werewolf

I remember the first time I stepped onto the soft, cool sand of a beach, peering out at the stars and the moonlit ocean. It was the first time I felt science calling out to me-- mouthing in strange tongues and tracing shadowy figures in the sky.

At the time all I was aware of was a strange connection to nature. As time went on, however, it felt like everything in Rhode Island-- from the softwood to the soil to the sea-- was trying to make me understand something.

Eventually, this affinity I had for nature culminated in a career of science.

Many people regard engineers as the underlings of true scientists-- the Aminadab to chemistry’s Aylmer, if you will. But that idea is flawed. The truth, at least according to my own experiences, is that an engineer is a man who reaches beyond the various theories and hypotheses of science and attempts to become a part of the thing himself.

It was the day after I turned thirty-two-- the day I woke up to find that my best friend had been brutally murdered and I couldn’t remember where I’d been last night-- that I realized exactly what it means to be a piece of science.