Why we are here
Last night, I went to hear E.O. Wilson speak about a book he had just finished about his hometown, Mobile, Alabama. He said he has spent his adult life at Harvard and has never felt home there or in the surrounding Boston area because it is too fragmented, too big, and I would add, not natural enough. Instead he insists he is an Alabaman, who happens to be a Harvard professor. Afterwards, as I was having him sign my books, I had my photo taken with the great naturalist and the artist of the collaboration, Why We Are Here, Alex Harris.
I listened to Wilson speak about his native land, about how there is more diversity in the city of Mobile than in any other U.S. city. And about how while he was thinking about this book, out on the E.O. Wilson trail, a guy showed him how to hypnotize a dragonfly.
Like any curious person, his first thought was he wants to study dragon flies. Never stop being curious. Wilson’s focus during a career lifetime has been on ants and he said the major difference between ants and people is ants are warriors – they are always battling neighboring ants. While humans send young men off to war, ants send old women.
Before I had gone to hear Wilson speak, I had stopped into the Student Center for the signing of Lafitte In Exile and had Frank sign the copy of my book. After all, I’m in it, explaining how I came to gay life.
I drove home, thinking about my own identity; I’m a New Orleanian no matter where I am. And as for why I live here, maybe the video below is an indication – I was coming home from the grocery store on Sunday and a parade followed me down the bayou. This morning, a friend told me there was a ram’s head floating in the bayou, speculating this wily band of paraders might have done it – whether that’s true or not doesn’t really matter – it’s just possible if not plausible.