I didn’t mean to fall in love with Brine Shrimp. In 2017, for my birthday, my friend Angie gave me an ecosphere—an egg-shaped glass enclosure in which three brine shrimp swam among oxygenating plants in a carefully balanced, magical kind of system. The brine shrimp were meant to live six months. Two years later, they still swam between the tiny, oxygenating branch that produced the algae that fed the shrimps.Â
That year, I took the ecosphere on a book tour through California. As I explained about The After-Normal: Brief Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet an abecedarian about how climate change affects albatrosses, frogs, igloos, grasses, opossums, possums, and whistles, I passed the brine shrimp around the audience to show how their habitat is a synecdoche for our planet. This carefully balanced glass egg is as perfect as the earth. The brine shrimp are perfectly fine as long as nothing upsets the balance. I held up the sphere and said, “These are magical creatures in a magical chemical system. All food is provided. All waste is recycled. All chemicals equally distributed just like a perfect atmosphere.� Analogy made, I handed out blue and green marbles. “These are your tiny planets. Don’t lose them.� I strike metaphors too hard sometimes, but everyone took their marble and carefully slipped them into purse and pant pocket. A year later, I met someone at a writer’s who had been at my talk. He produced a marble from his pocket. “I always keep it with me.�
My former student went to see the Subhumans in Phoenix late last fall. I’ve loved this punk rock band since I was twelve-years-old. Their dark point of view satisfied me. Their song “The Cradl… Read moreImpossible individualism: Us fish must swim together
I didn’t mean to fall in love with Brine Shrimp. In 2017, for my birthday, my friend Angie gave me an ecosphere—an egg-shaped glass enclosure in which three brine shrimp swam among oxygenating… Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: Brine shrimp
I have a confession to make. I adopted two new kittens. After Zane the cat got lost last April, I couldn’t stop missing him. Zane, half Maine Coon, half koala bear, was my person. He slept bet… Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: Impossible Hospitals
On June 30th, I took a trip with my friend Beya and our youngest boys to Clear Creek Reservoir to paddleboard. The wind was strong. The water was murky. The sun was hot. We managed to make it … Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: Impossible College
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. The nouns in that sentence define nearly all of my writing. My hometown, paradoxically named, shaped my aesthetic. I write from a first-person point of view… Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: One and done
Newly elected governor Katie Hobbs, in her inauguration speech, vowed to repeal the universal vouchers, officially known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) â€� double-speak for if you’re… Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: Boot Straps
It was precisely 97 minutes ago that we wrapped up Spring Semester 2022. By the time you’re reading this, it will be September 1 and Fall Semester 2022 will be well underway. They say there’s … Read moreNicole's Impossibly Possible Ideas: A wormhole summer
