The Ayatollah brought us Reagan. We survived the Revolution. I took the path of my parents and went to school. I was not brilliant, merely intelligent enough to know how limited my understanding could be. As the child of a historian who loved science and a scientist who loved mountains, I was caught in a middle place, seeing both the need for specialized knowledge and also the power that came from generalizations.
Natural history can be a very introverted topic.
I wish that I could tell you that my decision to study birds was based on some profound philosophical insight, or came out of a truly altruistic desire to serve. I wish, but it would be untrue. The only trouble with this set of likes and dislikes was that the open spaces were disappearing, and the wild birds with them. I realized that I was still young and was losing the wilderness, without any of the skills and training that I needed to try and preserve it. Human Ecology offers the possibility of combining those skills and that training.