Shutdown

I've been going through an emotional roller coaster.  With the government shutdown, my project in Antarctica is likely a goner.  However, I also feel that it isn't nearly as important as many of the other government functions.  I feel like crap for myself and feel even worse for others.  I keep thinking that tenure is fantastic (my salary is secure), my research doesn't depend on yearly measurements over a decade, and my life isn't in danger.  However, my research and life were structured around a glorious 3 months of work preparing for and doing research in Antarctica.  I am a geologist for opportunities like this.  It is the most important thing in my professional life, and it gives me immense personal pleasure.  I don't know what to say except that:

It is so much easier to destroy than it is to build!

 That is what is happening to our government.  A few people want to destroy the status quo, not just change it.  We have to stand up to them.  We have to sacrifice our field seasons.  Unfortunately, it will also cost some peoples' lives, which isn't okay.  Life is sacred.  How do we regain a civilized government?

I think that the best representation of what I've gone through is my tweets since Oct 1.  Unfortunately, they are listed on Twitter in reverse chronological order, and I don't want to spend the effort to cut out each one and put them in the order I'd like you to see them.  Thus, scroll down to the bottom of this blog and read it going up.  I sure wish I could go back to Sept 29th when I was concerned about the latest results from Curiosity being behind the Science firewall!














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