I am an artist and a writer, passionate about the earth sciences.

Have been single for almost ten years though hope to remedy that if the right creative gentleman comes along.

What do you want to be when you grow up? It is a question every parent asks his or her child. I remember my daughter Adrienne lying between her father and I one Sunday morning and I remember her reply. She was four at the time and with great serenity and simplicity, her hands tucked neatly behind her head, thoughtfully contemplating the ceiling, she said, “Bigger.” There is a wisdom that would have delighted Walt Whitman. Sometimes the best words, the strongest words are the simplest. They can make a thought shine with comprehension, illuminating in such a way that perfection is revealed in a single article. It is a garment to be desired, to clothe with simple clarity the lean lines of a thought. Too often we get pulled into ‘art-speak’, that pretentious vernacular specific to a group, shutting out those who do not share a particular knowledge. John Ralston Saul spoke to this in one of his Massey Lectures. I think he would agree. There is much to be learned from Adrienne’s word: the art of speaking to someone, not over them, the wonder of expressing an idea in its simplest, smallest form, and the awesome truth that is contained in the simplicity of the small. Now there is a goal for a writer. If we could ask a word what it would choose to be when it grew up, perhaps it would say, “Smaller.”