The Standing of the Stones Spring ’22 Edition
(A version of this post first appeared on Patreon. To get early access, plus nifty extras, all while supporting Rosetta Stones, please click here.)
Yeah, it has been a long time since I wrote something substantial, hasn’t it? Even Women’s History Month passed without a peep. Both work and my poor teeth exploded, so it’s been a few months of ending up too drained to word properly while I take care of those matters. Thank you so much for sticking with me regardless. It’s about to get good and earth sciency around here.
I haven’t been completely idle: I’ve been researching Marguerite Thomas Williams, the first African American to earn a PhD in geology. Dozens of articles are out there about her. Precisely none contain any of her words. They list off the same few facts, mostly, which tell us some important and interesting things about her, but don’t give her a living memory. She feels remote, removed, like we’re viewing a damaged newsreel from the back of a theater with a moth-eaten screen and a failing projector. Some of the facts given are there to try to illustrate how unique she was, but they’re wrong: she wasn’t born in the Reconstruction era, in fact was nearly twenty years too late. Even the photo many use to portray her isn’t actually her.
Careful and determined internet sleuthing uncovered some fragments of her life not mentioned in those articles. I found a long and detailed obituary of one of her sisters that told me more about her parents and her early life. I found things she did late in her teaching career. I gleaned enough that I could have gone forward with a post that added a few new things. For added value, I found a lot of information about the river she studied for her PhD. But I still didn’t have her words. I felt an accord with her, as a fellow 47 year-old creative Capricorn who writes, loves geology, and adores education. But without her words, it all felt hollow. I couldn’t do her justice.
So I reached out to the library at the University of Columbia D.C., and they came through in spades. They provided her PhD dissertation and her photos. So I’ve just got to finish reading her dissertation and a few other sources now. Then I’ll be able to write in greater depth about her. Then, I’ll be able to do her justice.
All I can say is, research librarians are the utter best.
Meanwhile: I’m going to have to finish up the Canary Islands soon, because we might be having more island eruptions before too long. Magma was on the move in the Azores on São Jorge last month, and it looks like the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland is about to have another eruption.
We’re probably doing more island volcanoes this year, my darlings! And since the Azores are magnificent, and B and I watch YouTube documentaries about them and moot the idea of someday moving there for a few years, I’m probably going to write about them this year whether they end up with a fresh volcano or not.
I also haven’t been quite idle on the Mediterranean Geology research front, so we’ll continue on with that as soon as I can get my work-life-writing balance worked out.
That’s about the state of things for now. Writing is coming. So is spring/summer adventuring season, so I’m giving you one attractive rock from Rhododendron Park in Kenmore, WA. I believe it’s hornfels, but will have to return and politely smack with a rock hammer to find out.
See you soon with many hefty and hopefully satisfying posts!
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