On the first day of
February, 2007, I Googled "Euplotidium." One of the top hits was Small
Things Considered: Ciliate 007. One click and I landed on Elio's blog.
I knew immediately that we shared an appreciation for The Small Things. I wanted to help spread that message. Beginning with his first e-mail, Elio graciously welcomed me and allowed me to make myself useful to the blog in increasingly varied and challenging ways. Before I knew it, I was enscounced on the banner as co-blogger. I still marvel at my good fortune. Seldom does one have the pleasure of such a nourishing work relationship, or encounter a generous teacher with whom to learn about both microbiology and writing.
I was educated as a research biologist, taught college briefly, then spent thirty-some years in
other worlds. During those decades, I created and ran a natural foods
restaurant, then a bookstore. I worked as an editor, as a desktop-publisher,
and as a technical writer preparing software manuals. Finally I
returned to my first love, biology—especially the microbes in all their
creative diversity.
The Big Island of
Hawaii has been home for me since 1984. In 2002 I moved into my small, owner-built house in
a lava field at 4000' on Mauna Loa, off grid, with broadband Internet, a cat, a woodstove, and a year-round vegetable garden. Ten years later, dealing with post-polio syndrome, I moved about a hundred feet to a new, even smaller and much less physically demanding house that I call The Nutshell. The garden too, has assumed smaller dimensions but still it feeds me. The days have shrunk along with my supply of physical energy. It has become impossible to fit in everything I would like to do. Thus, I resigned as co-blogger as of August 31, 2012, to become STC’s first Blogger Emeritus. I’ll still be writing occasional posts and doing a little editing for Elio. Likewise, my free-lance microbiology editing and writing will continue at a slower pace. The hours remaining will be spent writing a book about my beloved phage—my way of continuing to speak for The Small Things.
I can be reached at merry@rainbowrockhawaii.com
