Cracks of Time

At first these essays comprised various topics of interest to me – for example, the nature of collecting and the power of “cracks” of time. 

 

Science has morphed into history for me after some fifty years of research. I have closed my laboratory at NIH and stepped aside to become what is, kindly, called an emeritus scientist. While some emeritus scientists may continue to devote their time to science, I’m writing. My novel Jellyfish Have Eyes was published last year and now I’m engrossed in completing a series of personal essays. Stay tuned for their publication.

At first these essays comprised various topics of interest to me – for example, the nature of collecting and the power of “cracks” of time. However, the essays began to speak to each other, to join forces and link into a memoir in essays. That’s how writing has worked for me: I start with an idea until it grows legs and then it runs away with its own tale. That’s how science worked with me too. I’d start with a question, which raised more questions, and these eventually directed my course. I went from characterizing eye lenses to studying the genes of jellyfish! And then I wrote a novel that rolled my past life and thoughts and yearnings and disappointments into a package of fiction. I couldn’t have written that fiction without having the experiences I had in science, in life, in my dreams.

Everything I’ve done or thought about comes back at some point in time to influence what I do or think about next, and I never know which of the experiences is going to be the most important, or when that distant experience will return for an encore. I guess a message is the cliché (sometimes clichés are useful) that you can’t escape yourself.

Since everything returns, it’s impossible to waste time. Now there’s a statement few would agree with. I’ll give just one example before I sign off for today. A couple of hours ago I ate lunch alone watching a TV program called “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” That seems like a waste of time, but it gave me the idea for this blog. Here’s how. A contestant was asked to decide which of four elements (sodium, lead, iron or copper) relates to the theme melody of Batman? She’d watched Batman on TV for years as a kid. So she said without hesitation, sodium, because its chemical symbol is Na, and the theme song went something like Nah, Nah, etc. That was worth $50,000! See what I mean? Were those hours many years ago vegetating in front of a TV set instead of doing her homework a waste of time?

I’ll let you come to your own conclusion.