emily_hernandez
A new home for bacteria
Bear with me--these old shoes are more interesting than they seem! I almost forgot about these Vans, my once favorite pair of shoes, after leaving them on my patio for almost over a year (I know, pretty gross, but I have a bad memory) until I stumbled across them in the corner today. I placed them outside all that time ago because they got soaked in beer at a concert I attended and I meant to air them out. What I noticed today was that they have been serving a purpose this whole time, just not to me. My best guess is that, in combination with the common processes of sun exposure, the canvas of the shoes has been stripping away and discoloring due to the colonization and decomposition of/from bacteria--ecological concepts sometimes too small to witness! Since bacteria favor settling in warm, moist, and often sedentary environments, these shoes became a perfect home for (what appears to be) algae and undoubtedly various bacteria given that the leftover beer didn't just get up and walk away! While the shoes were pretty beaten up beforehand, the residue from that night and accumulated dirt/dust from just being outside and in one spot for so long caused a hotspot for many processes to occur. Though a bit gross and disappointing, I'm glad I noticed that my former favorite concert shoes ended up not only displaying classic patterns of weathering but exhibiting the many ways bacteria can affect the items around us sometimes being disguised as something else!
A new home for bacteria
Bear with me--these old shoes are more interesting than they seem! I almost forgot about these Vans, my once favorite pair of shoes, after leaving them on my patio for almost over a year (I know, pretty gross, but I have a bad memory) until I stumbled across them in the corner today. I placed them outside all that time ago because they got soaked in beer at a concert I attended and I meant to air them out. What I noticed today was that they have been serving a purpose this whole time, just not to me. My best guess is that, in combination with the common processes of sun exposure, the canvas of the shoes has been stripping away and discoloring due to the colonization and decomposition of/from bacteria--ecological concepts sometimes too small to witness! Since bacteria favor settling in warm, moist, and often sedentary environments, these shoes became a perfect home for (what appears to be) algae and undoubtedly various bacteria given that the leftover beer didn't just get up and walk away! While the shoes were pretty beaten up beforehand, the residue from that night and accumulated dirt/dust from just being outside and in one spot for so long caused a hotspot for many processes to occur. Though a bit gross and disappointing, I'm glad I noticed that my former favorite concert shoes ended up not only displaying classic patterns of weathering but exhibiting the many ways bacteria can affect the items around us sometimes being disguised as something else!