Category: Woods Hole

Overheard in Woods Hole–on New York

Tonight’s Friday evening lecture by MIT’s Robert Langer will be my last event here for this visit. Langer is really one of this country’s great bio-engineers. That’s a growth area for George Mason and it will be interesting to see what’s going on at the top of the field.

I’ve noticed that the “chatter” (administratively important emails from my university) has picked up in the last 24 hours. That either means the semester is getting ever closer, or my colleagues are beginning to actively anticipate my return. Probably both.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of the Overheard in New York blog that I read every once in a while, I leave you with this conversation from the local convenience store in the village:

20-something shop clerk (female) to 20-something customer (male) on life in New York City:

“it’s so ironically invasive”

What does that mean?

Jim

Rememberances of things past

This time in Woods Hole, I find myself as usual running into old friends and memories of the past. At the open house following the dedication of the newly renamed (and refitted) Rowe Laboratory, I went up to find my old lab where I studied sea urchin PKC activation with Giorgio Ascoli back in 1994. It’s beautiful now–absolutely state-of-the-art, but it was beautiful then too, in a run-down historical sort of way that gave real authenticity to the bench top science.

This afternoon, I purchased Lynn Margulis’ new book Luminous Fish. It’s a collection of linked short stories about science and love. Lynn was a visitor to the Krasnow Institute in its nascent days. Her work on evolution is seminal. So it will be delightful to read her fiction.

Earlier in the day, I went swimming at MBL’s Stoney Beach. The cool sea was a welcome respite from the ubiquitous humidity of Woods Hole in August. Stony is an odd beach for Cape Cod: few tourists and lots of scientist-types. Sort of fashion backwards. I fit right in. The tide was in, so just a few yards off shore, it was already over my head. One could imagine, if only for a moment, a stray Great White eying the human legs frog-kicking just off the beach. Much more exciting than a pool!

This evening, I am taking the boat over to Vineyard Haven to an old restaurant favorite of mine, Le Grenier. Open 24/7/365, this is one of the great hidden culinary gems of Martha’s Vineyard. The Chef, Jean Dupon, has been there forever. Thousands of wine corks line the walls of a the bistro, on the second floor of a building. The specialty of the house is a steak au poivre which is lit on fire at your table with cognac. The entire room is made of wood, and with the flambe dish being very popular, it feels like the entire place might go up at any moment. Very exciting. Like swimming at Stony Beach. I’ll catch the 9:30PM boat back to Woods Hole.

Jim