From our discussion last Tuesday.

Check out this proactive art. Advertisement is a particularly "sticky" art form used to change the way we act and think. Is it the only form of art that transcends the art/life divide?

This is quite a pressing issue for me at the moment. I took a personality test the other day. I came up a helper and a thinker. As a helper I am driven by a need to be loved and by a fear of being unloved. As a thinker I am driven by a need to understand the world and a fear of being overwhelmed by the world. These descriptions seem to fit me pretty accurately, though no more than my daily horoscopes.

Assuming the basic validity of this analysis, I see two pathways for myself. 1) understanding the world through the science of ecology, which is one of the more holistic, encompassing sciences, or 2) through some sort of creative writing. Let's for a moment assume that I have the capacity to be equally talented in either of these general areas. Ecology seems like a slightly more helpful and altruistic career path to follow. They both have the capactity to be overwhelming. Ecology may be more grounded, but ultimately may be too deterministic and grueling for me. Writing sounds like more fun, but ignorance is bliss.

The rest of my life starts in an hour and a half. Do I attend the reading in Kroch library or go to the biogeochemistry seminar and learn about mycorrhizas and global climate change? (For all you nerdy, science and etymology, freaks: mycorrhizas is usually written mycorrhizae in the US, but it is more correct to write mycorrhizas, as mycorrhizae mixes the greek base -rhiza- with the latin suffix -ae. Cool, huh? Mycorrhizas are the way of the future. All the Europeans are doing it.)

My mentor, Gretchen, whom I love and respect, says I should look into scientific writing. (Apparently there is a class offered at Cornell.) It sounds dull, but mentors, like mothers, often know us better than we know ourselves, and their suggestions are not to be taken lightly. Perhaps I was too quick to dismiss Josh's suggestion to write about taking soil cores?

Of course there is always option three: trading in my dictionary and fountain pen for feathers, sequins, and the life of a Vegas showgirl. Lola, she was a showgirl . . .