The work, if this is work, is to study the natural world. It is to be alive and observant in the day; to have the privilege of immersing oneself in the scientific literature; to glean insights from researchers whose trust one must earn through faithful and exacting rendering of their findings. It is to push at the edges of one’s comprehension, finding comfort with uncertainty and confusion, toward the aim of genuine understanding. It is to recognize the point at which something true might be said—something with the weight of the necessary—and in that moment, to become still.

The work, if this is work, is to occupy that fleeting stillness, and gather from it the narrative threads to tell a story.