Ants and Groupies…
There are a few people that I am totally and completely enthralled by. When I was a little girl it was Panch from the TV show “Chips”. Then of course, I had my musical idols like Joey from NKOTB (embarrassingly enough, but hey, I was 8!) and then more recently Jimmy Page, Carl Lewis, Abra Moore, Jack White, then Nabokov, Tom Robbins, Michael Pollen….as I grew older I began to admire the people who create great music, art, etc. It wasn’t about how good-looking they were, or how cool- it was about the sheer appreciation of their talent and abilities, qualities that I wanted to be close to (perhaps in the hopes that some of it will rub off on me??).
One of my most enduring idols is E.O. Wilson. Can scientists have groupies? If so, then I am a bonafide E.O. Wilson groupie. The man is brilliant, self-deprecating and sincere in a way that few people are. He also happens to be from South Alabama which is amazing to me for 2 very different reasons: 1. If he is from here, and I live here, my chances of actually meeting the man go way up, and
2. There aren’t many folks who rise to his level of unique scientific thought, much less those from the backwoods swamps of the Deep South, which makes his career trajectory all the more amazing.
And, last week, I finally got to meet him and shake his hand! He was in town promoting his first fiction novel, Anthill. He did a short reading from a new novel he just finished writing and then signed books. Our exchange was quick and nonsubstantive, but I have been buzzing ever since. And in my line of work, I will take inspiration wherever I can get it.
It is so wonderful when your heroes live up to your expectations!
PS If you have never read EO Wilson, please do so immediately!
