Island home

It is always a wonderful feeling to return to a place that I know. The bright sunlight, the sticky, humid air, and the faint sound of waves lapping on the shore tell me that I have arrived. It's a homecoming, in a way - not a place that I am from, but a place that I know well. A place that I might even belong. That's right, friends, I am in Palau. 

This is my third trip in just over a year, and I am immeasurably glad to be back. All the experiments my team set up in the spring need to be monitored, and I tell you what, those corals are not going to sample themselves. 

The "band" - Kim, Kirstin (me), Matt, and Cas. Photo by
Cas Grupstra.

Most of my team members from last spring are here too, and I'm so glad to work with Cas and Matt again. Unfortunately, Maikani didn't join us this trip, because she's busy finishing her last semester of school. (Maikani, if you're reading this, we miss you!!) We have one new team member, so we're a total of four. It kind of feels like the band is back together, just with a different instrumentalist this time. 

I want to tell you a little about our new team member, Kim Jermain. She's an artist from Massachusetts, and she approached us last spring. You see, Kim is not your average artist. Her approach to art is very scientific, and in her view, the human experience is best described by a combination of science and art. When I first started conversing with Kim, it took me a while to grasp what she was describing. Now I find it endlessly fascinating. Science is art, and art is science. They are two orthogonal disciplines. 

Kim's role in the trip is two-fold. Primarily, she's running an education program for middle school students that uses science-art fusion to teach the importance of conservation. We're calling the program "Found Color." So far, we have a handful of kids signed up, and I am really looking forward to working with them. Second, Kim is going to be joining us in the field to create art of her own. She actually paints underwater. I'm really not sure how that is going to work, but I'm really curious to see her in action!

This is going to be a great trip. I'm so excited to be back in Palau!

If you want to read about our trip and Found Color from Kim's perspective, check out https://www.kimberlycollinsjermain.com/found-color