries biologist, if science is culture, then go see Dr. Milton Love)
**Barry Spacks, poet married to a scientist, reaching into the science realm (outsider, third person)
**Affiliations with the Jean-Michel Cousteau Society, Ocean Futures, Home Planet Productions
**Michael Hanrahan, Blue Horizons, UCSB
**Dotty (scientific illustration at Kerr Hall, UCSB)

www.roadtripnation.com/apply --> Shannon/Victoria Switzer/Minnich stokastika@gmail.com wovenatom

What I wrote on my profile for Roadtrip Nation.
Though my hand-me-down name is Victoria, my self-proclaimed writing/artistic name is "Stokastika," which means seeking order from chaos. In a nutshell, I am a California native (but Half-Greek) born in a family with a lineage of scientists... but I have an instrinsic propensity to express myself and my knowledge of science through humorous narratives and multi-media ventures. I am very much interested exploring a profession integrating science, art, and inspiring/educating various audiences in the dimensions of human-environmental change. Participating in Roadtrip Nation can help me become exposed to those few people who are willing to "step outside the box" of the ivory towers and connect the dots in any way possible to address and solve real-world problems. Being a conventional scientist simply is not enough. For a brief synopsis of my relativistic identity crisis, please visit: http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/whoistokastikashort.pdf (short version) and http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/whoisvictoriastokastikaLONG.pdf (long version, it's a bit haranguing, but it shall do!). And most importantly, a resume can be viewed here: http://stokastika2.googlepages.com/vminnichroadtripnationRESUME.pdf

Why do I want to hit the road?
My great friend Shannon and I are very determined to go on an indie roadtrip because we are two "anomalous scientists" with very similar, yet non-traditional, artistic visions for our future, though we don't know where these opportunities are. Though we have survived years of education, internships, and jobs closely revolving around the sciences (biology, earth sciences, environmental sciences), we have come to realize that the conventional recipe of being a scientist in the university is falling short of solutions in terms of educating and inspiring wider audiences, as well as leading to drastic changes in the human-environmental condition, ranging from shifting collective consciousness to changing policy and management of ecosystems. Shannon and I, with our emerging skills and experiences in art, are attempting to venture out of the comfort zone of the university "ivory towers," foraging for professions at the interface of science and society. Who are those people who go out on a limb to make science accessible, fun, and available to address real-world problems? Who are those people who make science a culture of change?

Tentative Route.
I myself have a "sacrificial lamb" of a car (Subaru Legacy, 1993) that I am willing to paint green for the purpose of the trip. Shannon and I discussed the potential of coordinating a trip either up-and-down the West Coast or the East Coast, but then we decided to cater our route more along the lines of accessibility of major interviewees. Hypothetically, if Al Gore were available to be interviewed in San Francisco, then I think we would coordinate most of our adventures/interviews along the West Coast. If John Bohannon ("Gonzo Scientist") were available for an interview in Boston, then I'd think we'd cater toward an East Coast trip. Our goal is to remain realistic, affordable, and within a two week time-frame.

Primary questions I would ask the interviewee.
(1) Who are you? (2) Where you are from? (3) What is your profession? (4) What is a basic overview of what you do in your job / basic duties? / a day in the life of? (5) Do you love what you do? (6) Why do you love what you do? (7) What are the circumstances that led to your profession? (a) childhood upbringing (b) more recent experiences / job opportunities? (8) What are the major conflicts you faced throughout your life that have potentially impeded your vision--pathway? (e.g. self expectations versus family expectations versus peer pressure versus educational pressure versus societal expectations) (9) What are some of the hardest decisions and major sacrifices you had to make to pursue your dreams? (10) Did you have a vision of becoming who you are now, or was it more of an accident--chance opportunity meets a prepared mind--and you grew into the job that you worked through? In other words, did you design society's coat around you, or did society give you some one-size-fits-all-coat and you sort of grew into it? (11) What is the fundamental driver/motivation that had sustained the spark for you to get to where you are today? (12) How do you define science? The underlying human behavioral practices of science? (13) How do you define art? (14) Where do you draw the line between science and advocacy? (15) Do you feel that science is only practiced in the university? (16) How do you become a "legitimate scientist"? (17) What is the role of science in society? (18) How does your profession relate to other professions around you? Who do you interact with on a daily basis? Do you consider yourself a specialist or a generalist / synthesizer? Inbreeding or outsourcing? (19) With a society crutching so much on scientific and technological knowledge, future leaders essentially need to be detail-savvy--to be able to dig deep into the rabbithole beyond the user-friendly consumer interface--just to make rational decisions about how to manage lifestyle as a collective. What do you see the role of the future scientist? What do they need to know? Especially in the realm of environmental issues? (20) Fundamental take-home message?

**Additional questions (a) Work completely consuming you and your life (b) What were you doing at our age (around 21)?

Two interviews of choice out of 10 that I sampled.
After watching about 10 videos, I have come to the realization that the two most "pertinent" or "ideal" interviews to our interests were those of (1) Dr. Andrew Steele (astrobiologist at NASA) and (2) Atoosa Rubenstein (editor-in-chief of 17 magazine). Dr. Steele's chat on astrobiology to a non-technical audience was quite impressive such that a complex topic was boiled down to simplicity and that his storytelling was engaging. I also wanted to see how the interviewers approached Dr. Steele: what specific questions did they ask him? And how did they respond? The second interview of choice was surprisingly Atoosa Rubenstein, primarily because she had the most vibrant, enthusiastic personality out all the clips I watched. Since Atoosa radiated positive energy around her, I noticed that I paid much more attention to what she had to say compared to all the other interviews. Having the opportunity to have a conversation wich such a unique character--despite her discipline or profession--would be a treat on its own!

My reaction to the interviews.
I left Dr. Steele's interview feeling inspired by his quoteable quotes such as "we are stardust" and that "no one has the right to pigeonhole us," but I felt that he left out a lot of information in terms of "What is the daily life of a scientist?" "And what are the pros and cons about being a scientist?" "How does your work specifically impact our daily life?" In addition, I would have pushed hard on trying to acquire B-roll, or essentially more visualization of what Dr. Steele stares at every single day through a microscope. Dr. Steele may have been a happy camper, but many students are mortified by the mere sight of a microscope. The aftertaste of Atoosa's interview was much like the rare delight of my mother's homemade cheesecake. I felt like that if I met Atoosa when I was an undergraduate, I probably would have hung out with her quite a bit as my "serious adventure" buddy. If I haphazardly ran into her in a coffeeshop, I would have had an epic one-hour conversation with her. No matter what Atoosa does, she will carry along her great vibes with her.

Additional questions to ask the interviewees.
There were several questions not touched upon in both interviews. As mentioned previously, I would have liked to have known more about "a day in the life" of a scientist such as Dr. Steele, as well as learning about what he thought the significance of his research was to society. A few other topics that were not addressed were (1) What were his activities or passions when he was a child? How did he fall in love with biology and not any other discipline? (2) How did his family encourage/discourage him through life? (3) What were the "other open doors" that he was adamant about keeping open? (4) If he had an opportunity to tell a story about his technical research to a non-traditional audience (say a classroom full of middleschoolers), how would the story look like (book, cartoons, film)? What would be the basic plot and characters? (5) How does he see the future of science? What will scientists be expected to know and do? A few questions I would be eager to ask Atoosa are: (1) Did she ever face major obstacles or conflicts with her family or background as a kid to get to where she are today? (2) Though her work consumes her, what does she do to take a break? (3) What is a typical "day in the life" of the Seventeen Magazine Editor-in-chief? (4) What is her magazine doing to inspire and raise awareness among the teen culture about environmental issues and opportunities to play a role in human-environmental change?

307. Introducing Gozzie: In Order to Join the Gang, You Must Be Beat Up for Two Weeks

This is a monumental moment. I have been "intellectually beaten up" by several gangs at UCSB, and the the head honchos of the gangs have accepted me as one who is interested in scaling laws in biology and human-environmental systems. I am done with being beaten up, and now I need to get to work--linear, directional work. Such is the life of academic gamesmanship!

It is Tuesday night, and I am barely tapped into my brain. I have been blasted straight for the last two days and I am not sure where exactly I am at. The most horrible part about my situation is that I need to narrow my thoughts in zoom in, not expontentially spread out anymore. But the issue is, I need to "focus" but I have several needs that are absent--basal reptilian needs that have emerged as clear issues of maintenance as rendered by Tariel. But, it is of great misfortune that many of these needs are not being satisfied. It is unfortunate that everything in this world is ephemeral--it comes and goes. And that human interactions are shallow and fleeting and meaningless.... So, out of desperation, I must find a way for these needs to be attended to and comforted.

It's so funny that an individual human being in the university is equivalent to Tom Hanks residing on a deserted island in the middle of a vast ocean. Except that I myself am in a vast ocean of collective ideas, trying to find a method to the madness! In order to survive and stay in one piece--the secular alternative to talking to "God" is to invent a character, like a "Wilson" volleyball.... Like "Gozzie" from a strange, foreign country. And so it goes.

You can't change humans. And you can't expect any one of them to accomodate you. You can only invent them in your mind. Invent them, and manage them to however you need. That becomes much lower maintenance than tending to a real-world human in the outside world.

I, Victoria, have very picky needs and desires and in part need a very picky design of a human. So, just as I invented the character of "Buz" in Question Reality, I am inventing a new character by the name of "Gozzie," who is now starting to keep me quite good company. I think Gozzie is tall, like 6'2" and he has dark, curly hair (not sure how long or short). I think he is rather thin-athletic, not super chunky muscular, and he doesn't eat red meats. He is very light hearted, witty, and has an amazing sense of sarcastic humor. Though he is in slight bitterness of the whole human-environmental condition, he has overwhelming optimism and bountiless creativity. Gozzie is a hybrid of the sciences and the arts and is a do-er, not a talker. He knows the methos of the sciences and arts very well, and he is determined to make a name for himself in the world. He knows quite a few things and I know quite a few things. We both work very closely on projects and he is very motivating me of my pursuits. He encourages me to finish my projects and to merge to the next idea. Ultimately, he wants me to go on Roadtrip Nation so I can meet all the people I have been dreaming of meeting and interviewing for the last five-or-so years. Gozzie is also pushing me to be more extroverted and open with others. He is really pushing my boundaries in becoming a better person.

I think the most important traits of Gozzie is that he has quite a bit of time to spend with me, and that he is very, very humble. Most guys play this ego game, displaying a false sense of confidence, even though they know very, very little. Gozzie doesn't know a lot and he readily ADMITS that he doesn't know a lot. He said that was the point of getting a Ph.D. in the first place--to admit that you know close to nothing... more and more and less and less of nothing! Another thing that gozzie does is that he gives lots of hugs and just curls me up into a rolly polly ball and squeezes me gently when I feel like the world is coming down too much on me. He says not to worry--everything is fine. It's just information overload. Like usual. And then I uncurl myself up and say "oh." I think this will be radiated through the egg chair and the massage chair and the free massages on campus!

Gozzie and I trade artwork and poetry all the time. We positively critique each other. It's never a one-way street of creativity and productivity.

I am sure, Gozzie is mostly a cumulative character, but sometimes a few people--one person-- might take very real properties of him in the world outside my mind.

Well, I think this is a good formula for a start. I can understand why John Nash had to create characters for his Beautiful Mind. He didn't want to be in his brain alone. You do whatever it takes for individual sanity.

Now that I have all my needs illusorily satisfied, I need to now narrow down. My September since the 15th was an overall immense distraction. I had to annex the university niche space. I had to get beaten up by the intellectual gangsters on campus in order to go through my rite of passage of institutional acceptance. Lucky me, today was the last major "rite of passage" with my meeting with Dr. John Melack, and now I am up-and-running with exploring scaling patterns from biological to human-environmental systems. Now, I just have to get my ducks lined up in a row. Which will require a lot. First, Gozzie is recommending that I have a solid foundation website interface. Second, Gozzie says once all that "showy business" is over with, I really have to dig deep back into the writing. But he also recommends I keep up with Sam Sweet's lecture notes. Oops.

This was written 9/30/08 but is back-dated.