Someone I met in a dreamy bay in Thailand once said, “Allie, you’re like me. You’re a potato.” 

Offended, I asked her what she meant by that.

She said, “you can make a lot of things out of a potato: fries, crisps, latkes, even vodka, but nothing gourmet.” 

Whether or not I agree if potato products can qualify as gourmet, I understood. It’s sort of true. A jack of all trades, master of none kind of thing. Even in geophysics, I stopped short of a tenure track career. 

I mean, it makes sense. Above all, I explore. Internally, externally, in subject and in medium. That, by nature, makes me potato-like. And if it walks like a duck, it might be a shapeshifter.

These days, academic and professional achievements still lend themselves to credibility, so if you’d like to see mine click here.