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I am a biology teacher who is lucky enough to work in a museum filled with wonderful objects. As part of the education department at The American Museum of Natural History, I create curriculum and teach at The New York City Museum School. I have always been thrilled by the natural world, both for its complexities and asthetic.I enjoy creating interdisciplinary curriculum linking literature, art and science.
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What will I remember ?.... The answer to that question sometimes tells us more about ourselves than the places we visit.
I won't remember the names of towns or rivers, nor their location on the map. Unfortunately, I won't remember but a fraction of the history and a choice few names, as wonderful as everyone has been. I remember little things, their stories, behaviors and patterns. I will remember strange details, the veins of leaves and the eyes of insects, the way bark peels back to green smooth flesh. I will remember the colors made by tiny fields of lichen, moss and liverwort. I will remember the sand maps etched by timid crabs and the array of colored mudstones bejeweling the stream bed. I will remember the birth of a mangrove, red fleshy discs clasping the swan-necked seedling and the clinging feel of mantis feet.
I will remember the scientists who, for years, live in these places and measure details, patiently. Everything I know about the environment I owe to someone's eye, questioning, measuring, and caring about all the little things.
Thoughts on...Palo Verde: Land of the Iguana...Marshland meets deciduous forest - I know this border, but somehow this place doesn't look like any other I've ever seen...How is it I never knew tropical dry forests were more threatened than rainforests?...This is where the hardwoods came from.. trees here grew slowly, creating a dense, strong wood...Florecilla...
La Selva: Here is where the real work on climate change and its effects on the forest are being done. The frogs are disappearing...Epiphytes and heliconia create ponds of diversity...Flower Children...I prefer to touch everything....lush...lianas...a bridge to the emerald haven...Leaf cutting ants abound...Bat tents...I've seen a sloth and an agouti...This is why I teach environmental science...I would like to return as a graduate student...Raaaain!!!!!
Las Cruces: Mist in the mountains...gardens on the trees, gardens on the leaves...Invasives and edges...fragments of something precious...Jabastud
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Link to the following sites...
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