Portrait of the Writer as a Young Historian

Street Smart Naturalist · Dec 24, 2025 · 5m

With the holidays upon us, I thought I’d take a quick and lighter spin to my subject, which happens to be me, in my youth. Plus, as you can tell, I decided to send it out a day early to beat the Christmas rush.

One of the great mysteries many of us address in life is how we ended up where we are. What decisions did we make that set us down a certain path? Was it nature or nurture, luck or planning? My path toward my present life focusing on human and natural history in Seattle was one that I started very early in life.

A couple of years ago friends hosted a baby shower and requested that we…