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The Stories


Madison, Wisconsin There are places in the world where you come of age. For me, the place that comes to mind is the college town of Madison, Wisconsin. Every nook and cranny of the campus and the ithmus-based downtown are etched into memory. In 22 months, I seemed to live five lifetimes. Each photograph keys a memory of a moment during a stretch of living where the me I knew changed moment to moment. Memory Score: 10

University of Washington Campus Spoiled by a campus during the excitement of a new industry and the dot.com bubble, I lingered fifteen years working between three different departments fulfilling faculty, staff, and student responsibilities &mdashl simultaneously at times. How I preferred a lifestyle that required walking often from meeting to meeting or work collaboration to lecture — on a campus that offered mountain views, water views, city views, and abundant natural occurances like the annual spring blossoming of the Japanese cherry trees. Remarkable times, for sure. Memory Score: 10

Safari in South Africa Representing ideas and concepts at a wide variety of conferences, congresses, and symposiums over the years, I've been blessed to coordinate travel extras between the cracks of discussions and presentations with and to spectacular people with spectacular visions. No better example resonates than the opportunity taken to go on safari after a week of representing the USA at the International Aquarium Congress that is held every four years. To see large animal life among subtle and yet inspiring natural surroundings blew away any experience at a zoo or aquarium and of course raised issues about the zoo as a concept of convenience for us humans. Memory Score: 10

Lingering in the Maritimes We've been returning to the homeland of my parents every year of my life. The drive was slow and long when I was young as there wasn't much demand to make the trek. Now that the roads are ample and their maintenance world class, I find myself off the main road simulating the slow northeastward progress of my youth. It's obvious my genes were honed by the smells of the sea and cooler climes protected by gentle (and not so gentle) coastal breezes. LaHave, Nova Scotia is a fantastic place to set as a destination — especially when Mom and Dad are at home there. Looking out to Green Bay from the beach across the road brings a sense of being there hundreds of years ago... each time. Memory Score: 10

Brittany through the Villages Yikes. A single trip across the pond to Brittany in northern France connected me to the old country as many points in Scotland tend to do. Coastal villages from Brittany northwesterly all have that basic Celtic base culture that resonates from all those trips to the Canadian Maritimes. Even the enormous tides and miles of tidal flats gain my attention as if they were present every day in my life. Oh how to feel the world breathing in and out... every six hours or so. Memory Score: 10

Surrounded by Dense Flora Who hasn't transported their mind to the deep jungle upon reading any good story that takes place there. From an early age, I was transfixed by thoughts of darkest Peru as envisioned by the homeland of Paddington... my guide to a voyeuristic experience of English culture. Such joy to span the bridges north of the UW campus in Seattle looking down on the canopy of the Revenna ravine. Even more superlative a long suspension bridge above the southeast Asian jungle outside of the city of Singapore. I don't feel one with the jungle like I do with the sea, but I sure enjoy the contrast and appreciate jungle processes that bring such diversity to life on our planet. Memory Score: 10

Wandering the Semi-Desert Nothing cleanses the mind like a walkabout in semi-arid desert climate. I remember that 56 hour walkabout in western Texas when I committed to writing a dissertation. I remember walkabouts in Arizona and New Mexican highlands that reminded me it wasn't New England hardwood everywhere. Memory Score: 10

Cities from Up High Nothing beats a city vantage point like these in Montreal and Lyon. To watch the magnificence of human accomplishment of such scale as nature gently casts late afternoon shadows fills the mind with thoughts worth contemplating. To watch day become night and see the lights of the city come on as the sun's last rays disappear will always be poignant moments in my life. Memory Score: 10

A Day at the Beach What better contrast than the place where terrain becomes bathymetry? The ocean is so regular as the land is so irregular in so many coastal locales. To sit in a place where hearing, feeling, and smell match the bounty of human sight is to fill the brain with ripe stimuli to ponder. It is hard to go more than a few months without a day at the beach. Memory Score: 10