Non-scientific field notes from a chimp tracker Semliki Note #1 — Data Up early with the bats in a soft rain, I’m walking down a steep path to the climate station we’ve set up at the river. The forest is silent except for some restless insects and one or two birds. I raise the kerosene lantern high to… Continue reading Three Notes from Semliki
Stories and Essays
Dusty Around the Eyes
Names change colors when you are dusty around the eyes. Watch a gerenuk at sunset while listening to a Walkman. These two odd sentences are mnemonics I constructed to remind myself of chains of thought that occurred to me while learning to do anthropological fieldwork in East Africa. Searching the forests of the Semliki Valley… Continue reading Dusty Around the Eyes
Dad 2.0
My daughter says my stories seem fake because my characters don’t use cell phones. There’s no email either, I tell her. Nor Insta, TikTok, or Twitter. She rolls her eyes and says, Cell phones are mandatory, Dad. Man-da-tory. Maybe she’s right. She’s 17 after all. I tell her, I think technology peaked with the invention… Continue reading Dad 2.0
Not Quite Canadian
I couldn’t figure it out. Was there something on my face? Was my fly open? I hadn’t made it halfway across campus from the bus stop and three friends had already stopped me to ask how I was doing. I was fine, as far as I knew. But I was starting to wonder. It was… Continue reading Not Quite Canadian