| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | When I was about 10 years old, my friend and I participated in an extremely long canoe race for our cub scout troop. We canoed something like 20 miles, and were utterly exhausted by the end. I think this may have been the first time I did something physically difficult that I really enjoyed. I don't think Boy Scouts (of America) gets enough credits for getting kids outside. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I've always identified with my paternal grandfather. He lived an incredible life that included witnessing WWII from France, raising a family, traveling, and maintaining a sort of Clint Eastwood-esque manly demeanor the whole time. He always put others before himself, sometimes to an almost ridiculous degree. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire persistence, especially when dealing with life's unexpected challenges. Everybody gets dealt a different hand, and our ability to accept and deal with changes to one's health, family, community, or state is what defines our character. While certain traits are hardwired into our brains, humans have an incredible flexibility that allows us to improve. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | The day that I returned from military training was halloween night. I went to a party with some friends I hadn't seen in seven months or more. One friend, who was dressed as Homer Simpson was having a very serious drunken argument with another friend dressed as a puppy dog. The argument was completely nonsensical, and thankfully, both people immediately forgave one another in the morning. The whole scene was even more ridiculous for me than it might be because everything had been so serious for months, and here were two human cartoons acting as if the world were ending at a party. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Somewhere that haven't been exploited for resources or developed in recent memory. There is an ever-diminishing portion of the Amazon that is about as remote as anything on earth. I've done quite a bit of traveling in my life, but I haven't seen the Amazon. As a geographer, I've looked at plenty of maps that highlight the extent of human intrusion into forested landscapes. Most people would be shocked by how few places remain. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I may not ever have my own children, but if I do, I want to teach them that satisfaction in life comes from doing things for other people, or even for animals. Young people are naturally self centered, and the explosion of social media technology is dramatically worsening our obsessions with ourselves. I think that part of the truth of living comes from experiencing life as part of a greater whole. |
