a joy in the journey

Science Day ‘19

I really like the microscopes,

they who unlock the worlds

where small creatures live full lives,

below our normal notice,

where small worms get sunburn,

I am also drawn to what normal substances can help reveal:

strawberries + water + dishwashing detergent + salt + alcohol,

and DNA is extracted,

exploring how DNA works to program us,

kitchen ingredients combine into fun goo,

and, in other workshops, an expression of how digestion processes food,

and what was food to us when we hunted and gathered,

what reveals itself pierces 

to the heart of what is, 

and how,

and touches why,

baboons and heredity, 

an anesthesiologist and the tricks of the health trade,

the mysteries of revelation through sound

through the physics of inertia and gravity,

plus how to protect ourselves from our own creations,

then also exploring figures not lying but liars figuring,

correlation used to trick us to believe causation,

workshops bring into consciousness what can drive us,

half the school with posters of experiments

in which the students ask the universe a question, 

hypothesize an answer,

then develop and conduct a procedure

to see what the universe answers with experience,

Science Day begins with a keynote

which addresses the power of science

to be true to the universe, and thus to us at our best,

to help us stop short-circuiting ourselves with pointless fear,

so we finish the day with outlandishly clever 

marching bands of advisee groups,

where camaraderie, creativity, and exuberance 

are the means, and the goal,

the universe likes it when we understand,

and likes it even more when we joy in the journey.

by Henry H. Walker

March 15, ‘19